Riders ready for the 2021 AusCycling BMX National Championships

Close to one thousand Australian BMX riders are ready for bar-to-bar racing in search of a coveted national title at the 2021 AusCycling BMX National Championships to be contested at Nerang BMX Club from December 18-20.

The first BMX National Championships to be held under the banner of AusCycling, it is also the first to be held for more than two years after the COVID pandemic forced the cancellation of the 2020 event.

The marquee event will see riders from around the country descend on Nerang BMX Club for the club’s first National Championships in twenty-five years.

Over three days, riders will pedal their way through Nerang’s tight and technical track, including Olympian Saya Sakakibara and reigning elite men’s champion and world number seven, Izaac Kennedy.

Sakakibara will be determined to grab her first elite women’s title after taking out the junior elite title in 2017. The National Championships will be the 22-year-old’s first major event since the Olympic Games after a concussion sustained during Tokyo 2020 ruled her out for the remainder of the UCI BMX SX calendar.

The Southlake Illawarra BMX Club rider will line up against the likes of former national champion Erin Lockwood and Queensland champion Taylah Maurice in what promises to be a stacked field.

After missing out on the 2019 National Championships, Lockwood is keen to try to emulate the form that brought her glory in 2018.

“2018 is for sure my highlight Nationals, it was the first year I won a title and being my first year in elite was the cherry on top. I made so many memories at nationals that year, travelling with friends, riding new tracks and winning my first national title,” she said.

“I’m super excited to have a home National Championships, being the track I’ve grown up at I definitely know my way around it, and it’s a huge milestone for the club. All the committee and kids we coach are so excited to see some of the best come to their home track.”

On the men’s ledger, Kennedy, recently crowned AusCycling’s HutSix Men’s BMX Rider of Year, will be looking to replicate his near-perfect run at the 2019 BMX National Championships.

Nerang has been a happy hunting ground for the 21-year-old, taking out the last National Series round at the track in 2020.

“It feels kind of weird. (It) nearly feels like I’m not the national champion as it was so long ago but coming into this one the goal is to back it up - I’m not here to get second,” Kennedy said.

“Nerang is a track I train at a lot, and I really like it as a track, so just a couple more weeks of work now before I try to make it happen.”

Twenty-one other riders will be looking to snatch the crown of Kennedy in a loaded men’s elite field which includes former national champion and current Queensland champion, Brandon Te Hiko, former national champion Alex Cameron and young guns, Oliver Moran and Matty Tidswell.

“After a wait of more than 900 days, we are excited to be able to deliver a BMX National Championships for the community,” said AusCycling Executive General Manager of Sport Kipp Kaufmann.

“The Championships has produced some memorable moments in the past and we hope everyone can enjoy the action.”

Entrants from 100 Australian clubs, aged from two to 75, will descend on the Gold Coast with racing beginning on Saturday evening and concluding on Monday.

The action at the 2021 AusCycling BMX National Championships begins with practice for riders on Saturday morning, December 18 with the Superclass and Junior Superclass racing in the evening.

Sunday, December 19 will feature all cruiser classes and the mini wheelers and sprockets.

Monday, December 20 will be the big-ticket item as the championship events, with elite classes, fight for the coveted A1 plate awarded to the national champion,

More information can be found here.

Check out the start list here