A crop of bicycle motocross racers from the Comox Valley recently returned from the 2017 UCI BMX World Championships, in Rock Hill, South Carolina, July 25–29.
Twenty-year-old Aleasha Wiebe from Cumberland was racing in her third world championships. She previously competed in the 2014 worlds in Rotterdam and the 2004 world championships in Nanaimo, as an eight-year-old.
Wiebe is no stranger to high levels of competition and has been racing in national BMX competitions since she was five years old.
In 2016 she was the number one ranked racer in Canada for her age group (17–20 girls) on both her 20-inch bike and 24-inch cruiser.
“This time around, [the event] was definitely bigger than the past ones I’ve attended. There was a lot more competition and definitely a lot more people,” said Wiebe. “[The sport] is definitely evolving and people are more serious about it.”
Wiebe had qualified for this year’s world championships after winning two 17-and-over women’s races at last year’s national championships in Calgary. She raced in the “challenge class” in Rock Hill this year.
In BMX racing, athletes initially race in three “motos.” The top four racers in each heat progress to the next round until there are just eight finalists left. Racers have to progress through their motos, an “eight,” a quarter-final and a semifinal before making it to the final.
“It was tough competition. I made it out of the motos and into the eights. But it’s racing and anything can happen. I just got kind of pinched out,” Wiebe said of her performance.
While Wiebe has an extensive history in elite BMX competitions, another Comox Valley athlete — 14-year-old Adicus Bird, of Royston — competed in the world championships for the first time this year. Bird competed against 75 other 14- and 15-year-old girls from across the world.
Bird made it through her three motos and her eight and was in second place in her quarter-final qualifier before taking a spill at the first corner of the track. Coming out of the first turn in second place, she was clipped by another rider and took a tumble. The accident required six stitches in Bird’s elbow, but she said she loved every minute.
“It was a really amazing experience, there were thousands and thousands of riders there,” Bird said. “It was really different because around here, I usually race the same girls over and over. In South Carolina, I didn’t know anyone I was racing. It was totally new competitors who I’d never seen before, so I had no idea what was going to happen.”
Wiebe and Bird weren’t the only athletes from the Valley in action in South Carolina.
Twelve-year-old rider Anna Purich from Royston and her two younger brothers also raced at the event.
Purich made it all the way to the semi-finals, and finished 10th overall against other 12-year olds, meaning she cracks the top 10 for best BMX racers in the world for her age group.
The racers had little time to rest before they were back in action, however, as the Canadian national championships take place in Kelowna from Aug. 11–13.
The group will also fly to Calgary in two weeks to compete in the qualifiers for next year’s world championships, which take place in Baku, Azerbaijan.