The X Trials -- an ESPN alternative sports contest expected to draw up to 30,000 people to the nation's oldest amusement park this weekend -- are nearly here.

Top athletes in sports like skateboarding, aggressive in-line skating and bicycle stunt riding will compete for more than $100,000 in prize money, according to Katie Moses, a spokeswoman for the X Trials.

"We're going to see a lot of the best coming," Moses said.

The process of building the competitive skate park is at a fever pitch, with workers setting up a small grandstand, elevated judging areas, fencing and the park itself; painting X Trials logos and hanging signs.

Next to the skate park is the Xperience, or what organizers call the "interactive village," where sponsors strut their stuff with games, contests and freebies.

The sports competition is likely to be fast and furious. For many athletes, their performance at the X Trials will make or break their chances at acceptance to the Summer X Games in Philadelphia in August.

"Some of them have a lot of pressure on them from their sponsors and themselves," Moses said. Others, she said, are already qualified for the X Games and can relax and have some fun during the competition.

During the competition, athletes will perform one at a time, with an allotment of between 60 to 90 seconds, according to Moses. She said they're judged on the difficulty of the tricks they do, how well they execute them, and how they make use of the course.

There will be three bicycle stunt competitions: vert, when riders go up high curved walls; park, where riders take to the skate park with its ramps, curbs and such, and flatland, where riders do tricks on a flat paved surface.

There will be two skateboarding and inline skating competitions: vert and park.

The top 10 athletes in each competition will advance to a second round, Moses said, and an average of their scores will be used to determine who gets to move on to the X Games.

The temporary grandstand will seat 1,500, Moses said, but she said she expects most people to wander around and watch rather than sit in one spot. She said there will be a massive screen monitor in the Xperience area that will show what is happening in the competitive area.

The X Trials runs Friday through Sunday. Moses said she expects about 30,000 people over the course of the weekend.

Though parking will be available at Lake Compounce for $5, Moses said free shuttle buses will run every half hour between noon and 8 p.m. from The Hartford on Route 229 in Southington and from Superior Electric, where parking will be available.

If it rains, Moses said, the competition is condensed into the time set aside for it. It is not extended into next week, she said.

For more information about the X Trials, see today's special section in The Bristol Press, or visit www.ReadTheTattoo.com for schedules and news or call the X Trials local hotline at (860)766-7667.