The Blue Lake BMX Club was the place to be last weekend with two huge events bringing riders from all corners of the state to the Limestone Coast.
Across four days of non-stop pedalling action the club hosted the Australian Country Championships and the South Australian State Titles.
No less than 350 riders competed in the two prestigious competitions and these numbers ensured it was an overwhelming success, according to Blue Lake BMX Club president Stephen Jones.
He said the packed schedule was the best BMX action Mount Gambier has seen for eight years and was worth the mountain of hard work.
“It was a great weekend,” he said.
“The last time we hosted an event of this size was the 2012 Australian Championships, so it was some of the best riding we have had in the last eight years.
“We have been aiming for the state titles for around two years and once we knew we could still run it this year, it was going to take a lot to stop us after putting in so much work.
“Thankfully we had good weather across the weekend, which made for good racing.”
Organisers estimated the event brought at least 2000 people to Mount Gambier and to comply with COVID-19 regulations the riders were divided into three blocks across the two days to minimise groups convening at the track.
Racing against such a high-quality field the local Blue Lake BMX riders displayed flying colours in the state titles.
Saturday brought a flurry of success with youngsters Raine Scott, Harrison Smith, Cruz Castleman, Grady Reid, Reuben Thompson, Taj Vandepeer, April Jones, Rubi Beever and Levi Scotland all winning their respective class.
During Sunday morning’s block of racing Jasmine Morgan shone brightly to dominate the 12 Girls grade and become state champion.
Jaiden Picken, Peter Jelleff, Scott Bradley, Ava Reid and Jade Jennings also performed to score podium places.
The leading Limestone Coast rider in the final block on Sunday afternoon was Lily Kradolfer.
Kradolfer claimed three heat wins on her way to the 10 Girls state title, while Lily Jones and Mercedes Scott scored podiums in 10 Girls and Superclass Women respectively.
Despite all of the success, Stephen Jones said the mega weekend was close to being a non-event after a troubled lead in.
“If we didn’t receive a COVID package from the City of Mount Gambier to help with signs, sanitisers and extra toilets we would’ve struggled financially,” he said.
“We also struggled a fair bit on Wednesday trying to get the track ready because we had such poor weather.
“But we had great support from club members to get the track back to the standard it needed to be.”
Fortunately everything went to plan and Jones said the successful staging of the state titles leaves the club well placed for the future.
“We have had a big year building up to this event and it created a lot of interest, so it is a big boost for the club,” he said.
“We plan to keep moving forward and improve our facility to get more events.”
