A SWINDON skate park has triumphed over other venues to be chosen to host the UK leg of an international skateboarding competition.

On Saturday, the ATB Skate Warehouse on the Hawksworth Trading Estate will welcome competitors from across the country to the Elements Make It Count contest.

Up for grabs is an all-expenses paid trip to the European finals in Barcelona with the winner there moving on to the global finals – there will also be £1,000 worth of additional prizes on offer.

Diana Kirk, co-owner of ATB, said: “To be chosen as the venue for the Make It Count competition is amazing, we can’t quite believe it.

“Last year the UK leg was held in Manchester and it has been in London before, all big cities and big skate parks with a corporate feel.

“I think the guys from Element were looking for something a bit different this year and liked the way we do things – everyone here is really looking forward to it.”

As well as offering the standard paid-for skate and scooter sessions, ATB has a community focus not always associated with private sports venues.

They were at the centre of a movement to save a local free outdoor skate park in 2015 and they are in ongoing discussions to find more ways they can use the skate park to reach out to under-privileged young people in the town.

Following that theme, entry to Saturday’s contest will not cost a penny, instead it will cost the fee of one canned food item to be donated to a local food bank after the event.

Diana explained: “The food donation was a joint idea between us and Element, we really try and do what we can to help people out in the community and it felt like a great way of doing that through the contest.

“We’ve got kids who come here who have had to use food banks and it’s never easy, especially at that age.”

Saturday’s event follows hot on the heels of last month’s Urban Rider Games which was heralded as a great success by all those who took part.

As well as competitors from outside the town, the ATB team are encouraging local skateboarders who shined during that event to come down and show the judges and industry heads what Swindon has to offer.

British skateboarder and co-event organiser James Threlfall, said: “The regional final winners will be heading on an all-expenses paid trip to Barcelona, so the fact that it's coming to Swindon this year is a huge deal and we're really excited for what's going to go down.

“It offers a huge opportunity to not only local skaters, but British skateboarders as a whole, so we're really looking forward to the event at ATB this weekend.”

Registration will start at 1pm on Saturday with the contest running from 2pm until 6pm.

Spectators are welcome to come along – more information can be found at www.elementmakeitcount.com