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Professional skateboarder Lizzie Armanto performs a backside air at Exposure's 2017 event. Photo by Jaime Owens
Professional skateboarder Lizzie Armanto performs a backside air at Exposure's 2017 event. Photo by Jaime Owens
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World’s biggest skateboarding event for women returns to Encinitas

ENCINITAS — The world’s largest all-female skateboarding event, Exposure, will showcase the talents of skateboarding girls and women from around the country and globe on Nov. 3 and Nov. 4 at Encinitas Community Park.

The seventh-annual competition expects about 150 skaters and has a $60,000 prize purse. Proceeds will benefit survivors of domestic violence at Community Resource Center’s shelter, Carol’s House.

Skateboarders from across the U.S. as well as countries like Australia, Brazil, South Africa, France, Colombia and Japan will compete in vert (ramp), bowl and street categories. Both professionals and amateurs will participate but compete separately.

Jordyn Barratt, a championship skateboarder and surfer, pulls off an eggplant at last year’s competition and earns first place for the Pro Bowl. Photo by Jaime Owens

The event is organized by Exposure Skate, an Encinitas nonprofit that seeks to empower girls and women through skateboarding while instilling compassion through community service. Girls in the Skate Rising Program, for instance, divide their time between learning skateboarding tricks and making items like support kits for the homeless.

Exposure’s co-founder and president, Amelia Brodka, who is also a professional skateboarder, said, “I’m excited to get this global community of skateboarders together, where girls in all these different disciplines can gather. The energy that creates is just incredible.”

It’s rare to have a skateboarding event that includes girl amateurs, that offers contests for vert, bowl and street, and that is exclusively for females. Exposure hits all three marks, providing an event that is groundbreaking on multiple fronts. Brodka said that last year’s crowd exceeded 5,000 people.

Jordyn Barratt, who has competed at Exposure since 2013, said, “It’s an amazing event that helps boost women’s skateboarding.” Barratt made her pro debut in 2016 and last year placed first in the bowl competition and second in the vert contest.

This will be the first year that the competition takes place over two days. On Saturday, amateur girls in the 14 and under and 15 and over categories will compete in street and bowl contests. On Sunday, the amateurs will battle it out in vert, while the professional skateboarders will vie for top honors in their respective disciplines of bowl, vert and street.

The event is free to attend and will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 3, and Sunday, Nov. 4, at Encinitas Community Park. In addition to watching the competitions, families can participate in free yoga and skate clinics, get autographs in the vendor village and enjoy shopping and games. Girls are invited to participate in the Skate Rising service activity aimed at supporting the children of Carol’s House.

A detailed event schedule can be found at https://exposureskate.org/exposure-2018/. Donations can be made at https://exposureskate.org/donation/ or on-site at the event.