Old School BMX Reunion Slagharen, Netherlands.

Oct 06, 2009

Written by Bart de Jong

Read 14583 times

Ask any pro BMX racer from the '80-s/'90-s about Ponypark Slagharen and they'll tell you a story or two. The place has got some history, which kicked off with the first IBMXF World Championships race outside of the USA in 1983 which was won by Clint Miller (not Colony's Clint Millar!). With the AVRO Fietscross series, European Challenge Cup races with their legendary King Of Dirt events, and some freestyle demos by the likes of Eddie Fiola, Dave Breed, the MBK team, Ron Wilkerson, Dennis Langlais, Martin Apparijo, Carlo Griggs etc., it's clear that the place smells like BMX more than it does like Pony's. Gerrit Does found it time for a BMX Reunion which took place last weekend, at the park.

Knowing Gerrit you could expect more than just a get together at the bar bringing up old stories. Gerrit had contacted BMX collectors to see if they would be into displaying their bikes during the weekend. With close to 100 bikes present you could say that this was a big success. You can read about who won what in the FATBMX report right here.

The kids from 2-10 years old were treated by a BMX Clinic courtesy of BMX Playground. Unfortunately Olympic BMX Champion Maris Strombergs had cancelled his trip to Slagharen so the kids had to work with Zonto instead. He did a good job and the kids were into it.

The Paul's Boutique team riders entertained the crowd with some dirt jump demos over the weekend. Dennis Keunen even managed to pull several flips which he had just learned a few weeks prior to the show. With flip master Pim van den Bos out with a broken ankle this move was very welcome. What's a show without a flip? Just ask Bart Bazelmans about that one. Daniel Wijsmuller did whips, truckdrivers and 360 flatties over the "killer jump" and Michael van der Lee and Riccardo Moes kept the show going. Walter took care of the flatland moves with some hitchhikers and cliffhangers over a far from flat surface. On Sunday 5 years old Philip de Jong made a little guest appearance. All in all some live BMX-ing next to the hall where the infamous KOD's took place in the early 1990-s.

One of the highlights of the weekend was the BMX footage from the 1950-s. Amersfoort is now the birth place of BMX. Forget about California. It was done in Holland first. We showed pictures before, we'll show you some footage very soon. BMX books need to be re-written. Joe Kid shredded on grandma's bike first. Gerrit, Paul Vakkers and Martin v.d. Velden took us through 30 years of BMX with video footage. A nice history lesson for all.

The members of the University of BMX Hall Of Fame were honoured for what they'd done for the sport. Basically win titles for Holland in the many international BMX racing events. Phil Hogendoorn, Anita van de Mortel, Willy Kanis, Melanie Hogendoorn, Karien Gubbels and Louis Vrijdag were some of the members that picked up their plaque.

Rob van den Wildenberg made it on stage and was asked some questions about the 2008 Olympics where he made the final. Willy Kanis and Roy van den Berg announced their retirement of BMX and will concentrate on the Velodrome from now on.

The band DAAN finished off the night with frontman Daniel Levi, a former BMX racer. Mid-gig he threw in a little BMX quizz for the people present. Some of the answers were questionable but at

least he showed his involvement in BMX which was a good fit at a night like this.

It was the freestyle crew that had to finish off the night in fashion as the night was still young. No 08h00 race practice the next day. Sweet.

BdJ