Skateboarder Tiago Lemos set to star, represent Long Beach in Dew Tour

LONG BEACH >> Professional skateboarder Tiago Lemos is ready to represent Long Beach this weekend as Mountain Dew and TEN: The Enthusiast Network presents the Dew Tour, a free summer skateboard competition and festival.

Lemos, who is Brazilian but lives in Long Beach, will join more than 40 athletes including fellow pro skaters like Sean Malto and Ryan Sheckler to compete in an individual and new team competition on the Dew Tour four-part course.

“There’s less pressure (this weekend) because Dew Tour is new and different,” Lemos said. “The big-city setting and the great community of skaters (in Long Beach) will for sure will make for a better competition.”

The revolutionary new four-part skate course is set up in the Long Beach Sports Arena parking lot and focuses on different areas of skateboarding. The Tech Section is made up of flat rails, manual pads, and ledges. The Gap Section will include a large assortment of gaps to get creative, and the Rails Section is full of rails to grind on and do tricks over. Finally the Bowl Section will be a flow course featuring, extensions and coers like an empty pool.

“We worked with TRANSWORLD SKATEBOARDING and our partners at CA Rampworks to build one of the most innovative and progressive competition courses seen in skateboarding today,” Dew Tour Content Director Gerhard Gross said.

“It’s important the skateboard community continues to evolve to not only draw in fans, but to also inspire skaters around the world,” skater Sean Malto said. “Adding a team competition brings an exciting element to the fans as well.”

Eighteen individuals will compete on all four sections on Saturday before nine teams on four skaters each take to the course on Sunday. Each team member will compete on their strongest section, and the total score will be compiled to find the top team.

Lemos, 25, will be part of the individual competition just two months after permanently moving to Long Beach. Bo in Sao Paulo, Brazil, he leaed to skate from older brother Tercio and quickly realized he had a future in the sport.

In 2010, Lemos went on his first inteational trip to make a skate video in Argentina, and he said it changed his life.

“Skateboarding is my life,” Lemos said. “That trip to Argentina showed me that this is what I want to do forever.”

A strong third-place showing at the 2010 DC Shoes King of Sao Paulo eaed Lemos a sponsorship with the shoe company, and eventually after multiple trips to America for cometitions and video production, DC helped Lemos permanently move to Long Beach.

“I love skating Long Beach,” Lemos said. “I live by Cherry Park so I’m always over there. And Long Beach is in a great location for other Southe Califoia spots to skate.”

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Lemos, who likes listening to Wu Tang Clan and reading Nuno Cobra, added that his experiences of skating on the hot Long Beach asphalt gives him an advantage this weekend.

“I’m going to make sure to get a lot of rest and water,” Lemos said.

Fans can meet Lemos and lea more about his jouey to skating stardom by attending the screening of his documentary Guerreiro: The Tiago Lemos Story on Friday night at the Center Theatre. Lemos will be signing autographs outside the Terrace Theatre at 5 p.m. and the documentary will premiere at 6 p.m.

Also on Friday, fans will have an opportunity to watch athletes in practice and get a first look at the entire festival, including sponsor village activations, the interactive tech zone, Long Beach food trucks and other local small businesses.

On Saturday night, Dew Tour is hosting a concert outside the Terrace Theatre as New York rapper Action Bronson and Califoia’s own E-40 are co-headlining. Tickets for Saturday’s concert are now available to purchase via Ticketmaster.

The skateboarding events on Saturday and Sunday will be webcast live in its entirety on DewTour.com. On July 30 and 31, the Dew Tour skateboarding competition will be broadcast nationally on Ch. 4. The July 30 airing is from 2-3 p.m.; July 31 is from 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

For more information visit www.dewtour.com