Cambridge BMX rider comes in third at National Championships
Cambridge BMX rider Kurt James came in third in the BMX National Championships over the weekend competing for a place at the World Champs set to take place in Auckland.
Waikato rider Kurt James took third place in the final elite men’s race at the BMX National Championships over the weekend.
The competition was a run up to the BMX World Championship to be held for the first time in Auckland in July.
Although the Cambridge-based rider did not make it through to the world champs team due to a previous injury affecting his speed, James, 21, said he was still pleased with the results.
“Yeah, definitely I was happy in the end there. We’ve had a long day of racing today with 10 events, usually it’s only three or four races per day so it’s been a long day for all the riders but, nah, I’m happy, wrapped.”
Riders from the weekend’s final national elite race who have been selected for the world champs include Trent Jones, Matt Cameron, Daniel Franks, Trent Woodcock and Tauranga-born first place winner Kurt Pickard.
James said he had enjoyed using the Cambridge BMX club’s new track which is just over a year old.
“They were going to subdivide the old track so the council told us to move up here, it’s been a huge effort by everyone involved with the club,” he said.
“I would say it’s the best nationals so far that I’ve been involved with so they’ve done super well, best track in New Zealand for sure.”
After achieving the 2009 Sportsman of the Year award for BMX when he had just completed high school, James has since been competing all over the world.
He stayed with top New Zealand BMX rider Mark Willers while competing in California, toured throughout Europe and placed 30th in time trials at the world championships in South Africa.
“It seems to be all the same people that follow the world cup, so you can gauge where you are. It was a big learning curve. New Zealanders don’t quite have a lot of riders to gauge ourselves against, so the more we travel the better we are really.”
The world championships will take place for the first time in New Zealand from July 25-28 at the Vector Arena in Auckland.
A member of the New Zealand High Performance team, James has had to travel regularly to Auckland to the Millennium Institute of Sport and Health, however he is hoping that will change when the new cycling facility is built in Cambridge.
“We do a lot of training together as a group, we used to head up to the Millennium Institute of Sport up in Auckland quite a lot, but now that the Cycling Centre of Excellence is going to be built in Cambridge, everything’s going to be based here, so I don’t have to go anywhere anymore.”
James continues to keep a positive attitude which should give him a good chance of competing in the next world champs.
“Certainly the training is hard but I guess it’s the fact that if you know you put in the work and you tick all the boxes day to day, the results will come. They might not come over night but they’re going to come somewhere along the line.”
