Get in line to race down Civil Boulevard

Beware of kids "skitching" rides down Civil Boulevard on Sunday. The World Inline Cup Taipei 2005 will be taking place on the freeway overhead and "skitching," or skate hitchhiking by grabbing onto the back of moving vehicles, is strictly forbidden.

Not that anyone would try, mind you. Where inline skating has scuffed balustrades and greased teen angst in other countries, here in Taiwan it's been met with innocent approval by groups of co-eds that ply Taipei streets on summer nights with flashing lights attached to their elbows.

This is the first year for Taipei to host an international inline skating event and organizers are pulling out all the stops to get things rolling. Over 20 expert skaters from18 countries have been invited to compete and authorities are blocking off traffic to parts of the Civil Boulevard freeway to host the event.

The international guests and anyone feeling up to the challenge will compete in the 42km marathon group, with other contestants entering either the 20km competition or the 8km "leisure group."

The event owes its impetus to Taiwan's showing in last year's Athens games, where Chu Mu-yen (朱木炎) and Chen Shih-hsin (陳詩欣) earned the country its first Olympic gold medals in the taekwondo competition.

Their triumph was enough to convice the Kelti Company to sponsor a large-scale sporting event in the capital city. Raising enthusiasm for skating and building better skaters "in order to bring greater honor to the county" were themes at a promotional event held this past Sunday at the Core Pacific Living Mall.

With thousands of people on the elevated freeway skating and watching, the government is also hoping the event will be a giant photo opportunity that will make the pages of newspapers overseas and promote Taiwan as an international center of sports and leisure activities.

Their hope, they said at last Sunday's publicity event, is that the agility, stamina and skill displayed by the 22 invited guests will serve as an inspiration to local kids interested in the sport.

The World Inline Cup Taipei 2005 will begin at 6:10am on Sunday at the public square in front of the Core Pacific Living Mall on Civil Blvd. Those interested in joining the competition should arrive with skates early to register on-site. Call (02) 3762 1688 for more information.