The songo.info BMX team for the 2022 SA BMX National Championships.
The final round of BMX Nationals and SA BMX National Championships took place on the 9th of October, at the Alrode BMX Track in Johannesburg. The Nationals were during school holidays so we decided to drive up in the Songo van, Darryn Stow reported.
The Alrode Track is one of the oldest tracks in South Africa and has been hosting BMX Nationals since the early 1980s. The track is always in great condition and one of the best in the Country. For Ovayo, Luminathi and Uviwe this would be their first time racing at Alrode.
With the van was loaded and we started the drive on Wednesday morning. The kids were full of energy and it was great to see them so excited for the trip. Bradley Stow and myself shared the driving and there was lots of talking and laughing on the road.
We arrived at the track on Thursday afternoon and the kids were on their bikes and riding within minutes. They were getting more confident as their practice runs progressed and starting to hit the jumps on Day 1 already. Lakhanya has been to many Nationals in the last 7 years and he is riding extremely well. He is one of the most skilled all round riders in SA!
Pre-race team photo.
Friday was another full day at the track and a chance for everyone to do gate starts. Western Cape BMX has grown over the last few years and there are now start gates at all the tracks which we race at. This has helped the kids tremendously.
Saturday, the 8th, was a double header so it was going to be a long day at the track with lots of exciting racing. Ovayo raced in the 11-12 Expert Class and had tough gates. He rode well all weekend but unfortunately didn’t make the finals. Uviwe and Luminathi both raced in the 11-13 girls class and gave 100% all weekend. They made the finals on Saturday and ended up 5th and 7th respectively. Lakhanya was one of the riders of the weekend. He was one of the smoothest all weekend and ended up getting 2nd in the 16 year old Expert Class.
Lakhanya finished 2nd in the 16 year old expert class.
Sunday was SA Champs and a chance to get SA Numbers. Uviwe managed to get SA5 last year and she ended up with SA6 this year. Luminathi rode well to make the final and she managed SA7. Lakhanya once again showed how talented he is and rode unbelievably well all day. He made it to the final and ended up with SA2 which is his best ever result. The smile on his face showed how much it meant to him. Bradley, who is now working with the songo kids, had a smooth weekend and walked away with SA5.
Darryn with Lakhanya and their SA number boards.
Overall we were very happy with the racing and how the kids rode. The results are just one part of it for us at Songo.info. The experiences and life lessons the kids learnt during the weekend is hopefully something they will hold onto forever.
A massive thanks to Ninety-One, Specialized and all the other Sponsors that make these incredible trips possible.
Enjoying a celebratory KFC dinner.