Slalom skateboards are asphalt aficionados, connoisseurs of concrete.

Some of New England and Canada’s top slalom skaters proclaimed Summer Street in downtown Antrim a pavement masterpiece, after carving it up during the first annual Race for Old Gold Jug last fall. This year's race is coming up Sept. 22 and 23.

 “You can’t believe my look of disbelief and stoke when I saw that hill,” Team Roe racer John Gilmour, a former world champion slalom racer, wrote on the International Slalom Skateboard Association forum. “The pavement was so smooth that damage to yourself by a wipeout would be minimal.”

“That pavement was the best surface I have ever seen used for a race,” Gilmour added. “Incredibly grippy, tight-grained asphalt... what amazing pride in workmanship on that road.”

The street features a long, moderately steep slope down to a bridge crossing Great Brook, where there’s a grass park for spectators. The street runs uphill from there to Main Street, and the shorter grade allowed racers to scrub speed, and served for a beginner course after the main event.

A community-sanctioned race was something of a novelty for New England slalom enthusiasts.

“A lot of these races, they don’t get any community support, and have to hide from the local constabulary to get the event off,” the organizer,  former Chamber of Commerce chairman Brian Beihl said.

Last year’s race turned into a sort of Canadian-American face off, with a contingent of racers from Quebec challenging New England’s finest. Canadian Pascal “The Rookie” Jean took first place, and Migel Marco took third. Mike “Duque” Duquette of Connecticut and Karl Floitgraf, organizer of the Needham (Mass.) Open race, took second and fourth place respectively.

This year’s field promises to be even more competitive, due to the good word of mouth from last year and a happy coincidence, Beihl said. The 2007 Slalom Skateboard World Championship races are scheduled for the following weekend, in Statesville, N. Carolina.

There will be two days of racing, with tight slalom, grand slalom and hybrid courses, Beihl said. Though the pavement is no longer fresh, Summer Street held up well throughout the winter and this spring’s flooding, Beihl said.

“It’s weathered well,” he said.

You can check out the ISSA forum thread here, and here's a photo of Duquette and Jean at the finish, courtesy of racer and videographer Julie Boulanger of Quebec: