There was a fantastic turnout at the recent night on the Cherryorchard BMX track in West Dublin. But DCBMX and Lucan CRC want more kids to have fun and race in the safe indoor environment.
By Graham Healy
Earlier this year, new cycling club Dublin City BMX was formed to help promote BMX racing in Ireland and to ensure the indoor track in Cherryorchard, west Dublin, continued to be used after its operator BMX Pursuits discontinued its operations there.
Since the start of the year, DCBMX has grown from strength-to-strength and was recently visited by World Champion Kelvin Batey.
Club chairman Keith Steacy is just one of the people behind the new project and is very enthusiastic about what the sport can offer.
“It’s so important to get kids on bikes," he told stickybottle.
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"BMX can be an introduction to cycling where kids can then progress to the road, mountain biking, the track or even stick with BMX racing. It’s so frustrating to see kids spending all of their spare time playing Playstations when they could be taking part in a sport like this.”
In the past, BMX has been the first introduction to the sport of cycling for riders such as Team GB Olympic track sprinting doyenne Chris Hoy and Australian multi Tour de France stage winner Robbie McEwen.
“We’re behind other countries like Australia, Germany, Holland and the UK, but there’s no reason why we can’t get to that level quicker if we have kids racing throughout both the winter and summer season,” says Steacy.
DCBMX has now set up a league which takes place on Fridays and also has sessions on Wednesday nights. There are various age categories for both boys and girls as young as Under-6.
However, the main difficulty the club face is meeting the monthly rental costs of the building.
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“We don’t receive any funding, we’ve had some fundraisers and have received some sponsorship, but it’s a struggle,” says Steacy.
Therefore, they would like to encourage more people to utilise the facility, whether its parents taking their kids along or adults racing themselves.
“It’s not only BMXs that are welcome; we also encourage younger kids to use strider bikes before they can move onto bikes with pedals,” said Steacy.
Lucan CRC is one club that recently held its first open night at the track. The club had asked its adult members to bring along their families for the introduction night, and there was a very good turn-out that evening, so the club feels it’s going to become a regular activity.
Club member Eugene Murtagh has been really impressed by the set-up.
“BMX really helps the kids to improve their bike-handling skills and they love it,” he said.
Murtagh also feels the track will help address one of the big problems facing Irish cycling; the higher age profile of new bike riders.
“Our club membership is really growing, as are other clubs, but we’re mostly seeing newcomers in their 30s," he said.
"That's great in itself, but for the future of the sport we need to see more kids involved. It’s difficult for cycling to compete against GAA, soccer and rugby, but this is a great way to introduce kids to the sport, as it’s safe.”
Murtagh continued: “A number of the senior cyclists from the club are now planning on racing there during the winter as an alternative to using the turbo; to eliminates the boredom."
More information is available through their website http://dcbmx.ie/ or from Keith Steacy – 087 878 3961
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