Okotoks club eager to showcase BMX at Summer Games

When the gate drops on the 2023 Alberta Summer Games, it’s not only an opportunity for athletes to be in the spotlight. 

The same goes for the sport and sporting infrastructure in the community with the Okotoks BMX Club eager to showcase its offering when the Games wheel into the community from July 20-23. 

“It’s exposure,” said Okotoks BMX president Kerry-Anne George. “BMX is not a very well-known sport, a lot of people don’t know we do BMX racing so any exposure for the club is great. 

“We’re 100 per cent volunteer run and we’re not-for-profit, we don’t get funding from anyone and solely fund this on memberships, concession and everything we do so we’re trying to spread the word to get people to know who we are and what we do is just great for the club to have that out there.” 

The club needed to wrangle roughly 50 volunteers for the three days of competition, a number of whom have signed up for multiple shifts, she added. 

It’s a team effort to keep the track in tip-top shape with each member of the club required to hit volunteer hour quotas throughout the season. 

On top of moving a lot of dirt, and making it hard and smooth, the track is also coated with Soiltac which acts as a glue to mitigate the effects of wet weather and dust. 

“There’s a lot of hours that go into it,” said Okotoks BMX track director Robbie George. “This season, we resealed all the corners so they’re all new-looking. We had volunteers come in for two straight weekends to paint all the corners and pressure wash all of the corners. 

“My position is a volunteer position and it’s probably at about 200 hours of track maintenance, but the kids like it and I like driving the heavy equipment so it’s not too bad.” 

Okotoks BMX venue manager Andrew Fischer said the club is well versed in hosting big events with past provincial races drawing over 500 athletes compared to nearly 100 at the Games. 

“Other than some little things, working with the Town and working with Alberta BMX, the Summer Games committee, it’s not much different than regular,” he said. “We’re pretty relaxed and ready for it.” 

Fischer said with the amount of people in the community to take in the Games, undoubtedly there will be spectators migrating from other venues and experiencing BMX for the first time. 

“Maybe we will get some people used to watching football or baseball and will come see our crazy, little sport,” said Fischer, who races with the club along with his wife, daughter and son. “It’s a really intense sport that happens really quickly, it’s a sprint-sport and most of our races last between 30 and 50 seconds and a lot can happen in that short period of time.” 

Eight Okotoks area athletes will be racing for podium finishes in their hometown, a group that includes Matthew Curtis, Rocky DeBoer, Gavin Eckert, Owen Fischer and Riley George.  

Okotokians Charlie Vanderveen, Dylan Thomas and Luc Burns, who are members of Calgary clubs, will be competing for Zone 3 at the Games. 

“I’m excited and I hope I qualify well,” said Eckert, 12. “This is my first year back (in BMX) since I was six, last year I came here a lot with my friends because they raced here and I couldn’t race last year. 

“I came here this year and it’s a lot of fun.” 

From being fed by the legions of volunteers at the Okotoks Recreation Centre, to billeting at Percy Pegler School to just getting the chance to race, the young athletes said there’s lots to look forward to. 

“It’s going to be really fun sleeping at the school,” said Riley George, 13. 

On the track, the riders will get to compete in both time trials and in one race, three laps spaced over two days. 

The individual time trial is a format not typically seen at the youth BMX level, an exciting element of the Games that also gives each rider the opportunity to pick their own song during their trip around the track. 

“Time trials are going to be awesome, we’ve never done it before” said Vanderveen. “When you’re in a race, you have lots of people and sometimes it limits your lines because you might have someone beside you so you can’t jump something. 

“In a time trial, you just do your absolute fastest line and then pedal your heart out and you have no one else beside you.” 

The BMX events will run from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. on July 21, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on July 22 and 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. on July 23. 

For more information, visit 2023asg.com.