Year End Banquet

It's over... the 2007 season is done and to celebrate we all attended the year end banquet. There was lots of food, lots of kids, and lots of fun.

Big Weekend for KBMX

Elite Male pro riders practise their starts before the races begin at the Kingston BMX Olympic-qualifying races at Woodbine Park on Saturday. BMX will be featured as an Olympic sport for the first time in 2008. World Supercross champion, the U.S.A.'s Donny Robinson (10), is second from right.; Above: Douglas Hayes (05) leads Alexander Sailer around a banked corner in the Junior Male division at the Kingston BMX Olympic-qualifying races at Woodbine Park on Saturday. BMX will be featured as an Olympic sport for the first time in 2008.; Right: Andrew Harper of Kingston rides in the Kingston BMX Olympic-qualifying races at Woodbine Park.; Below: U.S.A.'s Kim Hayashi (10) leads the pack, followed closely by Stephanie Barragan and Amanda Geving, in the Elite Female pro division of the Kingston BMX Olympic-qualifying races on Saturday.; World Supercross champion, America's Donny Robinson (10) flies through the air, trailed by Kyle Bennett (88) in the Elite Male pro drivision of the Kingston BMX Olympic-qualifying races at Woodbine Park on Saturday. BMX racing will be featured as an Olympic sport for the first time in 2008.

Photo: Mark Bergin

Gearing up for the Summer Games;

BMX racers in town to compete in Olympic-qualifying event

Erin Flegg Local News - Monday, August 27, 2007 @ 00:00

There are 10 months, 15 qualifying races and hundreds of points to be won before BMX racing makes its Olympic debut in Beijing next summer, but Dutch rider Robert De Wilde is taking it one lap at a time. "The great thing about BMX racing is the lap before doesn't mean anything for the lap to come," he said. "It's just one lap at a time, all the time." Things can change very quickly. "The difference between a good lap and a bad lap is very small," he said. Elite male and female riders competed at Peter Brierley Memorial Track at Woodbine Park this weekend in the Great Lakes International. They were trying to gain points for both themselves and their country in preparation for the Olympic team selection next May. Riders as young as seven years old also competed for the glory of their home clubs. Racing was delayed several times because of rain Saturday, but De Wilde said it's something all riders are used to. "It's a BMX jinx or something," he said.

The event was the first Union Cycliste Internationale-sanctioned event held in Ontario in five years. A total of 32 riders will compete in Beijing with the country with the highest points total in May earning the right to send the biggest team. De Wilde finished second overall in Saturday's Olympic-qualifying event. American Mike Day won the event and Canadian Patrick Lebel rounded out the top three. Among the women, Alberta native Samantha Cools took top spot with Americans Jill Kintner and Stephanie Barragan taking second and third. Leading the world rankings after two international qualifying races, including last week's Supercross World Cup held on the Olympic course in Beijing, De Wilde said it's still too soon to put any stock in the numbers. "There's so much of the season left to go," he said after racing Saturday. He said many of the professional riders at the event were still jet-lagged from the flight back from China and many of them will leave for Louisville, Kentucky to race in the National Bicycle League BMX Grand National beginning Thursday. Riders will compete almost every weekend through the fall. "It's a little bit of pain," De Wilde said of the grueling schedule, "but, oh, well." Despite being early in the season, De Wilde said Saturday's race was important not only because of the potential to elevate the Netherlands in the world ranking, but also because he is competing against his countrymen to fill one of the spots. Though he competes for the Netherlands, De Wilde has been training in California since 2001. He said he chose to make the switch in locale because the best athletes in the sport were coming out of the United States. Will Greathouse, Saturday's fifth place finisher who trains out of Woodhouse Sports Camp in Pennsylvania, said he was happy just to have survived the slippery conditions. "For the weather conditions, I'm pretty pleased to make the main and to walk out of here in one piece." Kingston native Andrew Harper competed Saturday in the junior men's category. He finished third in the 20-inch category - his first time competing in the event - and he won cruiser division. At 17, Harper is still too young to think about competing in Beijing, but any points he accumulates during the season will go toward his ranking on the Canadian circuit, as well as counting toward Canada's world ranking. He said he does have his sights set on the 2012 Games. In his seventh year of racing, he's focused on gaining experience on a variety of tracks in new locations. "I'm going to try and go as far as I can," he said. "But if I want to go further, get faster, I've got to travel places."

KBMX UCI Weekend

Here are pictures of the weekends highlights... but I think the main highlight was meeting with pros! They were all awesome - on and off the track!

