No slowing down: Skater off to world games aged 60
Darren Miles, who has skateboarded all his life, says the sport "matches his personality".
No slowing down: Skater heads to world games at 60
Meet the 60-year-old skateboarder competing for GB
An amateur skateboarder is preparing to represent his country for the first time, nearly 50 years after he first took up the sport.
Darren Miles, 60, from Plymouth, will represent Great Britain in the slalom event at the World Skate Games in Paraguay later this month.
Miles will compete in three disciplines as part of a team made up of both professionals and amateurs.
"When I was 10 I never thought I would be skateboarding at 60 for my country so that's the main attraction," he said.
Miles first got into the sport in 1977 in Norfolk, where he "always had a skateboard and always skated around".
In 2020 he "realised he was slowly losing his tricks" and switched to slalom, which involves speed skateboarding around cones.
Darren Miles will face the world's best skateboarders when he goes to the championships in Paraguay
When he travels to the World Skate Games, Miles said he could be competing against skaters in their 20s as well as others his own age.
He said "to finish and not get disqualified" would make the games a success for him.
"There's a top 16, I don't really anticipate getting into there, but I'll be going there and supporting all the other guys that are racing, because a few of the English guys are in with a good chance," he said.
"I'll be supporting them and just enjoying being at the event."
He said he enjoyed travelling for skateboarding events, and that the social side of the sport was a "big draw" for him.
"Sometimes you get a sport that's what matches your personality and it can be a lot of fun with a shared danger," he said.
"Everybody's been really supportive and I think a little bit amazed."