Hello Kitty has a gigantic head. It’s likely that such a disproportionate body part affects the famous Kitty’s center of gravity, throwing off her balance for skateboarding.

Luckily for the hundreds of girls that attended the Hello Kitty Boardfest at the Huntington Pier on Labor Day weekend, however, she doesn’t let her cranial handicap keep her from throwing a great event.

The four-day fest concluded Monday, September 5, with the open women’s skateboard contest. Around 30 competitors shook the sand off their boards to skate the temporary wooden course setup on the beach. Despite the heat, the girls were throwing down flip tricks on the banks, grinding the rail, and ollieing a huge quarterpipe to bank gap.

Violet Kimble ignored her freshly rolled ankle to impress the crowd with her mullet-rocking Bertlemans and hands-behind-the-back boardslides. Sasha LaRochelle * made an appearance -- maybe her last before she heads off to college. Employing the old “show up and blow up” technique, she nonchalantly chatted with the other competitors before dropping into the course and blasting a huge ollie over the gap.

Lacey Baker * tore up the course with crooked grinds on the flat rail and frontside flips on the banks. After pulling off three solid runs, Lacey was the lucky girl posing with Hello Kitty and a gigantic check representing the grand prize: an all-expenses-paid trip to the 2006 Gallaz * Skate Jam in Melbourne, Australia *. Lacey was already signed up to compete in the Jam, so thanks to Hello Kitty, her mom will be joining her in Oz next February.

At the end of the day, nearly everyone went home happy thanks to Hello Kitty and the brains behind her swollen noggin.

(Editors note: apparently Sanrio has actually manufactured Hello Kitty Skateboards, but we've been unable to find an image of one. If you have a picture of a Hello Kitty Skateboard, please email it to us at the email address on the About Us page!)

This article was originally entitled "Hello Kitty Boardfest 2005 * ain’t just for surfers", and was found at http://sgmag.com/surf/hello-kitty-091605/

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