Ainsley Mahoney-George, ,Taz McClean, Matthew Jukes, Lee Hayward, and Rupert Hayward

Stratford teenager’s unexpected skateboarding adventure to Brighton

Melissa York, Reporter Friday, September 7, 2012
12:00 PM

A 17-year-old student from Stratford skateboarded all the way to Brighton for charity - by accident.

When Ainsley Mahoney-George agreed to a trip with four friends to the Sussex seaside holiday favourite on Saturday August 18, he got a lot more than he bargained for.

Ainsley, who studies catering at Redbridge College, said: “My friends just asked whether I wanted to go to Brighton that weekend so I turned up with my skateboard, thinking I’ll do some there, and they turned up with rollerskates. I thought I was going to go on a coach or something.”

In fact, the group of five had planned to raise money for Action Against Hunger UK in UrbanSkaters’s first official charity skate.

UrbanSkaters, a London-based not-for-profit skate group, was formed to bring skateboarders, inline skaters and quad skaters together and the group raised £107 which they hope to double or even triple on their next adventure.

Organiser Lee Hayward also skated to the south coast via the M25 and the A3 alongside his 13-year-old son Rupert, Matthew Jukes, and Taz McClean who were all on inline skates.

But lone skateboarder Ainsley experienced another unexpected twist when he lost his fellow skaters and ended up missing Brighton and going into Sussex on the south coast, meaning he had to follow directions from locals to a station to find his way back to Stratford.

Currently working as a member of the catering staff at the Olympic Park, Ainsley said: “I would do it again because it was a good experience, as long as I know where I’m where going this time.”

Ainsley’s aunt, Desiree Mahoney, wrote to the Recorder to say how proud the family were of his skateboarding feat.

She said: “He came back way after midnight by train, he was totally covered in dirt, grease and sweat, his body was in pain for a day or two but he totally enjoyed it.”