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The Youth Adventure Series has been a journey. When have you ever seen an 11 stop skatepark competition? Not for a long time - if ever. We travelled all across the Snowy Monaro region over the last couple of months, but the final of the whole series found us at Jindabyne skatepark over the weekend.

There was a massive turnout, and in between MCing the event, I was able to get a few photos of some ripping riding from a few of the Back Bone locals.

I've got my fingers and toes crossed for next year's event!

Big thanks to the Snowy Monaro Regional Council for making it happen.

- Tyson

RESULTS (BMX Finals):

12 & Under Boys:

• 3rd Place: Josh Scarth
• 2nd Place: Liam Baillie 
• 1st Place: Aleksander Kiselev

12 & Under Girls:

• 1st Place: Sophie Nicki

17 & Under Boys:

• 3rd Place: Josh Brusensky Webb
• 2nd Place: Vincenzo Mercuri
• 1st Place: Xavier Jirava

17 & Under Girls:

• 2nd Place: Mylee Toohey
• 1st Place: Sarah Nicki

Open Men:

• 3rd Place: Arthur Birbilopoulos
• 2nd Place: Mitch Austin
• 1st Place: Will Gunn

Mitch Austin can crank a lookback! Photo: Tyson JP

Young Liam Baillie ripping the deep end. Photo: Tyson JP

Sasha Kiselev has his table airs dialled. Deep end ripping into 1st place for the 12 & Under boys. Photo: Tyson JP

The deep end at Jindabyne got a work out, here's Sarah Nicki poppin out. Photo: Tyson JP

None higher than Will Gunn, who tore the place to shreds. 1st Place. Photo: Tyson JP

Head Judge and coach Chris Harti letting some of the riders know what's up in Tumut! Photos by Tyson JP

Tumut - the picturesque town on the fringes of the Kosciuszko National Park, was host to the 3rd stop in the Youth Adventure Skatepark series of competitions. We're sponsoring and helping to run these events in the form of judging and coaching. It's been so fun to get to these regional towns - it's always refreshing to ride new places and meet new riders who are either brand new, or experienced in BMX. Whether the park is an epic megalithic structure, or basic, I've never had a bad time riding something new.

A few riders from Canberra made the trip across to Tumut for the event, I shot some photos for it below. The next stop is on the 12th of February in Bombala - hope to see you there. Check the schedule for the rest of the stops below and register here to ride in the next one.

- Tyson

Chris Harti, coaching hat on, with local rider Mason.

Mason hitting the box after some pointers from Chris!

Chris Harti ripping one in between coaching and judging duties..

Another young ripper Kydan, stylin' the hip.

Awards time for some of the crew.

Young Sasha ripped into the 1st place position for the under 12s... Big old table!

John Graham has had a long history of BMX in this region, he's the guy who put this whole comp series together! Epic stuff. He can also fold a table over with the best of em.

Isaac Van De Kamp is one heck of a rider - second place in open, and a steezy downside whip for good measure.

Troy Harradine blitzed it in the Tumut comp and took home first place, as well as an invite to the final in Jindabyne! He'll be a real shot to take home $1000 cash in the final for sure.

The top 3 in open (with a tie for 3rd..) L - R: John Graham, Troy Harradine, Isaac Van De Kamp & Anthony Hudson.

There's going to be no shortage of epic BMX events for 2022, including a fun one before the year wraps up, this weekend (11/12/21) at the new Albury skatepark. Albury got an amazing $3.6M upgrade to their local park, with two bowls, street plaza and even an asphalt pump track.

We've got a few crew heading down for the day to ride with the locals and spread the stoke, hit the boys up for some giveaways or stickers. If you've got a chance to get there, the park looks all time.

Then early January 2022, the Snowy Monaro Regional Council is running two skatepark competition series', with a whopping eleven stops across their council region, kicking off with Cooma and Queanbeyan skateparks, heading down the coast, and finishing with finals at Jindabyne.

More details can be found here and here; these competitions are open to all ages and we're sponsors all events with prizes, as well as providing coaching and judging.

Open riders can find themselves winning $1000 cash on both final stops - not bad!

Check the flyers for all the events below and contact us for more info.

The new Albury skatepark looks amazing. Photos: skateboard.com.au

It's all here and finally we can share it with you. Stoked as!

The number one thing to do now is register to ride! This is through AusCycling and covers your insurance and public liability.

All riders must be registered to ride/take part in prize money and cannery event before Midnight Thursday April 1st.

Details for rider sign-up when creating profile in link below:

1. Find the 'Open Now! Click to enter' button
2. Fill out personal information
3. Under 'Membership type / governing body, if you do not have an AusCycling membership, choose 'N/A'
4. Under 'club' type 'Freestyle ACT BMX Club'
5. Create Profile - non AusCycling members pay $15 for insurance, AusCycling members $5. 

BentSpoke Brewing Co. & Back Bone BMX present ACT Jam 2021

Major Sponsors:

• Vans
• Colony BMX
• Wethepeople BMX
• Cult BMX

Build Crew:

• NBD Constructions
• Universal Ramps
• Miner Projects
• Hardwood Projects

With Support From:

• Division Brand
• Eclat
• Fiend BMX
• Fast & Loose
• Odyssey
• Shadow Conspiracy
• Strs
• Subrosa
• Tempered

 Locations

April 2 – Weston Creek skatepark – 4pm start

The epic battle at Weston is back!

