UCI BMX Supercross to Air on NBC This August

Got a release from GSX late last week with news that the London Supercross (aka the London 2012 “Test Event”), will be broadcast on the NBC Network on August 21 (3:30PM, Eastern Time). This is the “mainstream” NBC network that reaches almost every home in the United States…so definitely awesome news for BMX Racing.

Then, in September, the Chula Vista SX will be aired on Universal Sports on October 1 at 7PM Eastern Time. Universal Sports is available on many cable systems, and also with a digital converter box, as a sideband to your local NBC affiliate. Unfortunately, subscribers without a set-top box, or with Dish Network, DirecTV or U-Verse will have to go buddy up to someone at the local sports bar & grille to see the action.

USA Cycling Announces London SX Crew

We were half-expecting this after the worlds next week, but with only two weeks between CPH and the London Olympics “Test Event,” Team USA has rostered a dozen riders to make the trip.

Men
1. Corben Sharrah (Tucson, AZ – GT Bicycles) SX ranked #2
2. Nic Long (Lakeside, CA. – Haro/Rockstar) SX ranked #12
3. David Herman (Wheat Ridge, CO – Intense BMX) SX ranked #14
4. Josh Meyers- (Treasure Island, FL – Ssquared/Answer)
5. Mike Day (San Diego, CA – GT/Red Bull)
6. Connor Fields (Henderson, NV – Chase BMX)

Women
1. Arielle Martin (Spanaway, WA – Intense BMX)- SX ranked #9
2. Amanda Carr (Punta Gorda, FL – Endeavor/Ripxx Racing) – SX ranked #15
3. Brooke Crain (Visalia, CA – Haro/Rockstar) – SX ranked #17
4. Alise Post (St. Cloud, MN – Redline Bicycles)
5. Amanda Geving (Largo, FL – MCS/Troy Lee Designs)
6. Dani George (Palmdale, CA – Supercross BMX)

Best of luck to Team USA at both the UCI BMX World Championships, and the London SX. With 386 days til the next Olympic BMX gate falls, it’s getting all-too-real for this pack of powerhouses.

BMXers Not the Only Lot Facing Tough 2012 Course

Found this in The Telegraph today…seems BMXers are not the only ones getting stepped-up, more extreme courses for London 2012. Even the equestrian courses are getting amped up for the games. The current course at Greenwich Park has 19 jumps on it. That will be beefed up to 40 jumps for the final Olympic course. Their course is being compared to a BMX Track.

The article doesn’t quite reach the point of athletes openly criticizing the course, but Olympic hopeful, Pippa Funnell, was quoted in the piece as saying “It was quite nerve-racking. If it was Primmore’s Pride [her Athens 2004 ride] I would be dreading it, because he is so strong.”

On June 5, BMX News ran a feature story where 10 current BMX Supercross stars and Olympic hopefuls for the London games spoke out on their opinions on the Papendal SX track, they had raced on the week prior. When the final design for the London 2012 track was rather unceremoniously unveiled (we didn’t even receive a press release on it, and picked it up on an off-beat foriegn media website), it was clear that the Olympic track was a near-replica to the Papendal track, as had been rumored.

Just this weekend, in Salt Lake City, there was talk of riders organizing themselves to push back on the London course design (which will host the Olympic Test event next month), via a rider strike on the London event. The goal of such a move would be to get changes implemented on the London course that riders feel are necessary.

In email exchanges with some of the Elites who were in SLC, it seems this was more of a “what if” discussion among friends versus a formal “sign here” kind of thing. But the people we spoke to also said that their resolve is strong to get their grievances heard and acted upon.

BMX NEWS will be monitoring all developments on this important topic in the days and weeks ahead, and we will have coverage of the London Supercross next month, so stay tuned!

Here is a link to the article on The Telegraph website

Corben Sharrah Hits the Pages of Sports Illustrated

‘Tis the season for Olympic sponsors to start revving up the PR engine, as athletes start revving up their game in the dash to London 2012.

Straight out of the gate, comes a special advertising section from McDonald’s, entitled “Time|Out.” The section will run in an upcoming issue of Sports Illustrated and, though we have not seen the section in-full just yet, we can assume that it highlights up-and-coming athletes in Olympic sports. A similar section highlighted Apollo Ohno in 2004 (though, at that point, Ohno already had a Gold and a Silver medal from the Salt Lake games)

The interview covers some good ground, both on Corben and for BMX racing in general, allowing the reader a rare peek into how top athletes started down the path of their chosen sport. In Corben’s case, he says “My parents got me a bike when I was two, and I was riding it with no training wheels, basically the first time out. When I was five, this dirt track nearby had commercials on TV. I’d call the phone number, but hang up because I didn’t know what to say. So my dad took me one night to watch. The next week, he took me to ride. Ever since, I’ve been racing.”

