Irish Times article 26th Nov 2011

BMX track in Meath to set fans’ hearts racing

 

Dust Down the Raleigh Burner and get the helmet and padded race suit out; after a break of more than 20 years, BMX racing is back in the Republic.

 

This weekend racers from four to 50 will be “catching backside” and “popping doubles” with gusto on the new BMX track in Ratoath, Co Meath.

 

The brainchild of Eamonn Wyer and Stephen McNally, two Irish former professionals from the 1980s, the new track will play host to more than 200 riders tomorrow for what Wyer says are the first BMX races in the Republic “since around 1986”.

 

“It seems to have just become cool again,” he says.

 

“There’s massive interest now from guys who raced years ago and young kids coming at it the first time around.

 

“We’ve had four-year-olds out here on the track and they can really get around it. Some of them are quite good.” The ambitious project boasts a tarmac and stone surface all-weather track, which is fully drained and constructed to best-practice BMX racing standards.

 

The fast undulating run takes about 40 seconds to race down and is floodlit so midweek evening race meetings will be facilitated.

 

After establishing contact again on social networking sites, a group of racers who knew each other through the Irish scene of the 1980s met up for a reunion in Dublin two years ago and decided to try to breathe some life into the sport again.

 

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