THUNDER BAY— Noah Tynes is rolling through Thunder Bay this weekend with free skateboarding lessons.
The Toronto skateboarder, known as the Sage Knight, is riding his board from Toronto to Vancouver in order to raise funds for Pushing Canada 2025.
“This has been something that I almost don't even have words for,” Tynes said. “I feel exuberant.”
On Saturday, Tynes will be offering free skateboarding lessons in collaboration with Cinema 5 Skate Park in honour of National Indigenous Peoples Day and Go Skateboarding Day. New and well-seasoned riders of all backgrounds are welcome..
“I'm very excited,” he said. “If you go see my blog, I had one of the entries saying how much I missed my students because we are in off-season right now and look, here we go again.”
The pop-up learn and skate event is a pleasant surprise for Thunder Bay and for its new visitor, said Tynes.
“It’s a situation where I can rehash that side of myself and bring it back out and share my knowledge and wisdom with some of the young students here,” he said. “I make skateboarders better, I simply cannot wait.”
Tynes said the start of the trip was relatively easy, with the only struggle being Canada’s roadways.
“Day one was a big sendoff, and it was really interesting as you could imagine,” he said.
“I went down to Holy Trinity and we had a really emotional send off and then I went down to the Jack Layton ferry terminal, which is a very special place to me,” he said. “It used to be a really prominent skate spot once upon a time before they reconfigured it.”
Once leaving the ferry terminal, Tynes said his friend provided a map in order to save him time and troubles while on the road.
“I had to kind of just pocket my ego and my own stubbornness and get just a little throwaway phone so we could keep in touch with my team,” he said. “He gave me a big nice map of Ontario and Canada so I don't get lost.”
The journey is expected to finish in no rush sometime by Sept. 1, Tyne said. The funds raised from the cross-country journey will go to a non-for-profit creative group and street outreach efforts in Toronto.
“We are starting a little nonprofit local creative fund called the David Sterling Creative Fund back in Toronto and its just a means to have some resources for the youth, maybe take them on some trips, paint the skate park someday,” he said.
The event takes place at Cinema 5 Skatepark on June 21 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