A big thanks to McDonald’s for shining the spotlight on the great sport of BMX Racing, and on a tremendous athlete in Corben Sharrah. You chose very well.

News will update this story when we find out in which issue the section will appear–you’ll want to pick up a copy!

—Mike Carruth

Lex Gillette’s “Blind Faith” in BMX Racing

Story and Interview By Mike Carruth, Photos via YouTube

On BMX News, one of our primary goals is to bring you stories of extraordinary athletic accomplishment in the face of adversity. The rider who’s brain says “I can’t,” but who’s heart says “I must.” Our content is, by-and-large, all BMX, but the people who embody that credo are not always necessarily BMXers, by career.

Last October, we ran a story, written by Intense BMX Elite star Arielle Martin, talking about a day she spent on the Chula Vista Supercross track. It was not a story of the fastest lap time, or clearing this set or that. It was the story of a friend helping someone understand BMX racing in a way they otherwise could not, without her help.

That “someone” was two-time Paralympic Track & Field Silver Medalist, Elexis “Lex” Gillette. Lex is completely blind, but wanted to better understand the environment all his BMX friends at the OTC encounter on their day-to-day quest to make the 2012 US Olympic BMX Team.

Lex lives at the US Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista full-time, just like other Olympic (and Paralympic) hopefuls who are training full-time to represent our country in London next year. Lex’s training is substantially the same as any other athlete on the property, with special consideration given to their specific sport and unique training needs.

The day Arielle and Lex spent walking the track is wonderfully-accounted in the link below, so if you have not previously read it, we encourage you to do so.

But first, fast-forward to last week, when Arielle, and a few other OTC friends helped Lex take his curiosity for BMX racing a step further. They pulled an official “USA” jersey over his shoulders, strapped a helmet on his head and took him, aboard a “Team USA” Intense Podium, out to the last straight of the Beijing-replica track, for him to RIDE a BMX Supercross track, firsthand.

Video Of Arielle helping Lex ride the Chula Vista SX Track (will open in new window)

Now, to you and me, that might be challenge enough. But, think about doing it with a blindfold on, which is basically how Lex experienced it, and it elevates things to a whole new level of challenge.

The link to the video is also below, but we just had to get the full story from Lex’s own lips on his journey from being told, at eight years old, that he would never see again…to the Athens, then Beijing, Paralympic Games…and then to riding a BMX track that only our sport’s most celebrated and talented riders ever get the chance to ride.

It’s an interview that the entire family, regardless of age, should listen to, and underscores, in the most profound way, how you CAN do anything you set your mind to doing, regardless of the obstacles you may initially perceive are in your way.

Click Below to Listen To The Podcast

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Arielle’s BMX News article on Lex’s first walk on the track

Audio: The Song “Crazy,” By Lex Gillette, on his first BMX experience

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YouTube Video of Lex In Action in the Longjump

Lex Gillette on Twitter

Editor’s note: at :24 in the Podcast, we say Lex competed in two “Olympic” games. That should have been “Paralympic” Games. We apologize for the error.

Liam Phillips Off BMX Track, On Another

The press release has been out there for a week or so that Liam Phillips was going to hang up his 65 plate, and move over to the left-turn lifestyle of track cycling. Vintage had a mysterious thread yesterday, entitled “Olympian done with SX tracks,” but no word if this thread is about Liam’s exit from the game, or if there may be further stars in the BMX SX universe to spin out of our orbit.

BBC Sport ran a piece on Liam today, where the full story is laid down. The window of opportunity to make the team is only about another eight months, so it was kind of now or never.

Add to that, the fact that, In the BBC piece, Liam makes no bones about the bummer factor in getting broke off, SX style, saying “I was sick to death of BMX injuries and knew if there was another route to the Olympics, I’d be stupid not to take it…I haven’t completed a full season in the last four years. Every year I’ve had to miss races due to injury. Broken wrists, collarbones, a couple of shoulder surgeries, it’s been endless.”

Liam may very well be in luck in making the team, as BMX athletes are among the most versatile
in cycling, and usually do exceptionally well when crossing over to the other disciplines. We are definitely pulling for him as he puts the ponies down. Because, no matter how much spandex one packs on, they’re always a BMXer. And if when he gets the itch to gate up in the future, he won’t have far to travel, as the Olympic BMX track, expected to be a permanent “local” track right in central London, is literally across the plaza from the velodrome.

