The first ever BMX Schools Competition was successfully organised on the 12th of October 2016 at The National Cycling Centre Platt Fields venue.
We had all 4 places filled by schools who attended with teams of 4 riders, and they all impressed coaches, teachers and parents, and had a fantastic time. Congratulations to all schools involved and each rider, and an even bigger congratulations to our winning school St Catherine’s Primary, Didsbury.
The evening started with a safety talk and introduction by brilliant track staff, sharing over 50 years of BMX riding experience! Before the group was split into two for the practice rounds. Some riders practiced their quick starts first, and others practised cornering first, before swapping over. Coaches were really impressed with how quickly the riders took on board their tips and how quickly their confidence grew.
Next up was the time trial round, which also acted as a round of seeding for our race event at the end, with each rider completing the course starting at 30 second intervals and recording their times. At this point it started to become clear which riders were really picking it up and had what it takes to win their event, with 1 or 2 really standing out.
After the time trial heats there just left the final race round which was split into 2 races from the individual timings recorded during the time trial. As the light faded and the floodlights kicked in, legs were starting to tire about now and there was a couple of riders falling, but they bounced straight back up and kept on racing which was great to see!
We finished with massive round of applause for all our riders for doing such a brilliant job, and by giving out some medals for each round. The time trial round was split into boys and girls, with the winners being presenting with a BMX trophy, Ashton representing St Catherine’s took the boys trophy home, and Mariella from Cavendish with the girls.
If it wasn’t already clear who the fastest riders were at this point(!), we presented 4 medals to the 1st and 2nd place for the boys and girls race. Boys winners were Ashton representing St Catherine’s in 1st, and Jacob from Cavendish in 2nd. The medal winners for girls were by Mariella from Cavendish and Chantal from St Catherine’s. Points were scored for each rider, in each event, and the school scoring the most points was St Catherine’s, who took home our BMX Competition Winners Shield!
We had a great time and great feedback from schools and riders themselves, so we’ll look forward to next years BMX Competition when riders and schools can come back to defend their title!
Next up is our Football Competition on the 30th November 2016, look out for our invites by letters and email.
