BMX World Championships 2024: Te Awamutu BMX Club riders off to US

(From left): Te Awamutu BMX Club riders Sophie Penny, Tate Burdon, Brooke Penny, Baiden Prescott and Luca Penny are heading to the US next month.

Five Te Awamutu BMX riders are waiting in the wings to represent New Zealand at the 2024 UCI BMX World Championships in the US soon.

The championships will take place between May 12 and 18 in Rockhill, South Carolina.

Siblings Brooke, Sophie and Luca Penny, along with Tate Burdon and Baiden Prescott, have all qualified for the event by way of their top-eight rankings at last year’s New Zealand BMX National Championships in Tauranga.

Brooke (NZ2), Luca (NZ3), Sophie (NZ4), Baiden (NZ4) and Tate (NZ6) have been training and racing non-stop over the last six months to hone their skills and master their craft on many tracks around New Zealand in the hope of coming home from America with some great results.

This trip to the world champs will be a first for Luca, Sophie, Baiden and Tate, so they have been at the track most weekdays, and on top of that, have been training on Saturdays with the other New Zealand riders heading to the world champs.

The Te Awamutu BMX Club are very proud of these riders and know they will represent them and our country with pride, putting in 100 per cent of their efforts.

Club president Rodney Prescott said whatever the results were, the quintett should be very proud of their achievements thus far in their careers.

It’s not easy getting to an event like this - there has been a lot of fundraising in the last six months.

The club would like to thank the riders’ family and friends and the members of the wider Te Awamutu community who have supported these riders to fulfil their dreams.