Snowboarding and skateboarding are common sports for those living in the Great White North, and The Varsity introduced Toronto to longboarding earlier this year. Now it’s time to meet the freebord, which is the latest wheeled device that students will have to dodge on St. George Street as the weather gets warmer.

The freebord is a hybrid of the snowboard and skateboard. The product looks like a skateboard, but has six wheels, instead of the traditional four. There are four “edge” wheels like a skateboard, but also has two wheels set on rotating bases down the centre line of the board.

The four main wheels allow one to do traditional “carving” manoeuvres that a normal skateboard allows for. The rotating wheels allow one to “slide,” which is something one can do on a snowboard, but not a skateboard. “Sliding” allows, “integrated speed control at any speed, fast changes in direction, and the widest range of manoeuvring possibilities,” according to a Freebord Canada press release.

A man in San Francisco named Steen Strand invented the Freebord. An avid snowboarder, Strand wanted to find a way to simulate his favourite sport in the summer months. With some creativity and engineering training he was able to invent the product that would suit his needs and appeal to other California snowboarders-the freebord.

Strand started Freebord Manufacturing in 1999 to produce these new devices for others. He operated the company out of his garage for the first year, and was able to put together 200 boards.

Word of the new product was passed along to snowboarding communities through Strand and his friends, and demand for the product rapidly increased. Eventually a warehouse and a team of workers were needed to supply freebords to everyone who wanted one.

More than 10, 000 boards have been sold since production began over five years ago. The company is still owned and operated by snowboarders, which helps to ensure the quality of its products remains high.

In December of 2004 Jesse Bleeman and Jonathan Goldfarb of BG Marketing Group, having received the distribution and advertising rights for freebords in Canada, launched Freebord Canada.

“This product creates an endless winter for snowboard enthusiasts,” says Bleeman. “It is a cross trainer in spring and summer for fans of the winter sport.”

Word of this new invention has been slow to spread to Canada, but Bleeman and Goldfarb are looking to change that fact. They want all young adults in the country to be aware of their product.

“Right now freebording is still getting its name; still getting big. We were surprised no one had it here yet,” continued Bleeman. “We are going to do a large marketing campaign across Canada to get the word out.”

Freebording is not easy. Jesse Bleeman insists that it is just as hard as a snowboard to master: There’s a learning curve, just like learning to snowboard. Freebords let you bomb down hills and stop suddenly, like snowboards.”

So far there is no international freebord organization or official championships for the sport. If popularity continues to grow, watch for the sport to appear at X Games and similar events in the near future.

Check out freebordcanada.com for more details on this hot item.