THE prospects for a new Helensburgh skatepark have been making plenty of news headlines in the Advertiser in recent months – but one Burgh youngster is doing his best to get the pursuit making sport headlines as well.

Oliver Hood, when he’s not helping out behind the scenes as a member of the Helensburgh Skatepark Project team, has qualified for the ScootGB national championships in November after impressing on the local stage.

Oliver, 11, competed in the Unit 23 Skatepark Scottish Scooter Championship in Dumbarton recently, taking part in the competition’s youngest age group, for under-12s.

Each competitor in the three age groups of the competition – under 12, under 16, and 16 and over – was given four minute rounds to showcase their best moves to the judges.

And Oliver convincingly won the under-12 category, impressing the championship judges with his wide repertoire of tricks and bowl rides.

Mum Jackie told the Advertiser: “He won an Apex scooter deck, grips and lots of other goodies.”

Oliver’s age group win at the Dumbarton event came after he finished second in the under-12 category at the Scottish qualifying event for ScootGB, finishing just one point behind the winner in the Edinburgh event.

His second place in Edinburgh earned him a place at the UK championships, to be held at the ScootFest event at Adrenaline Alley in Corby, Northamptonshire, where he will compete for the national under-12 title alongside the best in the UK.

Oliver trains at Unit 23 in Dumbarton and at the existing Helensburgh skate park next to Helensburgh’s swimming pool – and serves alongside his brother Benjamin on the Helensburgh Skatepark Project’s committee.