Grinning mischievously, Juanjo Urbizu donned a baseball cap, tucked his T-shirt neatly into his sweatpants and adjusted the straps on his elbow pads before positioning his skateboard on the bowl’s edge, ready for the “drop.”
Urbizu’s attempt at a gnarly trick drew stares, because the athlete is a sight to behold, wheeling around the unassuming skate park in northern Spain having just turned 88.
For the cheerful octogenarian, each skating session begins by carefully clearing the square bowl of pebbles to guarantee a smooth ride.
Photo: Reuters
“My bones are special,” he said with a chuckle, between sips on a post-workout glass of white wine at his favorite bar in Bilbao’s working-class Begona neighborhood. “Though I touch wood.”
In a rapidly aging country, where more than half the population is older than 44, the demographic shift is increasingly becoming a topic of national debate.
However, Spain’s generally warm climate is conducive to outdoor activities and studies have proven the importance of physical exercise in bettering the quality of life and reducing the risk of disease for the elderly.
Urbizu took up skateboarding aged 70, partly because it was cheaper than his beloved snow sports.
He said the sport offers an escape from monotony.
“By breaking the routine, you bring something new to everyday life, and that gives you a sense of rest,” he said.
For people his age considering taking up skateboarding, he advises they do it little by little.
“Falls here are truly bad, much worse than in the snow. Anyone who does something like this should wear full protection,” he said.
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