Central youngsters from Alexandra and Cromwell’s BMX clubs are off to the premier event for BMX next weekend (March 18-19).  

Alexandra BMX Club (ALX) has ten riders and Cromwell BMX Club (CX) has 15 travelling to Tauranga to race.

CX spokesperson Tracy said this is the largest group of riders to attend nationals since the club started in 2017.

“[R]iders are excited and ready to race. They have been racing and training hard for their biggest race of the season. Training has consisted of track skills, flat sprint work and fine tuning their gate starts, with the older riders also taking to the gym for strength and conditioning.”

The youngest rider from CX taking part is five, and the oldest is 24. Four CX youngsters are trialling for the NZ Mighty 11 team to compete both here and in Australia. 

Tracy said for a small club CX riders do very well and most riders should make age group finals with the majority of them in contention for a podium place.

Due to Covid-19 restrictions causing difficulties ALX only sent four riders to the event last year. 

ALX president Taiwha Nelson said entries were up from 213 in 2022 to 659 this year.

Five of ALX’s contingent of ten have not competed in a nationals event before.

“We love to see our numbers growing and hope that we can get even more attending next year.

“We are confident that if [our riders] leave everything out on the track and have fun doing it, they will walk away with a smile on their faces; which at the end of the day is what we love to see… we always say ride hard, have fun and stay on your bikes.”

Taiwha said BMX is a family sport with the physical benefits of learning bike skills, balance and fitness, along with having fun.

“It also reaches resilience, patience, to overcome fear, to push your limits and to get up when you fall, literally.” 

Both clubs have fundraised for months for the event costs.

ALX has run a carwash, scratchie boards, raffles, and barbecue at local events. CX has chopped firewood, marshalled at events, picked grapes and sold raffles.  

Both clubs thanked their local business sponsors, funders, friends and whānau for their support. 

Riders line up at a recent ALX club training night

The 2023 BMX National Championships hosted by Tauranga BMX Club at Cambridge Park have a practice day on Friday and two days of racing. 

Riders from elite to amateur and aged from five to more than 50 will battle it out in head to head racing for the prized 'NZ' ranking for 2023.

For more information see @BMXNationalchampionships on Facebook, or visit bmx.net.nz.

The event will be livestreamed on YouTube, and ALX and CX will post results on their Facebook pages.