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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Liberty Lake teen hopes to set Guinness world record

Cohl Orebaugh, 14, rides his skateboard on the half-pipe at Pavillion Park in Liberty Lake Sept. 8. He's practicing for an attempt at the world record number of skateboard tricks completed in an hour.
 (Jesse Tinsley / The Spokesman-Review)

There are many 14-year-old boys in the area who love their skateboards. They spend hours at the skate parks doing tricks called ollies and kickflips and rock ’n’ rolls.

But Cohl Orebaugh, 14, of Liberty Lake, hopes to take his passion for skateboarding to another level.

Orebaugh is a fan of the Guinness Book of World Records and was looking at the skateboarding categories when he discovered there wasn’t one for his favorite trick, blunts and fakies.

For those who haven’t been initiated into the language of skaters, blunts and fakies are performed on a half pipe. The skater rolls up the side of the pipe and rests the lowest level of wheels on the lip. The skater rocks the board a little and rolls down the side to perform another one on the other side of the pipe.

Orebaugh contacted the Guinness people and asked if he could try to set a record. He wants to do as many blunts and fakies as he can in an hour.

“I did 200-something in a half an hour,” he said. “I’m going to go for like, 500-ish.”

Orebaugh has been skating for about four years. His older sister, Racha Smith, 23, bought him his first board for Christmas, hoping to get him outside instead of playing video games.

His mother, Lorie Joy, said she could hear him riding in the house late at night – “clunk, clunk, clunk, clunk.”

Since then, he has been competing in skateboard competitions in the area and competed recently at a national competition in Salt Lake City.

“He holds his own, that’s for sure,” said his father, Chad Orebaugh.

Cohl and his dad also started their own business making skateboards. Cohl helped build the company’s website, spacedoutdecks.com.

Joy said that skateboarding has brought Cohl a lot of confidence about himself. Cohl even contacted famed skateboarder Tony Hawk to talk about setting the world record.

She said her son skateboards many hours every day, even during the winter months. He’s often at the skate park in Pavillion Park in Liberty Lake with other skaters and kids on tricked-out scooters and bikes.

Cohl loves skateboarding for the creativity it allows him. There are no rules or referees.

“(You) pretty much get to do what you want,” he said.

He always skates with a helmet. He said he got a bad concussion last month, but even then, he was excited to get back up on his board.

Joy said she gets a little nervous watching him, but she is never far away.

Cohl wants to be a professional skateboarder when he grows up, but if that doesn’t work out he’s interested in forensic science.

He said the people at Guinness helped him out with the requirements needed to set the world record. They gave him ideas of what record to set and who to have at the event. He will have a timer, judges and someone to count each blunt and fakie he performs.

“He’s done all his homework,” his dad said.

When he’s not up on his skateboard, Chad Orebaugh said, his son spends time with his youth group, hanging out with his friends and attending Sunday school. He also just started his freshman year at Central Valley High School.

But on Saturday, he’s going to spend an hour on his board attempting the first world record doing blunts and fakies.

“I’m just glad it’s not video games,” his sister said.