ARLINGTON — Dozens of young and wilily skateboarders showed up at the pump track at Legion Park prior to the skateboard races.

But one stood out. A lanky, 34-year-old man with glasses and graying stubble accentuated from the younger boarders.

Lee Cation is from Vancouver, British Columbia. He has skateboarded for 10 years.

“I was definitely into other sports,” Cation said. “But sports that led me to skateboarding were skiing and snowboarding.”

Skateboarding has grown immensely. But for Cation, and many like him, it’s a way of life; a way of travel and meeting others.

“For many people, it’s their a-to-b,” Cation said. “Where I’m from, you use your board to get around.”

Though skateboarding has become more mainstream, Cation makes the assertion that it is more than a sport.

“It’s not so much the sport, but the music and the art,” Cation said about the skilled visual techniques used by skateboarders and the music genres associated with the culture.

He visited Arlington with friends to participate in the 5K skateboarding distance race at Legion Park Oct. 13. Having distance skateboarding before, he was hoping to finish it in 10 minutes.

“We knew it was here,” he said. “And we’re excited to see the pump track.”

A pump track is a new innovation to skateboarding. It uses inversions and bumps similar to off-road tracks of the same name used in motocross.

His skateboard is always by his side. It’s essentially a part of him, serving primarily as his form of transportation.

Cation takes advantage of the relatively progressive transit in Vancouver. While up north, Cation can skate the streets and then hitch a ride on a bus to his next location.

And unlike other more-meticulous forms of transportation, such as bicycles that require assembling and dissembling, Cation can seamlessly carry his board on and off buses.

“I can get around faster than any other form of transportation,” he said.