In a statement on their Facebook page BMX Australia announced the postponement of the Australian National Championships as well as the Oceania Championships. While most people might have started to cancel accommodation and travel arrangements it got me thinking what about those riders battling for UCI points and trying to land an Olympic berth.

When we spoke with New Zealand’s Michael Bias at Bathurst he said he’d be chasing UCI points for an individual qualifying spot. With the postponement of the Oceania’s he’ll be missing the opportunity to grab some extra points prior to heading to Europe to continue the World Cup series. There will be a number of riders who could have used some extra points like 2012 Silver medalist Sarah Walker, 2012 and 2016 Olympian Caroline Buchanan, and 2016 Olympian Bodi Turner among many other Aussie elite riders.

We might have to wait and see just how much these riders are effected by the announcement.

In case you missed the official announcement here it is.

UPDATE ON COVID-19 AND BMXA NATIONALS

BMX Australia are aware of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s statement regarding non-essential public gatherings of more than 500 people.

With this new information we have no choice but to postpone the National Championships and Oceania Championships in Launceston.

We are currently working very hard with relevant stakeholders regarding plans for the future staging of events, with an aim towards the last quarter of the year, and intend to provide an update early next week.

We also strongly recommend that all BMX State associations and Clubs adhere to the ban around mass gatherings and consider all Government direction in their State.

For those intending on smaller gatherings we ask that you practice high levels of hygiene health (washing hands, use hand sanitiser etc) which are widely considered by health experts to be key to disease prevention and management. We also ask that we avoid physical contact (e.g. shaking hands in medal presentations, sharing microphones for commentators).

We ask that the BMXA community remains patient during this complicated and unprecedented process.