Over the August Bank Holiday weekend, 27 members of the the Royston BMX Racing Club travelled to Derby for the 2019 BMX British Championships along with almost 1300 other riders travelling from across the British Isles.
For the Royston club this was the largest number of riders taking part and a few made podium positions on the international standard track that was running fast and smooth. With temperatures during most of the racing over 30C the event administrators had to change plans at the last minute to try and keep riders in the shade for as long as possible but once on the track the sun was scorching.
Highlight of the event for Royston was Elizabeth (Maggie) Bown who took the British Champion title in the Female 11yr class and will ride the 2020 season on the coveted “01” plate. Other Finalist successes were Josh Abbott who finished 4th in the Cruiser 13-14 year category just missing the podium by a photo finish decision, Joshua Izzard took 5th place in the Male 15 year old class with Harriet Alexander in 7th in the Female 15 yrs and James King in 8th in the Junior Men (17-18yr) class.
Royston Rockets BMX Racing Club hosted the BMX East Regional Championship at their home track in Burns Road on September 8th. The event attracted 170 riders from across the region, including 35 from the Rockets
Royston riders making podium position were DEACON CHILDS in second in the 6 and Under, BEN MILLINGTON in first in the 8yr male, OLLY GILKS-STOKES in third in the 9yr male, JOSHUA WEBB in third in the 10yr male, ELIZABETH BOWN once again showing the boys the way home with first in the 11 yr male with DOMINIC HINES in third in the same class, FREDDIE CADMAN-CARPENTER took third in the 13yr male class and JOSHUA ABBOTT took second in the Male 15 category. CIAN ARMSTRONG finished in first in the male 16’s as did IAN GUNNER in the Veteran Class (40+) and JAMES KING in the Superclass (17+) category. In the girls classes ANNALISE CADMAN-CARPENTER was unbeaten all day in the 9-10yr class as was HARRIET ALEXANDER in the 15-16 category. In the Cruiser classes, CARA RUSHFORTH took second in the Female 30+ class with JACK HUDSON also taking second in the 17-29 class and JOSHUA ABBOTT in the 13-14 category and final podium position of the day for Royston went to JOSHUA CLARK who took first in the 15-16 Cruiser category. Royston took the top club award in the racing with 293 points with Braintree in second on 290 and Norwich on 275 taking third.
The day rounded off with the infamous BMX East Relay race which involved 15 teams of six riders chasing the top spot which was taken by a team named “We Will Not Win”!
If you want to have a try at BMX racing, the Rockets hold regular open sessions on Saturday afternoons from 2.00pm and Tuesday evenings from 5.45pm. The club has a small number of loan bikes and helmets available to hire and our coaches will be on hand to assist and guide you through the first stages of BMX Racing. Riders must wear long trousers, long sleeved tops and gloves for practice sessions but full race protection will be required for racing – details can be found on the information pages of the club web site.
For more information on Royston BMX Club please see www.roystonrockets.co.uk or visit the club on Saturday afternoons or Tuesday evenings.
Three pictures attached – a group of most of the club riders and two of Maggie Bown – World number 5, British and Regional Champion.
