pre-press article

WHERE THERE’S A
WALL THERE’S A WAY
ONCE AGAIN TAKING HIS SPORT
TO NEW HEIGHTS, SKATEBOARDER
DANNY WAY PLANS TO JUMP
OVER THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA
BY YI -WY N YE N
I
P h o to g raph by M i ke B la ba c
2 14 B. C ., during the Qin Dynasty, China’s
first emperor commanded the construction
of the Great Wall to prevent enemies from getting into the country. Some two thousand years
later, Danny Way passed over China in a plane,
looked out the window and thought to himself, Hey, wouldn’t that be a good landmark to jump?
¶ The answer, most would say, is no way. But skateboarding’s most innovative rider is determined
to find new avenues to keep the sport progressive
and, as he puts it, “interesting.” On July 9, the 31year-old pro will attempt a great leap forward over
the ancient structure. Carrying a speed up to 55
mph, Way will ride down a 65-foot-high ramp,
soar 70 feet over a section of the wall and land
N
RAMPIN’ UP In 2003 Way built the Mega
Ramp with an eye to record-setting jumps.
J U N E 2 7, 2 0 0 5
SPORTS ILLUSTRATED 06/27/05
Version: 13
A.D/ext.: Neil 2858
Revise Comments: ART FINAL
± Local Read ±
± Conference ±
ADVGREATWALL.l/o
A3
RIGHT PAGEA3/1 of 3
6/20/05 / 7:54 PM / McAdams / O’Brien / Beech
Statushere: 6/20/05 / 6:43 PM / njamieson1271 / /
± Art Approval ± ± HOLD: Updates/Checks ± HOLD: Art
± Transmit______
on the other side, where he will
immediately go down a 40-foothigh landing ramp, then shoot
up a 30-foot-high quarterpipe.
If all goes as planned, Way, who’s
from Encinitas, Calif., will set
three Guinness World Records—
for longest distance jumped,
highest air on a vert pipe and
fastest speed—using the biggest
s k a te ramp ever built. “No
[skater] wants to do that. Everyone’s scared of dying,” says pro
vert rider Jason Ellis of the wall
jump. “You have to be f-----crazy and have a lot of confidence. Danny is a freaking madman. But there’s no doubt in my
mind that he’ll make it.”
To a skater who once jumped
35 feet out of a helicopter onto
a vert ramp, the Great Wall
doesn’t seem such a formidable
obstacle. “For Danny to jump the
Great Wall, that’s nothing,” pro
vert rider Colin McKay told SI
last year. “If he says it’s possible, then it’s going to happen.” In
February, Way and his ramp de-
signer, John (J.T.) Tyson, made a
trip to Beijing and scouted their
proposed site at Juyongguan Pass,
30 miles from the Forbidden City.
After getting governmental clearance, Way had to postpone the
stunt three times over two months
because of production issues. “I
had him booked on David Letterman after the last [scheduled]
jump, and the other guest was
Tom Cruise,” says Way’s publicist, Valerie Michaels. “You can
imagine how bummed out I was.”
The hype, though, guarantees
that thousands will show up at
Juyongguan Pass to watch Way.
The pass, a major tourist spot,
was once a crucial imperial military post near China’s northern
border. Way will have the synthetic takeoff ramp set up on one
side of the wall and the big-air
quarterpipe erected in a stone
courtyard on the other side, below
a temple that stands atop the
wall. The $1.7 million spectacle,
backed by a private company, the
Ne va d a-based Global Village
DROP SHOT Way launched
himself to a win in the Big Air
event at the 2004 X Games.
Media Group, will be broadcast
live in China, Europe, Australia
and the U.S.
Although Way will be the first
skater to attempt the Great Wall,
other aerialists have made it over
the landmark. In 1992 Ko Shouliang, a celebrated stuntman and
martial arts star from Taiwan,
made history when he became
the first to clear the wall on a
motorcycle. Soaring 180 feet over
the wall 93 miles north of Beijing aboard a 250-cc bike, the
Chinese Evel Kneivel landed on
a giant foam pad. Afterward he
held a glass of champagne and
said, “I wish I had 10 ladies here
to celebrate with me.”
The following year British daredevil Eddie Kidd promised that
his motorcycle jump would be
even more spectacular. More than
60,000 people gathered to watch
Kidd fly over a steeper and more
precarious section of the wall in
Simatai, a mountainous region
75 miles northwest of Beijing. He
gripped the handlebars, landed
on a 100-foot ramp and crashed
into a barrier of cardboard boxes
at the end. Kidd, who had jumped
over 10 buses in a Beijing stadium two days before, called the
THE GREAT LEAP FORWARD
Danny Way
plans to build a
great ramp at
the Great Wall
and on July 9
take off on a
55-mph run
that will carry
him over a
section of
the wall to set
records for the
longest leap,
highest air and
fastest speed in a
skateboard jump.
START
65 FEET
28 FEET
44 FEET
317 FEET
70 FEET
0 0 F EDummy
ET
INTRO1 HERE
text and
the only text and filling any
kind of writing for the caption.
