Photos and Interview: Naiose McCarthy
Hey Shane, could you give the readers a quick introduction of who you are and where you’re from?
What’s good? I’m Shane San Agustin, I'm 26 and I’m from Athy, Co. Kildare. I was actually born in San Francisco but my mom moved us back to Ireland 'cause she got homesick, so I grew up skating small town Ireland and getting trains into Dublin in search of homies and better spots.
How did you start skating? Did you first come across it in SF or Ireland?
I actually had a friend, Jack, who lived on the same street as me in Athy, and me and him used to play Tony Hawk games everyday, until eventually he got a setup and persuaded me to get one. From there it just didn’t stop; we both were obsessed with it. It actually got to a point where a lot of guys in my housing estate skated, which was super unusual for a small Irish town.
Picking up where Clynn left off 14 years ago, Shane stomps a switch frontside heelflip into Dublin’s Blayney Bank.
Ahh, the classic! Big ups Birdman for getting us all on the board! I don’t know many skaters from Athy; are you the only one left? What’s it like skating there, and how does it compare to Dublin?
(Laughing) For sure. I reckon I’m the only one left that’s still living here anyway; a couple of the guys still skate but have moved. Nowadays, skating here is pretty dead to be honest, despite us finally having a local park; growing up here without one was something I’m pretty grateful for though, because it made all of us push each other in the streets as kids. Dublin was always the hub for us though, it’s like an hour on the train. I used to bunk trains up there when I was like 11 until one of the homies Max - who was a couple years older than me - got a car, and used to drive us up. For us, Dublin had everything; the shops, the spots… we were always so hyped to come up.
Lengthy Dublin road gap kickflip. No shirt, no worries.
You skated the old GTF Skatepark a lot in your teenage years; have you got any funny stories from that time?
GTF was the shit; shout out Graham (McPhealan). That whole park, shop, and the guys around it really helped me feel part of the Dublin scene. Graham hooked me up from early, so as a kid that shit helped so much. But yeah, because of all that we used to skate the park every day. There’s too many funny stories from that place (laughs)! I remember we used to always complain it was slippy ‘cause the park was this super slick concrete, kind of warehouse floor, and Graham would be out there with hella cans of Red Bull or Coke, pouring them all over the floor to try fix it!
We would go there for birthdays and shit, but the park would still be open to the public; the lads would always be drinking cans, so Graham would take these big ass Circa stickers and wrap them around the cans so parents wouldn’t ask questions!
Combining Steve Caballero and Samuel Beckett with a bin fullcab performed directly over the Liffey.
That's hilarious! You always spoke fondly of that place, they’re nice memories. You’ve been filming for a new High Rollers project, how is that going?
It's going really well. The High Rollers crew in general is just something I’m stoked to be a part of. You, Oisin (MacInnes) and Mikey (McMaster) have really been holding the city down. It’s 10 years of the shop now too, which is crazy to me! I’ve definitely been motivated to film for this new project, so hopefully I can do some justice (laughs). But yeah, I’ve just been hyped on skating, and enjoying it a lot with the crew in the city at the moment. I think a lot of the new gen guys from here have really grown into their own now, so I’m definitely hyped to see us all kind of show what the scene here can do with this new video.
People are definitely looking forward to seeing your footage! I think that’s about it; thanks for your time. Any shout outs or skaters that people should look out for in Ireland?
Appreciate you for having me! Big up Naoise and High Rollers, and the homie Andy Beller for the constant support. Look out for Oisin Mac, Cillian Fitzpatrick, Cata Tomoiaga and Cian Eades, as always!
Follow Shane - @shanesanagustin