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Thursday, 09 August 2012 00:00

With the worlds media focusing on the London Olympics it easy to think that every thing is all glitz and glamour in the world of sports, and for all but the lucky few its not.

So with this in mind we decided to go to the other of the spectrum and make the 150 mile round trip to a mid week club race at the Bradford Bandits BMX Club to see our sport of BMX at the grass roots Level, certainly no glitz or glamour here.

This is hardcore bmx racing this is the no thrills end of the bmx racing spectrum, no massive grandstands no major sponsors its a Tuesday night in the British summer , where local riders are racing a local track in a public park a far cry from the Olympic track with its painted white lines an freshly laid turf infield and no doubt a surface as smooth as a slab of marble. When Fastlane arrived at the track you could tell that the track had some water damage through the heavy summer showers, but this did not put off the well drilled members of the BRADFORD BANDITS BMX CLUB , everyone just got on with the job in hand and repaired the damage with no fuss and no hassle, so the local riders could race.....

Around 50 riders signed up to race, ranging from the local kids of Bradford who had hired a bike and a helmet so they could race, all the way up to a very well know international bmx/mtb rider , everyone one mixed with each other no heirs and graces at this level of bmx racing. And for one night the mid week bmx warrior was a champion, they raced their hearts out giving 110% each and every time the raced and every rider had a smile on their faces as they crossed the finish line, it was a joy to see.

They where no gold medals to win last night, just points towards a summer series and I guess a trophy at the end for the winning riders, but to the riders last night it not about the prizes, its all about the love and passion of riding a bmx bike the challenge of taking on a bmx track, I think we all get wrapped up in the glitz and glamour of the big bmx race meetings, yes we do need the big meetings and world wide TV coverage to bring in new blood to the sport of bmx and their first point of contact is local club's and races.


Without hard working volunteers we would not have the sport of bmx racing or the newbie novice riders the experts and pro's of tomorrow, while we all want to rub shoulders with the worlds best riders ,don't forget to support your local clubs without them we would have no racing. Find your nearest BMX club here.

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Roll up, roll up for the greatest show on earth! Fastlane BMX would like to wish team GB BMX racers Shanaze Reade and Liam Phillips a safe and successful Olympics... Don't forget to tune in for the full BBC schedule click here.