Firstly I need to say that I applaud BMX Australia in it’s first attempt in what is a truly national series for all riders. BMXers aren’t terribly accepting when it comes to change and BMX Australia have really stuck their necks out on this one.

Summary of Australia’s first full national series

Dates and Locations of the 2018 BMX Australia National Series

February 17-18 – Penrith BMX Club, NSW (UCI)
April 21-22 – Frankston BMX Club, VIC* (UCI)
June 23-24 – Satellite City BMX Club, NT
July 21-22 – Nerang BMX Club, QLD* (UCI)
August 18-19 – Cross Keys BMX Club, SA
September 15-16 – Tuggeranong BMX Club, ACT
October 20-21 – Launceston BMX Club, TAS
*Note: UCI events still subject to final UCI sanctioning approval

Riders are only required to compete at 3 rounds to qualify.

Classes available at the national series

Sprockets: 5-7 year olds Male & female
Age classes (20″): 8-16-years (inclusive), 17-24, 25-29, 30-34, 35-39, 40-44, 45-49, 50+ Male & female
Cruiser classes: 8-10, 11-12, 13-14, 15-16, 17-24, 25-29, 30-34, 35-39, 40-44, 45-49, 50+ Male & female
Masters: Masters 30 & over Male & female
Superclass (14+ according to year of birth)* Male/female
Elite and Junior Elite* Male/female

Secondly I’m a numbers guy and while I think it’s great that our national series visits each of the nations states there are some at a disadvantage simply due to the geography of this country. Western Australia, Northern Territory and Tasmania come to mind. In case you were wondering Western Australia was left from the series because they hosted the national championships.

When I started to wonder how much travel is involved for Australia’s first national series this table started to form. How far by road would people have to travel from Australia’s capital cities to each round. It’s easy to see why a series of this magnitude isn’t easy for all BMX racers.

To the far right of the table you will see how many kilometers a rider would have to travel to compete at all rounds and at the minimum of 3 rounds. That’s a lot of travel.

It’s clear that it’s a lot more comfortable to compete in for those from Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne and even Adelaide to an extent with three rounds being within 2,000 kms. I really feel for those who are more remote like Darwin, Perth and especially Hobart as every trip for them (except one) would require an expensive ferry trip or flight.

What’s the answer? It can’t be easy to try and figure these things out and try to keep it fair for all, but I think we are in good hands and BMX Australia have already started to make adjustments and plans for more for 2019.