San Francisco, Calif. - The crowds were big, the racing fast and furious, and by the end of the day even the sun came out to greet the first day of competition. The 2000 ESPN X Games are under way.

Saturday's Street Luge Dual Downhill race marked the first X Games competition of the 2000 Games in the San Francisco area. Over 5500 people biked, walked, skated, and bused to the course, located high above San Francisco's Ocean Beach.

San Francisco's Piers 30/32 will be the primary site for the X Games, hosting the Aggressive In-Line Skating, Bicycle Stunt, Freestyle Moto X, Skateboarding, and Sportclimbing competitions and will be open to the public August 17-22. Wakeboarding will take place Aug 15 and 16 at Treasure Island's Clipper Cove. All X Games events are free and open to the public.

Street Luge, a sport that challenges riders to maneuver a skateboard/luge hybrid down winding streets at speeds up to 60 mph, has been an X Games staple since the event's inception. Phillips Ranch, Calif. resident Bob Ozman, one of the sports pioneers, proved to the crowd of 5500 that he is still a force to be reckoned with by riding away with his first X Games gold medal in the Dual Downhill.

"There were some really good racers out here today," said an emotional Ozman. "I just thank God and feel really lucky."

Wade Sokol of Buena Park, Calif. took silver, and Bob Pereyra of Northridge, Calif. rode away with the bronze. In Sunday's Super Mass competition Bob Pereyra took the gold, with Lee Dansie the silver and John Rogers the bronze. X Games veteran Dennis Derammelaere claimed King of the Hill honors by defeating gold medalists from the past five X Games and this year's champion.

The 2000 X Games will bring more than 350 of the world's best alternative sports athletes to the Bay Area to compete for medals and nearly $1 million in prize money, the industry's largest prize purse. Competitors seamlessly defy gravity and test fate by launching off jumps, sliding down rails, spinning and flipping overhead in Aggressive In-Line Skating, Bicycle Stunt, Freestyle Moto X, Skateboarding, Skysurfing, Sportclimbing, Street Luge and Wakeboarding.

ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC's Wide World of Sports will combine to produce over 28 hours of original programming. ESPN International's 21 networks will distribute to over 150 million households worldwide in more than 180 countries in 21 languages, while EXPN.com will provide daily in-depth online coverage.

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