by Margarett Dykstra
by Margarett Dykstra
Kate's husband, Kiko, says he feels like he's married to a 13 year old boy. And you've just gotta love her! Katie wears her hair in two pig tails with those colored plastic barrettes on either side of her part. She's got that retro-girlie look without the attitude. In fact, she's adorable. When you spend time with her, you get swept away in her energy. Her mouth never stops and she's got an opinion about everything. Not a contemplative, quite girl.
Katie's been in the skate scene practically since its inception and has become something of a legend to those in the skater world. She is recognized as one of the best all around female skaters. She can skate vert and street and performs as a dancer with the NYC Skate Crew. Recently Kate moved to Brooklyn where the kids on the block spread the word that Kate Gengo was in the hood. They come around every day, wanting her to hang and skate with them. She loves the attention, but sometimes, since she's not actually 13, wants to enjoy a quite, peaceful night alone with her husband. But peace and quiet is not easy to come by in Kate's hectic life. She is off and running. In fact, I phoned her one day and Kiko said, "Oh, I think she's in Chicago or something." Apparently, she had called earlier to let him know that she wouldn't be home for dinner. Go Girl!
"I'm constantly challenging myself...I love to skate...it gives me an incredible natural high!" 
Kate is all smiles and giggles, but watch out if you ask her what it's like to be one of the few pro women skaters -- she'll reel off a list of offenses against women in the industry: NISS '94 had no women's division and at the New York NISS '95 they forgot to announce who won the girls' event; the 1995 Extreme Games prizes for the women were a third of what they were for the men; the ASA canceled the women's finals in both street and vert; they took the results from the preliminaries and used them as the final standings. Furthermore, she just returned from the Ultimate In-line Challenge in Orlando where she was forced to just watch the festivities because apparently in the world of ultimate in-line challenges there are no women. Oh, well, maybe just one, because they did let one girl, Tosh, complete against the guys. And oh, oh, oh -- let's not forget the ad in In-Line Magazine for BolderBlades wheels that she says belongs in one of those biker magazines (if it belongs anywhere). The ad shows BolderBabe Nikki's naked backside as she holds a wheel over her head, lowering the standards of advertising as she is "raising the standards of wheel technology." Apparently after a lot of bad press they decided to change the ad to picture Nikki as a hockey goalie wearing protective gear including her artificial cleavage. The list goes on and it makes Katie's smile fade. But don't think for a minute she's sitting in silence. It is one of Kate's many missions to support women skaters. She writes about the women's skate scene for In-line Magazine and she started a girls only column in X Sk8 Magazine called Girls' Sk8 Club because, "Girl's Kick Ass!"
Kate Gengo On Film (1mb): gengo.mov , gengo.avi.