April 3 – Tuggeranong skatepark – 3pm

We loved Tuggers so much that it’s back for 2021. Expect some rad additions at this one to make it even more fun.

April 4 – BentSpoke Cannery, 79 Lysaght St Mitchell - 12pm start

We’re back at BentSpoke HQ with an even better ramp setup than ever. Expect a ‘Slay the Rails’ street event, as well as a killer ramp setup. We’re building the ultimate high air quarter, as well as the ultimate best trick box jump – so expect to see the heaviest moves go down here.

At the BentSpoke stop there will be serious cash prizes for:

• Best Trick
• Best whip (High jump on the box)
• High Air on the Vans 10ft quarter pipe
• Street Slayer ($1000)
• as well as a bunch more.

Best rider of the whole (long) weekend will be crowned King of the ACT and take home $2000 CASH.

Afterparty and Ranch Hand Video Premiere – BentSpoke Cannery, 79 Lysaght St Mitchell

After the riding is all said and done, we’ll have the awards ceremony and afterparty kicking off at the Cannery, with the long awaited Ranch Hand BMX video also being premiered by Brendan Boeck. Bands, Music, BMX. It’ll be a time!

Spectating is free at all stops, but will be capped at 500 people total including riders.

A COVID Safe Plan will be followed.

Above: Russell Brindley didn't take part in the comp, but he did rip a mean table in the bowl jam afterwards. Photo: Karl Cottrell.

We were very lucky to have held our first of the 4 round BMX comp series on the 22nd of March - right before COVID-19 tightened up yet again just hours after the comp was held. 

Belco park was the home for the first stop and people arrived from all over to take part. It was a great turn out and everyone in attendance seemed appreciative of some normalcy, despite adhering to the social distancing guidelines that was being called out over the microphone. 

Belconnen skatepark is not the easiest skatepark to judge due to the separate street and bowl sections, so the decision was made to split the park into two runs in each section. This was done to see who was the most consistent overall rider, rather than segregating riders.

The 12 and under class was packed with riders!

It was one of the highlights to watch for sure. It's so rad to see new riders push themselves into uncharted territory, with new tricks and lines being tried by all riders. It's especially rad to have the young, next generation being cheered on by the older crew, it no doubt means a lot to be a 10 year old rider having their name applauded by the local hot shot. 

Young Riley Williams stepping down. Photo: Karl Cottrell.

Some highlights were locals Riley Williams & Sasha Kiselev blasting the spine out of the snake run, with out-of-towners Miller Ruks, Jaxon Philp and Jackson Presbury jumping the box jumps (at 11, 9 & 8 years old..) and popping high, smooth airs. Sarah Nicki was also blasting airs in the 8ft bowl, the only girl competing on the day and shredding hard.

Jaxon Philp takes the cake for the youngest rider over the channel on a BMX at Belco. Photo: Karl Cottrell.

The 17 and under class was a real mixed bag of talent. With a variance of predominately BMX street riders and flowy jumpers, it was cool to see what was on offer throughout the park. Canberra local Flynn Sierant took top spot in the end with hard moves mixed with a unique, casual style. 

Open class with wild! 

Plenty of backie flyouts and again an eclectic mix of riders, which kept both sections of the parks interesting. Plenty opting to rip the infamous Belconnen box jumps and lay low on the streets, while the more tech savvy riders kept it to the mini ramp portions and found their spots on the street section to get busy on.

Arthur Birbilopoulos, cranked turndown in the 8ft bowl. Photo: Karl Cottrell.

A couple of things that stood out were Reece Ashton's unique lines in both portions of the park, he definitely did things that no one else was even looking at. Sam White is a new Canberra BMX local that, while he's lived here, has done several tricks I've never seen in real life, all mostly first try. It wasn't his day on comp day, but he did manage to 360 tailwhip the tiny volcano up the top of the street section, which is only about 2 foot tall.

In the end, it was the long-haired, moustached, weaponized Weaponhead Danny Stevenson that took top honours. Danny put on a display on the box jumps and quarters, going higher than everyone else and doing it smooth as. He then bolted on some pegs and went hell-for-leather on the street section, doing all sorts of hard moves first try. It was rad, and a good reminder that riding everything is a real plus!

Danny Weaponhead Stevenson kicking out the jams! Photo: Karl Cottrell. 

Thanks to everyone who came to the comp, it was an awesome day and made us all for normal for a bit! 

Let's not forget that now is still a great time to ride BMX. While skateparks are officially closed by the government (as today 30th March 2020), you can still use your BMX bike to get the exercise that's needed. Both physical and mental.

All you need is you and your bike.

Practice manuals.

Practice wheel rides on the gutters.

Get your hop whips dialled. Or learn them.

Search for spots.

Build a jump, or a ramp.

Use the creativity you already have (you are a BMXer, after all. That's one of the 11 reasons why riding BMX makes you a better person) and put it to use. Make something out of nothing. Turn a bad situation into a better one. After all, you could be complaining about being stuck at home, with nothing better to do. 

At least you can still go for a ride (just do it by yourself). 

Please see below for final points standings from round one. These points will carry through to all other rounds, meaning it could be that the most consistent rider takes the title!

At this stage we're not sure whether round two will go ahead at Tuggeranong on the intended date, but we'll keep you all posted.

Thanks to Karl Cottrell for the photos!