Even up till the day of the event it was unknown who would be riding the six-pack that Damo and Josh Stead had been working on the previous week. So showing up on the day to see veterans practicing early in the morning like Cam Pianta, Lee Kirkman, Nic Cooper and many more that travelled from as far North as the Gold Coast down to Canberra was a pleasant surprise. This sort of exposure is always a major boost for the local scene.

The event was split up into 2 days with the qualifiers to be held on the Saturday and the finals to be run on the Sunday. I don’t see the need to bore everyone with every little detail of the event but highlights of the weekend were young guns Mike Ross they might not have thrown down the craziest tech box jump trick but they were always having fun and basically oozed style and Watts dip 3 variations are just a treat to witness in real life. Local talent was flowing over the weekend to with Andrew Keevers, Matt Walker, Brendon White, Blake Saunders and Jesse Whybro all qualifying for the Amatuer finals on Sunday.

The biggest concern was always going to be the wind with the chosen location being right on the waterfront sure enough on the Sunday it was causing havoc. In the end the riders had to make the call that it was just too dangerous to ride especially since the day before two riders had to be taken away in an ambulance. Therefore positions were based of qualification positions from the day before which were:

Pro

1st Place – Nathan Philps

2nd Place – Brandon Burt
3rd Place – Dale O’Brien
4th Place – Thomas Glew
5th Place – Boyd Hilder

Amateur

1st Place – Oliver Frank
2nd Place – Andrew Keevers
3rd Place – Matt Walker
4th Place – Brendon White
5th Place – Josh Williams

Even though the finals never ran more events like this need to happen around the country. What I got from this event is there is more to BMX competitions than who won and rode the best on the day but more on focusing on the fun that we can have by riding a “little kids bike”.

Shoutout to Newtons Nations for putting on the event and also to major sponsors Competition Sponsors: Destination NSW, BMX Australia, Fist Handwear, Ride On & Core BMX for supporting Australian BMX.

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