Some of the world's best bowl skaters have descended on the capital, wowing the crowd at Waitangi Park.

About 350 people packed into the temporary seating prepared specially for the event.

With music blaring, local skateboarders tried to cut it with the big international stars.

The Wellington event, in its sixth year, is a leg on the international Vans Bowl-A-Rama tour.

This year about 40 competitors were fighting it out for $30,000 in prize money.

Brazilian Pedro Barros, last year's champion, said coming to Wellington was one of the highlights of the series.

"It's one of the smaller bowl, but it's really fun. It's really cool to be out here.

"This is my fourth time here ... it's probably one of the best ones [legs of the tour]."

He had been in Wellington for about a week, he said, "just skating and relaxing", and hoped to come up big in the competition again.

The event also features skateboarding legends, like Steve Caballero and Sergie Ventura in the Masters section.

Organiser Chad Ford said this year's event was the most exciting of the six held in the capital.

"There's a real changing of the guard, with the good young guys coming through."

- © Fairfax NZ News

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