I'm not really one for informative or useful decklists, and I don't plan on changing that. Dublin is my home turf as I've made insufferably obvious. So it would be remiss of me to not detail some of the skating highlights in advance if Dublin Wor...Megacity where I hope to see many an international netrunner. Below are some choice picks, but barely scratches the surface.

Blanchardstown Skatepark

I mean, can't not shout out my local. Blanch is a flat ground concrete modular park, which is to say it's a series of unconnected obstacles plonked on a concrete flat park. This is a pretty common park design, especially anything built in the last few years. Mostly because they're cheap to build and can be made without much consultation from actual skaters. As such there's no real flow to it and it's all a bit bland.

Most of the obstacles are pretty intermediate focused, the banks are a little on the steep edge and the transition ramps are far from mellow. There's a 4 step but not a tonne of run up to it. The curved rail is the only one and it's at the foot of an incredibly tall and steep bank, which goes to show this place wasn't designed by someone who actually skates.

But I can't rag too hard. It's a nice enough park when it's quiet and hey, it's my local, can't bash it too much. 3/5

Ballyfermot Skatepark

Now this is a top tier park. There's lots to like here. Not a tonne in the way of obstacles but it's built with the landscape so it has a banging downward slope that you can proper bomb down. There's some ledges good for practicing riding off curbs, and a decent rail. At the top of the park is a nice wee flat ground area.

But the highlight of the park is the very impressive bowl. It's very well designed, with a nice shallow end with some mellow transitions, that leads into a deeper bowl and a ripper spine. I'm not much of a transition skater but this bowl is very fun to skate and honestly ideal for practicing transition fundamentals like drop ins and pumping. My only slight criticism of the park is that it is a little on the bland side but it's a chill place to skate and has the great benefit of being open 24/7. A strong 4/5

Bushy Park

The gem of the Dublin skate scene in my eyes. As far as I know it's the oldest park in Dublin but it's probably my favourite. RIDE did an excellent spotlight on Bushy a few years ago that's worth a watch. The obstacles here are nice with varying levels of experience. Shout outs to the coffin, a manual pad in the shape of...well...a coffin. The bank is also a delight, it's lovely and mellow and was perfect for me when I was still shit scared of going down them.

As with Bally, the bowl is the highlight here. It's huge and deep and honestly just massively impressive. It's the namesake bowl for the annual Troll Bowl competition which is hosted in Bushy every year. Even if transition skating isn't your vibe, the rest of Bushy is a delight to skate, plenty of flatground, some very nice obstacles, and there's a great vibe with the local skaters. It's my favourite park to go to and my recommendation for any travelling skaters. 4.75/5

Summary and Honourable Mentions

There's a tonne more to cover. Fairview Skatepark is a lovely spot with some metal ramps that are nice to skate in the summer. Monkstown is always chill, largely on account of the fact its private, though it's another concrete modular park. Clongriffin is a nice plaza style park but it's showing her age in parts. And of course a shout out to High Rollers, a great wee skate shop in the city centre for all your bits and bearings. We have some cracking wee parks over here and they're well worth a visit if you're ever rolling through.