On Sunday, 22 June, the wongo.info team took part in the first Winter pump track event of 2025. The idea behind the pump track series is to give BMX riders in the Western Cape the opportunity to improve their skills during the rainy season when most BMX race tracks are too wet to ride. The event was organized by the Zone 7 BMX club and took place at the Crosswinds pump track in Sunningdale.
songo.info had 10 kids, plus me, participating in the race. It was the first time any of the kids had been to Crosswinds so they were all very excited to ride a different track.
After I had registered the kids and collected all their race number boards, we had a quick team chat and final bike and safety check, and then the practice session began. Crosswinds pump track is much tighter and slightly more technical than the kids are used to, so it took some time for them to get comfortable on the track, but it wasn’t too long before they all started to find their flow.
Watching the racing.
The racing format is the best of two timed runs around the track. The biggest difference between pump track racing and traditional BMX racing is that pump track is one rider on the track at a time and the person with the fastest time is the winner whereas BMX racing is up to 8 riders on the track and the first person over the finish line wins.
The racing was extremely tight with the top 5 or so riders only being separated by a few seconds. After each rider had finished their timed laps there was an expression session where riders were judged on best trick, longest manual and biggest whip. This was awesome for the Songo team to experience and I’m sure they got lots of inspiration from the top riders.
This event was a great day out for the Songo.info team and a good learning experience. We had some awesome results and the kids had lots of fun. We look forward to the next pump track event which should take place in July.
A massive thank you to our generous sponsors Ninety One and Specialized Bikes. Without them this trip would not have been possible.