In Lawndale, the free wheeling will all be for fun.

They say what grabs you is the thrill of gaining speed, then suddenly stopping the board at the top of a curving ramp and using some fancy footwork to do a quick 180-degree turn before plunging down the ramp.

“You go fast, pull off a trick that’s hard, everyone yells, ‘Yeah,’ when you do it,” said Ed Templeton, a 17-year-old skateboarder from Huntington Beach. “It’s a good feeling.”

A lot of amateur skateboarders--ranging from beginners to whizzes good enough to tour for expenses only on behalf of skateboard manufacturers--will enjoy a lot of those good feelings Saturday and Sunday when Lawndale hosts a skateboard competition at Rogers/Anderson Park.

There will also be thrills for fans who will gather around a special course set up at the park’s basketball court.

“We put this on for the first time last year and some of the skateboarders were quite good, like semi-pros,” said Ken Huthmaker, city public information officer. “We probably had 500 people there.”

Part of the course duplicates street and sidewalk skateboarding, with obstacles and ramps simulating curbs and driveways. The most spectacular apparatus is a track known as a half-pipe because it resembles a large storm-drain pipe with the top cut off. Skateboarders zoom to the eight-foot-high rim of the pipe, do their maneuvers and head back down.

“You do the hardest tricks you can,” said Marco Saiz, 19, who lives in Long Beach. “Sometimes my feet leave the board, sometimes the board flips around and I do a couple of spins. . . . You try to do a lot of tricks with your board flipping all over the place.”

In another part of the competition, skateboarders do a reverse of the limbo, trying to jump a plastic bar that is raised higher and higher--eventually as high as three feet. They get a running start, and when their boards reach the bar, they leap over it and land on their boards--or they miss and are eliminated.

Lawndale Mayor Sarann Kruse gets credit for suggesting the showcase event last year after talking with some local skateboarders who complained about being told to “get off the walks and get out of the streets. . . . I thought it would be nice if they had a place to come one day and do all these neat things they do where observers could cheer for them. It builds their confidence.”

The California Amateur Skateboard League, a San Bernardino-based group organized in the late 1970s by parents of skateboarders, was brought in to stage the contest because it provides group insurance for all competitors in what can be a hazardous sport. All competitors must be members of the group. They can join for $35 prior to the competition.

The group was formed to build sportsmanship and to give kids a safe place to compete and get applause. “Kids really need to feel there are adults that recognize and give credibility to what they’re doing,” said Sonja Marie Catalano, league president. “What they are doing is very difficult technically. It takes training and dedication.”

She said the group emphasizes safety, requiring skaters to abide by a behavior code and wear knee and elbow pads while competing. Younger children must wear helmets.

Competitors this weekend in Lawndale will range from eager beginners to those talented enough to join the ranks of skateboarding pros, who are paid by manufacturers or compete for prize money.

But this weekend, the free wheeling will all be for fun. Competition categories are based on age and ability so there will be recognition--in the form of miniature skateboard trophies--for a variety of abilities. Registration doesn’t start until today, but last year’s competition drew more than 200 contestants. The youngest was 7.

Catalano said that for a lot of the competitors, skateboarding is a way of life. Money earned from part-time jobs goes into equipment, and many youngsters have their own back yard ramps.

“It’s an obsession with me,” said Templeton, who has been skateboarding for five years and plans to turn pro. “I get up at 10 a.m. and skate all day to 12 midnight with my friends on the streets and in school yards.”

Said Saiz: “You do it every day. It’s one of those things that’s so much fun you get a genuine rush and just want to do more.”

What: Streetstyle and Highjump Skateboard Competition.

When: Saturday, Sunday, 8 a.m.

Where: Rogers/Anderson Park, 4161 Manhattan Beach Blvd., Lawndale.

Admission: Free; $10 entry fee for participants, who must also be California Amateur Skateboard League members.

Information: 973-4321, Ext. 149.