SPORTS ILLUSTRATED 06/27/05
ADVGREATWALL.l/o
Built by China’s
first emperor in
214 B.C., the Great Wall
runs for 1,500 miles
across the country, as
grand an obstacle to
daredevils as it once
was to invaders.
LEFT PAGEA4/2 of 3
Version: 15
6/20/05 / 7:54 PM / McAdams / O’Brien / Beech
A.D/ext.: Neil 2858
Statushere: 6/20/05 / 6:43 PM / njamieson1271 / /
Revise Comments: oof pA4 to open color panel in diagram 6/20/05 / 9:06 PM / njamieson1271 /
± Local Read ±
± Conference ± ± Art Approval ± ± HOLD: Updates/Checks ± HOLD: Art ± Transmit______
stunt “one of the most terrifying experiences I’ve had.”
Then the inevitable happened.
In 2002 a cyclist from Shaanxi
Province attempted the wall on
his mountain bike. Wang Jia
Xiong, 30, cleared the crossing
at Tianjin’s Huangya Pass, 55
miles northeast of Beijing, but
tumbled from his bike in midair.
Wang fell more than 50 feet,
landing headfirst, and died later
that day.
Way won’t get a chance to test
the Great Wall ramp until he gets
to China. He has seen prototypes
and says he is confident that his
preparations will result in a safe
landing. He has spent the past
two years practicing on the Mega
Ramp, a towering structure featuring a takeoff ramp and a landing ramp set 55 feet apart and
another pair with a 75-foot gap.
The Mega Ramp, which Way built
in Aguanga, Calif., in 2003 as a
way to push the limits of skateboarding, is not unlike the setup
he’ll use in China. “I’m going with
the accumulation of trial and
error,” he says of his Great Wall
jump. “I don’t have engineers
or physics involved. This is knowledge obtained by experience.”
When pro skaters first heard
about the Mega Ra m p, they
questioned Way’s sanity. “I told
him, ‘You’re a freaking idiot,’ ”
E llis says. “It’s going to be a
big waste of money. You’re going
to chicken out.’ ”
Instead, using the Mega Ramp,
Way blew away the skateboarding world in June 2003 when, in
one continuous run, he set records
for distance jumped (75 feet) and
height out of a vert pipe (23'5").
Last summer he took his big-air
show on the road at the X Games
in Los Angeles. As five other pro
riders in the event struggled to
muster the cojones to clear the
75-foot gap, Way flew across to
win the gold, hitting 44 mph and
breaking his own distance record
by five feet in the process.
“Danny’s changing the world of
skateboarding,” McKay says. “He
has created the boundary of
what’s believable and imaginable.”
With the Mega Ramp, Way
A6
FROM THE TOP Way
(at the X Games) says
his records have come
from an “accumulation
of trial and error.”
“Danny is a FREAKING MADMAN,” says another skater of Way’s
planned jump. “But there’s no doubt in my mind that he’ll make it.”
has also forced skateboarding to
become more physical and rigorous. Little things that go wrong
on an average vert pipe can mean
big problems on the Mega Ramp.
“The impact is brutal. The day
after you skate, you’re 10 times
sorer than normal,” Ellis says.
“When you skate and land, you
can feel your skin melting
through your shoes. When you
bail, it compresses your back and
stomach.” To tackle the Mega
Ramp, Way rides a board that is
three inches longer and a halfinch wider than typical decks.
“There’s only so much g-force
that your legs can handle,” he
says. “There’s a certain sweet
spot you have to hit. If there’s
too much, you’ll buckle. If it’s
too little, you get lost on the
ramp. It’s like riding a mountain.”
While most skaters bold
enough to ride the Mega Ramp
fly over the gaps going straight,
Way prefers to do a 360 spin. “I
think it’s harder to keep your
board straight for 80 feet than
it is to spin for 80 feet. As far
as a 360 goes, it keeps my board
stabilized,” he explains.
In pushing his limits, Way has
taken a few beatings. He has undergone eight knee surgeries in
the last five years; his left ACL
alone has been reconstructed
three times. Knowing that his
body won’t hold up to the hits of
the big-air ramp forever, Way has
mentored several younger stars,
such as 15-year-old Lyn-z Adams
Hawkins and 11-year-old Taylor
Smith, who both recently cleared
the gap on the Mega Ramp. “This
is the new generation of kids coming up. They’re going to be used
to seeing this stuff and not know
any different,” Way says.
Perhaps, but in taking on the
wall, Way remains the pioneer.
He has chosen to jump in a spot
with sweeping hillsides and a
dramatic three-tiered pavilion
in the background. “I just want
to have a couple of photos for
my personal diary,” he says. “Aesthetically, the photos are going
to be so cool. That’s enough right
there to make it worth it.”
±
s p o r t s i l l u st r a t e d
SPORTS ILLUSTRATED 06/27/05
Version: 13
A.D/ext.: Neil 2858
Revise Comments: ART FINAL
± Local Read ±
± Conference ±
ADVGREATWALL.l/o
LEFT PAGEA6/3 of 3
6/20/05 / 7:54 PM / McAdams / O’Brien / Beech
Statushere: 6/20/05 / 6:43 PM / njamieson1271 / /
± Art Approval ± ± HOLD: Updates/Checks ± HOLD: Art
± Transmit______