Elite Women BMX ride for valuable points towards Olympics

Mar 08, 2008

Written by Bart de Jong

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BMX racing heats up this weekend with the UCI Oceania final two ranking rounds in Sydney at Penrith. The vital international points up for grabs on Saturday and Sunday are the incentive for other countries apart from Australia to compete. Riders from New Zealand, Japan, Hong Kong and China have all got riders hoping to make the finals on both days and secure UCI points. The incentive to improve nation’s rankings comes from the qualification criteria set down for the Beijing 2008 Olympics Games in August. Australia are hoping to qualify the maximum number of riders allotted which is three male and two female riders.

Currently in the men Australia is ranked in the top three however it is the women’s current standing of four. According to National BMX Assistant coach, Wade Bootes, his focus will definitely be on the women’s racing. “It’s important for all the girls to keep high. For this weekend, it means they need to be one to four and it doesn’t matter which way. The girls just have to ride safely and not crash or put people into last.”

The absence of New Zealander, Sarah Walker, currently ranked number one in the world plus the intensive training regime undertaken by the Australian riders, Bootes believes that getting top places on the weekend is possible.

Walker leads the Oceania series however if Krystal Cranfield can place first in both remaining rounds then Cranfield will win the series overall.

Making a comeback this weekend is former BMX World Junior Champion, Nicole Callisto. Callisto, originally from Perth will race after recovering from a series of knee operations. The 21 year old sees this weekend as all part of her recovery and intends to maintain her spot on the Australian High Performance Team. Fellow Perth rider and current national champion, Tanya Bailey has also recently returned to full training after viruses saw her out of competition for several weeks. Also intending on making it difficult for Cranfield is another Queenslander, Melissa Mankowski and first year elite rider, Ziggy Callan from Victoria.

The elite men’s racing this weekend is expected to come down to the wire as Kiwi’s Olympic hope Marc Willers will be out to prove his second placing in last month’s World Cup Supercross in Madrid. Australia’s fast man, Luke Madill will be hard to beat with Penrith track being his local racing haunt. Madill currently sits second on the Oceania scoreboard but leads the Australian contingent for top international points. Four Queenslanders, Jared Graves, Jamie Gray, Michael “Tiger” Robinson and Kamakazi are expected to make it tough racing. Showing good form recently is Adelaide’s Brian Kirkham and Newcastle’s Billy Joliffe.

2008 BMX Olympic Qualification Criteria

Selection Policies 2008 Australian Olympic Team. BMX in Section F page 25.