Tom Drury, a 28-year-old Australian from the country’s far east, is raising money for the construction of a skatepark in Laos. While Tom is also raising awareness of the lack of infrastructure in Laos, this is not a story to be missed. In addition to raising awareness, Tom plans to use his skateboarding trip to raise funds for a skate park in Laos.
Tom Drury is raising money to build a skate park in Laos
Australian skateboarder Tom Drury is pushing himself 4,000km from Melbourne to Cairns to raise money to build a skate park in Laidao, the only Southeast Asian country without a public skate park. He was inspired by Laos’ youth and decided to make a difference by helping them build their own skate park. Read on to learn more about his journey and how you can support his project.
The journey will take Drury nine weeks, averaging 70km per day. He is now three-quarters of the way to Laos. He has been interviewed by the BBC, has been featured on ABC and Fox News, and has a GoFundMe page set up for the cause. There is no doubt that the skateboarding community in Laos is hungry for more space to play.
Gordy has been working in Laos for three or four years and has been skating in the country since the 1980s. He plans to start construction of the skate park in the country’s capital, Phnom Penh, once Laos opens to international travelers. The skate park will not only create a place for local youth to play but will help make the people of Laos feel empowered and connected.
In 2013, Drury traveled 4,000 kilometers from Melbourne to Cairns alone, but this time he wasn’t skating with friends. The lockdown and the pandemic had prompted him to embark on the journey. His Instagram page shows some of his early excursions into the Outback. Later, he took his board further afield. Ultimately, Drury raised over a thousand dollars to build a skate park in Laos.
Isabelle Gordy is a figure skater in Laos
In a controversial case, Laotian officials banned a figure skater from competing in the Olympics after she was found guilty of human trafficking. Laos’s figure skating community cried foul, but an appeals panel overturned the ruling and Isabelle Gordy, a Canadian figure skater, was allowed to continue skating after a three-year suspension. Although the decision remains final, Isabelle is determined to make Laos proud.
Tom Drury is traveling from Melbourne to Cairns on a skateboard
Last year, an Aussie named Tom Drury set out to travel 4,000 kilometers up the eastern coast of Australia on a skateboard. From the city of Melbourne in the south to Cairns in the north, Tom covered between 50 and 80 miles per day. Among the hazards Tom Drury encountered on his journey are deadly snakes, dangerous traffic, and the scorching heat of an Australian summer. In order to complete the trip, Tom Drury went through six pairs of skateboard wheels and four sets of shoes.
Since then, Tom has completed his epic journey, completing a stretch of the Great Ocean Road that was once Australia’s premier tourist road. This road boasts the Great Barrier Reef, Great Ocean Road, and access to the Whitsunday Islands. In fact, before COVID was introduced, the road was visited by 4.5 million tourists each year. Until recently, the road was the most popular tourist destination in the country, attracting 4.5 million tourists a year.
While the route included some of the busiest highways in Australia, Drury had to pay attention to potential hazards like sticks, rocks, and snakes. Along the way, he met people who offered him meals and drinks, and even gave him shelter. Along the way, he also made new friends and managed to raise $32,000 for a skate park in Laos.
Although the trip took him four months, the journey was structured like a full-time job: he skated five days a week and spent weekends exploring coastal towns. On his way, he encountered trucks, deadly snakes, and random strangers who were more than happy to give him a place to sleep and a hot meal. The trip gave him a new perspective and renewed his love of the outdoors.
The trip has a more meaningful purpose: the journey is a fundraiser for a skate park in Laos. The country lacks skateparks and is considered dangerous. The lack of infrastructure in Laos has prompted the 28-year-old from rural Australia to embark on this ambitious journey. The trip has also raised funds to build a skate park in Laos, the country with the least skateboarding infrastructure in Southeast Asia.