BMX riders US-bound for champs
The Te Awamutu BMX Club will have five riders winging their way to Rockhill, South Carolina in the United States in two weeks to represent New Zealand at the 2024 UCI BMX World Championships.
The championships take place between May 12 and 18.
Siblings Brooke, Sophie and Luca Penny, along with Tate Burdon and Baiden Prescott, have all qualified for the event by way of their top-eight rankings at last year’s New Zealand BMX National Championships in Tauranga.
Brooke (NZ2), Luca (NZ3), Sophie (NZ4), Baiden (NZ4) and Tate (NZ6) have been training and racing nonstop over the last six months to hone their skills and master their craft on many tracks around New Zealand in the hope of coming home from America with some great results.
At their home club, they have been at the track most weekdays, and on top of that, have been training on Saturdays with the other New Zealand riders heading to the world champs.
Any chance they get, they are back at the track or local velodrome for more practice sessions and battling among themselves to improve.
This trip to the world champs will be a first for Luca, Sophie, Baiden and Tate, so it will serve as a massive eyeopener and great experience.
It will also be a great opportunity to see where their skills stack up against the best riders from around the world.
The Te Awamutu BMX Club are very proud of these riders and know they will represent them and our country with pride, putting in 100 per cent of their efforts.
Club president Rodney Prescott says whatever the results are, they should be very proud of their achievements thus far in their careers.
It’s not easy getting to an event like this — there has been a lot of fundraising in the last six months.
The club would like to thank the riders’ family and friends and the members of the wider Te Awamutu community who have supported these riders to fulfil their dreams.