Flying down Mt Keira Rd at close to 80km/h without brakes sounds scary. Doing it with just a thin plank separating you from hard asphalt sounds terrifying.
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But Wollongong downhill skateboarder Tim Day, ranked 14th in the country for his sport, describes the Mt Keira hill as a "very chilled out sort of run".
"You can tuck in and get up to around 75-80km/h, but in our standards that is actually really chilled out," he said.
This weekend the winding 2km road - which takes top skateboarders just three minutes to conquer - will form the first of 11 courses on this year's downhill skateboarding world cup tour.
Day will join 150 other daredevils - including world number one Patrick Switzer - who are travelling from all over the world to compete in the three-day Mt Keira Downhill Challenge.
Event director and president of the Australian Skateboard Racing Association Haggy Strom said the event was a boon for an already booming skateboarding scene.
"It's going to be great for Australian riders because there will be two events within 10 days of each other to earn valuable rankings and world cup points," he said.
Although he has a hometown advantage from his daily skate down Mt Keira, Day said the weekend's competition would be fierce.
The road will be blocked to traffic from Friday for practice, heats begin on Saturday and the main event to decide the winner of a $10,000 prize will be held on Sunday.
Spectators can park at the bottom of Mt Keira Rd, where they will be picked up by a shuttle bus and taken to the event area.
