Action packed weekend of BMX racing

IT was a weekend of action-packed BMX racing at Giba Gorge Park at the weekend.

Despite intermittent spouts of drizzle, the warm KwaZulu-Natal sunshine shone through the clouds, and kept the cold away. Kita Uys, who dominated the 11-13 girls' category, was chuffed with her performance on Saturday. “The competition was tough, but I tried my best and did quite well. I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s racing as well, I’m going to try my best for similar results,” she said.

KwaZulu-Natal’s Manqoba Madida said: “Today has been going so great so far, I’ve been so happy to be racing such a big event. I just raced my final now and came fourth, but that’s because I got squished in the first straight, but it doesn’t matter,” he laughed.

The African Continental BMX Championships welcomed riders from Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa.

South Africa’s Kyle Dodd took the National and Continental titles in the Elite Men’s races. “The morning went well, we were just hoping that the weather would play its part, because rain and racing don’t quite go together. I had good confidence going into SA Champs in the afternoon,” he said.

Saturday night’s rains and Sunday’s winds proved to be a little more challenging for the riders, but nothing that they couldn’t handle on the track. “After the rain last night, the track was very wet this morning and so we could only start on the small hill. I didn’t let it affect me. I just wanted to stay strong and smooth. The wind today was just crazy. There were headwinds and crosswinds but us athletes have to take it in our stride and deal with it and carry on racing to the best of our ability,” said Dodd.

South African National and African Continental Champion in the 14 and over girls' category, Georgie Grassie has been into cycling for over eight years. “I think it’s because I’m an extreme sports and adrenaline junkie like my dad. I love riding motorbikes, and I do a lot of different types of cycling, but BMX is my favourite,” she said.

Day two was an excellent one for Durban rider Dylan Eggar, who claimed the top honours in the Junior Men’s race, ahead of Tyler Klumper (second) and Manqoba Madida (third). “Yesterday, I was feeling good the whole day and just made a silly mistake on the first turn, but for the final in African Champs I was focused. I worried about nothing else but my own race,” he added.

Cycling South Africa President, William Newman said: “When I arrived and saw all of the young girls and boys lining up to do their motos, I thought, ‘wow, cycling is in a very good space.’ We have a lot of talent. It shows here because we have a lot of young girls and boys participating in the sport, and BMX is the best way to teach them about and get them involved in cycling. The finals were also so exciting. Our challenge now is to ensure that we have BMX in all nine provinces, and active. We would also like to see more African nations taking part in the Continental Championships, but to have four nations is a great stepping stone.”