LC in the NEWS

Belleville's LC, 11, with the No. 7 Canadian ranking plate on his BMX bike.
Photo: Paul Svoboda

BMX racer seventh in Canada
Paul Svoboda Local Sports - Thursday, August 23, 2007
Updated @ 7:57:58 AM

LC may be the seventh-ranked BMX racer for his age group in Canada, but in his neighbourhood he's just another kid on a bike. Five children on LC's east end Belleville street are full-fledged BMX racers but LC is arguably the best. At the recent Canadian championships in Bromont, Quebec, the Grade 6 student earned the No. 7 ranking in Canada for his Expert 11-year-old division.

"Our neighbour raced as a kid and one day he took five of us to the BMX park in Kingston," says LC, explaining his introduction to the rugged sport four years ago. Dad2JB, who raced as a youngster growing up in Sarnia, is responsible for starting the neighbourhood craze. "I like the jumps and the speed," says LC. "You meet lots of people and make lots of friends." LC recently returned from Victoria, B.C. where he placed 32nd in a field of 400 in his category. He races this weekend in Kingston, then at the provincial championships in September in Milton. The Belleville rider hopes the city soon has its own BMX park. City council has already entertained two deputations on the subject and is considering using land at West Zwicks Park for a BMX layout. "It'll be good once they get a park in Belleville," says LC. "Then we won't have to drive to Kingston anymore." Right now, LC and his family make two trips per week to the Limestone City to use the BMX park. Even his Dad2LC, has tried the sport. There are races in Kingston every weekend during the summer and LC figures he participates in about eight over the season which also includes inter-provincial events in other parts of Ontario and Quebec.

KC in the News

Local bicycle champion turns pedals to medals
Paul Svoboda / The Intelligencer Local Sports - Friday, July 27, 2007 Updated @ 7:46:08 AM

Like father, like daughter. Twenty-something years ago, Dad2KCandBC was a provincial champion BMX racer. Today, his eight-year-old daughter, K, is following in his footsteps, er, pedals. The Rossmore resident recently took first place in the girls 9-10 age category at the Canadian BMX championships in Bromont, Quebec in only her second year of racing. K actually credits her 12-year-old brother, B, for introducing her to the sport she now loves. "She picked it up from her brother," says Dad2KCandBC. "She was at the track all the time anyway." "I started using my brother's old bike and thought it was pretty easy so the next summer I started racing," says KC. With her victory in Quebec in a field of seven riders, K earned the No. 1 ranking in Canada for her age group but due to family commitments will be unable to attend the 2007 world championships this weekend in Victoria, B.C. K, who figure skates in the winter and also plays soccer in the summer, says she likes BMX racing for a variety of reasons. "Mostly, I like how all the tracks are different," she says. "Some are hard, some are easy. I also like that you get to see different people of different ages at the races." Dad2KCandBC says a decent BMX bike costs about $500. Since Belleville lacks a proper training and racing facility, the family drives twice a week to Kingston from May to September to use the BMX park there. Dad2KCandBC says more children in the Quinte region would take up the sport if they didn't have to travel to train and compete. "There are about a dozen Belleville riders (who compete regularly) right now," he says. "We have a lot of good provincial riders here and we need to get them to the next level. I keep piling more kids into my truck and taking them to Kingston." Dad2KCandBC has approached Belleville city council with plans for a proposed BMX park development. He said land at East Zwicks Park would be ideal for a track. "I'm not looking for any money, we can raise that," says Dad2KCandBC. "We just need some land - about 200 X 300 feet. You can get a track going for about $45,000 and you can be up and running in five days." Dad2KCandBC says about 30 youngsters would sign up for a Belleville BMX club now and he believes membership would quickly reach 100. "That's about what you need to maintain a club," he says. It costs $185 to join the Kingston BMX club, says Dad2KCandBC, and the next closest facility is in Milton. He says the lack of more BMX parks in Ontario puts provincial riders at a disadvantage at the Canadian and world championships. "Riders from Quebec and B.C. can race two or three times a week because there are more parks there," he says. "We have fast kids right here. We just need a facility to get them to the next level." Meanwhile, K will continue to work on her BMX skills. She is also attracting more girls to the sport, says her father. "She pushes herself to the point where she crashes," says Dad2KCandBC. "She had a couple of doozies in Quebec but she's a tough cookie. Every time we show up for a race it seems another little girl shows up the next time. More and more are coming to the sport."

Port Elgin

Congratulations riders! You did great in Port Elgin!!!! If you have pics, send them over and I'll post them.

This is WC

He is the one of the original riders and still as excited to get on to the track. He has more ribbons than what he know what to do with and the trophies are taking up too much space on his shelf ... He is a total competitor he takes the track on like a mad man!