HAYES Hawks BMX Club has a clutch of riders who have qualified for this month’s World Championships in Glasgow.
The volunteer-run club, based alongside Lake Farm Park, will be closely following the fortunes of 10 members. They are:
Penny Blackburn and Iris Hajda, female 10; Benjamin Rough, male 13; Megan Roy, female 14; Cody Coker and Nate Barata, male 14; Charlie Rough, male 15-16 cruiser; Chay Young, male 16; Shaun Tobin, male 17-24; and Anita Wong, 40+ women.
The club (previously called Hillingdon Hawks) was established in 1981 by a group of youngsters and their parents.
It was the first in the UK to have a hydraulic gate with lights, which was still in use until its replacement by a more modern barrel gate last year
The club moved to its current home in 2003 and the track was redeveloped in 2012.
Chairman Scott Dick has been involved almost since its inception and has held office for more than 30 years.
Currently, training sessions are held twice weekly on Saturday and Wednesday and the club caters for beginners through to experts. If you can ride a bike, there’s a session for you.
There are around 100 regular members, ranging from four years old to over 40.
The club hosts south regional races, and the ambition is to run bigger events if it can obtain grants to develop the track and instal mains water.
Head coach Mark Seaman previously coached the current Olympic gold medallist, Bethany Shriever. His colleague, Sean Freeman, raced to a high level in Australia and has been with the club for around nine years.
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