UCI BMX World Championships Kick Off In Birmingham This Week

TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE

2,000 BMX riders descend upon Birmingham this week to take part in the UCI BMX World Championships at the National Indoor Arena (NIA) from May 24^th-27^th.  The event will showcase four days of exhilarating, adrenaline fuelled BMX Racing, with Olympic GB hopefuls Shanaze Reade and Liam Phillips competing in their last event before the London 2012 Olympics.  Tickets are still available at www.bmxworldchamps.com to watch them in action.

A BMX Racing track is being built from scratch in the NIA in just one week, building dirt jumps and trails to replicate an outside BMX track, with capacity to seat an audience of over 4,000 on each of the four days of racing.  Over 8,000 pallets and 3,000 tonnes of dirt have been sourced to construct the track from local suppliers.

The event has two different standards of rider competing, including an elite racing ‘Championships’ competition and the amateur ‘Challenge’ class.  Whilst tickets can be bought across the whole Championships, the organisers have packed most of the finals into two showcase nights of racing and entertainment including music from international DJ Christian Stevenson. ‘Challenge’ class finals and elite time trials will be the focal point of the Friday evening, whilst Saturday night will see the Elite Championship finals, where the world’s best riders will race elbow to elbow for the honour of wearing the rainbow stripes of World Champion for the next 12 months.

Three times winner of the UCI BMX World Championships Shanaze Reade said, “I’m really looking forward to competing in Birmingham in a few weeks. It’s fantastic that Birmingham is hosting the World Championships and taking another World Championships title would be great preparation before the Olympics. I’m really excited about competing in my home country at major competitions twice this year.”

Steve Hollingworth, Assistant Director of Sport & Events at Birmingham City Council said, “In what is a huge year for the sport of BMX, hosting the BMX World Championships is yet another major event to further enhance Birmingham’s reputation as a World Class Sporting City. The sport of BMX is rapidly growing in popularity in the city and the legacy of the BMX World Championships can be appreciated with the newly built Birmingham BMX Track at Perry Park which opened last year.”

Jonny Clay, Event Director for the UCI BMX World Championships said, “The 2012 BMX World Championships is the latest in a string of major events that British Cycling has successfully bid for in recent years. We can already see the legacy of the event here in Birmingham with the creation of the new International BMX facility at Perry Park.  It’s really exciting that the World Championships are in Birmingham this year, only months before the Olympics.”

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