But on to the REAL news… if Liam’s Twitter feed is telling it true, he’s gonna have to bag the beard, and chances are that the whiskers have been kicked by the time you read this.

Finally, we hate to rain on anyone’s parade, but Liam, keep your first-turn BMXer sensibilities about you, as it can get pretty rough & tumble out there. Exhibit A, via YouTube.

Links

BBC Sport Article on Liam Phillips

Liam Phillips on Twitter

Opportunity Window Closing on Olympic Tickets

If you have BMX dreams for London 2012, and can’t make it down the SX hill faster than Connor or Corben, then your best chance of seeing the action live and in person is from the stands.

And securing tickets to the precise event you want to see is not necessarily as easy as standing outside Wrigley field on a Tuesday Afternoon. Well, maybe it will be…but maybe not…do you want to take that chance?

A certain number of tickets are allocated to each country, with “about 75%” going to the host country and EU countries. Getting your tix legit has some hoops to it, that’s for sure.

There was a “request period” between March 15 and April 22 where people had the opportunity to send in requests for their preferred tickets (in this case, to the August 8, 9, and/or 10 BMX events). Obviously, that ship has sailed.

Next chance will be the so-called “live sales” phase, where you will compete on the field of battle with your countrymen, via the Web, for the remaining first-come-first-served tickets.

The live sales period starts June 28 at http://www.cosport.com

Cosport recommends that, if you have designs on getting in on the Live Sales phase, you create your account on their site well in advance, so all information is set when the big day comes, and you’re familiar with how their site is laid out.

There will be five seating “Zones,” with the A-tickets being best and closest to the action (Cosport did not have seating charts available for this venue yet, and the BMX Track page on London2012.com gives a “Page Not Found” error).

London 2012, BMX Ticket Pricing

August 8, 2012, 3:00PM – Men & Women Seeding (Time Trials)
A – $207
B – $142
C – $120
D – $87
E – $44

August 9, 2012, 3:00PM – Men Quarterfinals
A – $207
B – $142
C – $120
D – $87
E – $44

August 10, 2012, 3:00PM – Men & Women Semis, Finals and Medal Ceremony
A – $272
B – $163
C – $120
D – $98
E – $44

The “best” day is the finals and medal day–for obvious reasons, but also because it is the only day you’ll see Men and Women in group competition. The prior two days, you will not see the women in group competition at all.

Official sources are characteristically tight-lipped on whether street sales (aka “scalping”) will be a viable option in London, or if those types will be hammered hard enough to disappear from the streets. It seems that wherever you have tickets, you’ll have local “entrepreneurs” looking to help you get one…but, again, with so few tickets available, taking the gamble could result in you watching it on the “tele,” in the hotel room.

Helluva Time With Hotels

Unless you’re buying a tour package, securing hotel accommodations this early is going to be a challenge. Every site we tried would not permit bookings as far out as August 6, 2012. Although, we admit, we did not spend all that much time trying to wend our way through any workarounds…just the straight-on approach. Stay on it, and brace yourself, it’s going to be expensive.

Speaking of tour packages, Cosport has some doozies…but none of them include the BMX events, and the tickets included in their packages cannot be substituted. “You could always try your luck at buying individual tickets to those events,” they say…”but it is, by no means, guaranteed you’ll get what you’re looking for once the live sales phase begins.”

I have read on some Olympic Games blogs that Craigslist is a place to find, or seek “sleepover” opportunities (basically the ability to crash on a local family’s couch or guestroom for about half what a regular room would cost). That is the “hitchhikers guide to the Olympic Games” approach, at least.

With 463 days til the BMX action gets going in London, there is little time, so tarry no more on your tix.

Snow-X Popularity in Vancouver Gives PR Jolt to BMX for London 2012

A BMXNEWS Tipster in the UK sent us this post from “The Guardian.” It talks about how, with Vancouver now in the history books, the attention is turning to London 2010—and that lessons learned from promotion and “staging” of certain events last month can be applied to the London games. The article says, in part:

There are also great hopes for increasing interest in the BMX races, the closest event in the summer programme to ski cross, where Team GB has a gold medal hope in world champion Shanaze Reade.

“The popularity of the ski and snow cross events in Vancouver, confirms that the way sports are staged can help them to capture the public’s imagination,” a spokeswoman said as Lord Coe accepted the Olympic torch from his Canadian counterpart, John Furlong.

“We are drawing up detailed marketing and sport presentation plans for 2012 for each sport to ensure that they engage and inspire the widest possible audience. We want to connect young people to sport, and this is top of mind when we look at the sports which do not historically have a mainstream following in the UK.”

Check out the Guardian article in full

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