Aug. 1, 1999

ESPN's B3, Bikes, Boards and Blades, concluded today in Oceanside, Calif. During the third and final day of professional competition, medals were awarded to competitors in the sports of aggressive in-line skating, skateboarding and bicycle stunt.

The combination of warm weather and mind blowing performances by some of the best alternative athletes in the world, resulted in the second annual stop of B3 in Oceanside, Calif., to be a successful one. With crowds migrating from the beach and into the stands today, a total of more than 9,250 spectators brought the crowd total to more than 27,000 for the weekend.

	Ryan Nyquist.

Men's In-Line Skating
The in-line skating street final slotted ten of the world's best street skaters against each other. A determined Shawn Robertson of Dallas, Tex., was able to beat out Nick Riggle of Santa Rosa, Calif., and Santiago Aspurua of Caracas, Venezuela, while executing technical grinds and big airs. A 540 (one-and-a-half rotations in the air) over the large jump box in the middle of the street course helped him secure his victory. A new comer to the scene of in-line skating, Aspurua shocked a number of the competitors in the final including street skating virtuoso Aaron Feinberg of Portland, Ore., who finished fourth.

Bicycle Stunt
In the street finals, a charged Ryan Nyquist of Greenville, N.C., battled it out with Dennis McCoy of Kansas City, Mo., and Rob Nolli on his way to the gold. Nyquist, who placed 6th in the vert competition the previous day, proved again that he is one of the best all around riders that the sport of bicycle stunt has ever seen with his trick creativity. Amazingly, Nyquist is only 20 years of age. Dennis McCoy of Kansas City, Mo., grabbed the silver, while Nolli rode well enough for the bronze.

In the flatland competition, Nathan Penonzek of Vancouver, Canada, performed a number of difficult moves throughout his flawless routine. Penonzek, who won the flatland competition during ESPN's B3 stop in Oceanside, Calif., last year repeated as B3 champion today. 2nd and 3rd place went to Andrew Faris of Saskatoon, Canada and Trevor Meyer of Wayzata, Minn., respectively.

	Bucky Lasek.

Skateboarding
In the vert finals, a talent packed group of skaters took to the halfpipe. Led by Andy Macdonald of San Diego, Calif., and Bucky Lasek of Baltimore, Md., the finals were a heated battle. Lasek proved why he was crowned the halfpipe gold medalist at the 1999 X Games. His performance was of gold medal caliber. Macdonald was edged out by Lasek by half a point (out of 100), but skated well enough to earn the silver. During his final run Lincoln Ueda of Sao Paulo, Brazil, sailed high above the deck of the halfpipe, landing every move throughout his routine. His performance was enough to seal the bronze.

This weekend, all of the competitions were held at the Oceanside Pier in Oceanside, Calif. Involved were 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 concluded today. The second stop of ESPN's B3 will take place in Beaverton, Ore., at the Tualatin Hills Park and Recreation District August 27-29, 1999.

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, Calif., during the summer of 2000.