On April 11th, 2019 approximately 70-80 Bladers of all shapes and sizes joined Angie Bender and her club, The Lehigh Valley Bladers, for the first annual 5K Skate for Autism at the Bob Rodale Cycling and Fitness Park in Breinigsville, Pennsylvania! It was a gorgeous sunny Saturday in May after having several rainy days back to back. Speed skaters, recreational skaters, quad skaters and aggressive skaters arrived from all over the East Coast!
The all-ages event drew in a profound amount of positive energy all to support the Lehigh Valley’s Autistic population. Karen Williams, the Vice President of the Autism Society said a few words to educate our crowd about the Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnosis as well as provide some information on local resources for families that are affected by Autism.
Registration and T-Shirt pick-ups began promptly at 10am where participants and their families were able to participate in a raffle to win some fresh new swag, gear and even a weekend getaway for two to the illustrious Camp Woodward East!
Pro skaters like Matt Lyon (from 50/50 Frames), Shredpool (Konjure Wheels) and Chynna Weierstall (USD, Create Originals) came out to support this amazing cause! Shredpool was very much loved by the kids, per usual. He provided comic relief and contributed his time and energy to help promote the event, help set up for the event and was an extreme positive force. Many thanks to you Mr. Pool! We cannot forget to thank Matt Lyon, the “Bladies” aka “Bra Squad”, the employees of Aveanna Healthcare (Abby, Kelly, Linda and Jen) for helping us manage and run the Skate for Autism.
Following the event, most skaters took a nice long break to grab lunch and head over to the Bethlehem Skateplaza which is a beautiful (and large) concrete skatepark fashioned right next to the Sands Casino in Bethlehem, PA. HUGE tricks were displayed by Chynna, Shredpool, Josh Weaver and Matt Lyon. However, the biggest and best trick was done by our Lehigh Valley native, Brent Schrerer! His gargantuan Disaster Soul to 360 out wowed the crowd and the judges and got him 1st place in the Best Trick Competition! He was able to go home with a fresh set of 8 Sean Smith wheels by Konjure, a shirt from Oak City Inline Skate Shop, a beanie from Razors, Apex bearings and some new skate wax from Curb Stomp Skate Wax! A huge thank you to Dan Williams for donating his time and expertise as our photographer!
Overall, the event generated $2691 dollars that will all go to the Autism Society of Lehigh Valley to help fund summer programs and events to service the Autistic Community of the Lehigh Valley! People are already buzzing about next year’s Skate for Autism and all that can be said is that it will be bigger, better and there will be many more passionate skaters involved!
The Sponsors
We would like to thank our sponsors and all of our friends and family who donated their time and money to support our first year!
- 5th Layer Tattoo Studio
- 50/50 Frames
- Aveanna Healthcare
- Compass Inline
- Jump Street Podcast
- Konjure Brand
- Magellan Behavioral Health
- Oak City Inline Skate Shop
- Razors Skate Co
- Rollerblade
- Rollerwarehouse
- Woodward Camp East
Links
- To find out more about Leigh Valley Bladers you can email them here, follow them on Instagram and join their group on Facebook.
- You can sign up for next year’s event at runsignup.com/lehighvalleybladers when it’s posted.
