Leave it to the Cochrane BMX Association to save its best performance for late in the season.
Nine riders from the club have qualified for the 2017 BMX World Championships after bagging National plates (N-plates) at the Canadian BMX Championships over the weekend in Calgary.
The competition was the largest yet for the sport in Canadian history, as 600 riders, including 25 from the Cochrane club descended on the Calgary BMX Track in the hopes of taking their shot at glory with the top eight riders in each race booking their ticket to the big show.
Brian Otterson (cruiser, N4), Haylee Laurell (6, N4), Nathan Vlahakis (7, N4), AJ Laurell (8, N4), Jaxon Ross (8, N7), Ashytnn Forsberg (8, N2), Caleb Graham (10, N5), Sam Scott (10, N8) and Katie Scott (13, N4) all are set to take part in the adventure of a lifetime when they face the best BMX riders the globe has to offer in Rock Hill, South Carolina, next July.
“It’s pretty amazing when you think about it,” said Cochrane BMX president Brad Christensen. “The top riders from all across Canada are competing, so it’s a hard test for the kids. British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec all have some amazing riders and for our guys to be able to hang with them for most of the track was a huge accomplishment.
“It makes me so excited. They’re not even my kids, but I’m so happy for them.”
The club has never had this many competitors qualify directly for the Worlds before, and Christensen feels having the Canadian Championships in Western Canada for the first time since he’s been at the club played a big part in his group’s success.
“We haven’t seen many kids at our club get N-plates,” he said. “But, we hoped and we knew we had some good riders so I was crossing my fingers. They exceeded expectations.
“It was an amazing weekend.”
Another factor in the club’s success was its team’s familiarity with the Calgary track, which is one of the longest in Alberta and not only tests a rider’s skill but their endurance.
However, since many of the young riders had participated in camps in Calgary, it wasn’t something that daunted them and the surface (paved corners, with dirt and clay straight-aways like most BMX tracks) was not something unknown.
“It’s a well-groomed track and challenging, but the kids love it and have to be in shape for it,” Christensen explained. “All of the kids had prepared for it and some of it paid off.”
While the BMX president finds it hard to pick one of his own riders as a standout, something that put a smile on his and hundreds of the kids’ faces who had gathered in Calgary was the appearance of Olympic BMXer and New Westminster native Tory Nyhaug who had recently returned from Brazil, with a fifth-place finish in the men’s individual competition.
“He was mister popularity,” Christensen smiled. “There were hundreds of kids who swarmed him wanting pictures and autographs. He just about signed everything for every kid, so that was good to see.”
The club’s competitive members will be wrapping up their season in a couple weeks with the end of the Provincial Circuit in Red Deer Sept. 10. The Alberta Championship will be the following day.
“We expect to have around 40 riders heading up for the weekend and I guarantee we’ll have a lot of kids coming home with Alberta plates.” Christensen said. “If you missed out on an N-plate, an AB-plate is the next best thing.
“A lot of our guys will be training hard the next few weeks.”
