Auckland has won the rights to host the BMX world championships in 2013.

Jun 18, 2010

Written by Bart de Jong

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The world ruling body, Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) informed BikeNZ that the joint bid with BMX New Zealand, Auckland City Council and the government had been successful. The event will be staged at Auckland's Vector Arena in mid-July, where a purpose-built track will be constructed using between 5000-6000 cubic metres of dirt.

The championship is expected to attract 4500 competitors, officials and supporters to the country for one of the world's fastest growing sports that made its Olympic debut in Beijing. BMX double world champion Sarah Walker said she was thrilled with the news. "To have the world championships in my own country will be amazing because although BMX has slowly made its way into the kiwi public eye, it will bring so much more attention to the sport," Walker said from California today where she is preparing to defend her world championship. "Hopefully it will create more excitement about our sport. Being able to show off the sport that I love and compete at

the highest level in front of my friends and family that haven't had thechance to watch an international BMX event will be such a buzz."

The event is anticipated to generate a number of economic, social and international exposure benefits for the Auckland region and New Zealand. It is expected to generate an estimated $13 million of new income into Auckland during the city's off peak tourism season.

The event will provide an enormous boost for the sport in this country, according to BikeNZ high performance director Mark Elliott. "This is another incredible step in the growth of cycling in New Zealand. With the Junior World Track Championships here in 2012, this event for BMX will continue to escalate the growth of our sport and greatly benefit the future champions we will see leading on the world stage through to the Rio Olympics in 2016," Elliott said. "We have a strong group of 15 to 17 year old BMX riders who are pushing their way into our High Performance programme. The timing of this world championship will see a number of these athletes pushing to showcase their potential on home soil."