SIBLINGS, Kayla and Dylan Eggar, probably didn’t want to share their toys when they were younger, but they certainly are proud of sharing their love of BMX racing as they both claimed the South African BMX champion titles recently.
Kloof’s Kayla (21) and Dylan (19) participated in the 2018 SA BMX Championships on 6 and 7 October at Alexandra Park, Pietermaritzburg.
They both came first in their respective divisions, Kayla being named the SA Champ and leading woman in the 14 and above category and Dylan named the Elite Champ, which means he is the fastest BMX rider in South Africa at pro level.
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Dylan, began riding at the age of three when Kayla introduced him to the sport and he has gone to claim the SA BMX Champion title no less than 11 times in a row, and has now changed his status to elite.
Even though Kayla was the one who introduced Dylan to the sport, she admits that she did lose interest over the years and took a back seat with training and riding, but decided to compete again this year with not much training and still managed to come up tops.
“I was not expecting to win, I didn’t think I was well prepared and thought I was just going to do the competition for fun. But now I am motivated to defend my title,” she said.
Dylan said the whole family was surprised and very happy when Kayla decided to come back to riding professionally.
Kayla’s love for BMX started when she was five and her dad took her and her brother to the tracks to teach Dylan to ride a bicycle without training wheels and she immediately fell in love with the sport.
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“Over the years, I felt that my fitness was very important, which is why I started focusing on losing weight. I am very passionate about fitness, motivating others to live better lives and reach their full potential,” she said.
Dylan’s win, on the other hand, was expected as he has been working hard all these years to be named Elite SA champion.
“I trained everyday, more than 10 hours a week,” he said.
His long term goal is to compete in the Olympics in 2020.
“I’m also looking forward to the African championships in Egypt in November which will help with my 2020 Olympics qualifications,” he added.
Dylan was one of 28 South African BMX specialists who headed to Rockhill, South Carolina to represent the country in the BMX World Championships from 23 to 30 July last year.
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He is determined and committed to the sport.
“I will do this as a career until the age of 30 and will then look into coaching,” he said.
Dylan’s talent has received international recognition and he has nine world numbers under his belt, meaning he was placed in the top eight in world championships.
In 2016 he was one of two KwaZulu-Natal’s great junior BMX enthusiasts to take part in a BMX training camp identifying young talent from around the world, at the UCI World Cycling Centre (WCC) in Switzerland.
Kayla is studying towards being a qualified fitness instructor and she wants to continue helping people reach their full potential.
The siblings say there is no rivalry, rather they learn from each other. “I feed off him rather than compete with him,” said Kayla.
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