July 31, 1999

ESPN's B3, Bikes, Boards and Blades, continued Saturday in Oceanside, CA. During the second day of professional competition, medals were awarded to competitors in the sports of aggressive in-line skating, skateboarding and bicycle stunt. Under blue skies, more than 8500 people attended to bring the three day crowd total to more than 18,000.

Women's In-Line Skating:

	Fabiola da Silva.

The in-line skating vert final slotted seven women against each other. Fabiola da Silva of Sao Paulo, Brazil, returned to the awards stand to clinch the gold. Da Silva who skated to the gold in the street competition yesterday, has medaled at every X Games competition that she has entered including gold medals in vert at the 1999 X Trials in Louisville, KY and Richmond, VA and the silver medal in vert at the 1999 X Games in San Francisco, CA. 2nd and 3rd place honors went to Kerstin Von Rotenfeld also of Sao Paulo, Brazil and Judy Eilmes of Chino, CA respectively.

Bicycle Stunt:
In the vert finals, Dave Mirra of Greenville, NC battled it out with Jamie Bestwick of Heanor, Derbyshire, UK on his way to the gold. Mirra, who is currently the best vert rider in the world, proved again that he is the man to beat in the halfpipe. Although Bestwick had a strong second run, Mirra's first run was good enough to overcome Bestwick's on his way to the gold. Dennis McCoy of Kansas City, MO grabbed the bronze. The bicycle stunt street finals are scheduled for Sunday.

Skateboarding:
In the street finals, a number of professional skaters led the way to the awards stand. A devastatingly consistent Pat Channita of Garden Grove, CA claimed gold while executing a number of very technical flip tricks. Channita who finished 4th at the 1999 X Games, skated to gold earlier this year at the 1999 X Trials in Richmond, VA in May. He was followed by Andy Macdonald of San Diego, CA and Caine Gayle of Cardiff, CA respectively. The skateboarding vert preliminaries and finals continue tomorrow.

This weekend, all of the competitions will be held at the Oceanside Pier in Oceanside, CA. Involved are three sports categories with a total of nine disciplines, including bicycle stunt street, halfpipe and flatland; men's and women's in-line skating, street and halfpipe; and skateboarding street and halfpipe. Competition continues through Sunday.

For B3, ESPN and espn2 will combine to televise approximately 29.5 hours of programming, including re-airs, encore presentations and 14 hours of original programming. Athletes at this year's B3 will be aiming to qualify for the 2000 X Games which will be held in San Francisco, CA during the summer of 2000.