NZCT has approved a grant of $75,000 towards Sunset Coast BMX Club reconstructing its existing track to UCI standard.
The club’s track in Puni, near Pukekohe, needs remodelling and resurfacing that will help improve safety and enable the
club to host regional, national and international BMX race meets. The grant is a significant contribution towards the
total project cost of $105,000 and is a huge boost to the club and BMX riders in the region.
“This funding is massive for the Sunset Coast BMX Club and those who love the sport in our local community,” says Board
Member Stu Stenhouse. “Weather has impacted the quality of the track which has limited what the club can do, like school
programmes and hosting big race meets such as the World Championship Qualifiers.”
Work has already started on the track and is expected to be complete in the next month or two when the new surface is
put on. This will be in time for the club to host the Elite World Championship Qualifiers after Easter.
“Being able to host national and international events is big for our club and the wider community,” says Stu. “It will
have an economic benefit to businesses within the Franklin area with people coming in and spending money while they
compete.”
Another important aspect of upgrading the track is being able to promote the sport more widely in the community,
particularly to children. “We have a wide age range of riders at the club from the two- and three-year-old striders (BMX
bikes with no pedals) to our oldest member who is over fifty years old. Upgrading the track will mean we can push the
sport more in schools around the region. With the track in its current state it has been hard to promote true BMXing. We
can now start to build a base of four- to six-year-olds and get children in the community giving the sport a go,” says
Stu.
Stu and the rest of the club were very excited hearing that the club’s application to NZCT had been successful. It has
often been quite hard for the Sunset Coast BMX Club to secure the funding it needs.
“It’s not like other sports like football and rugby which have a massive number of participants. BMX flies under the
radar a bit,” says Stu. “NZCT have been awesome. Our club treasurer went to one of their roadshows and came away with a
good understanding of how the grant application process works. No matter what question we had, NZCT were very happy to
help.”
NZCT has also previously funded the installation of lights at the club’s track. This not only benefited riders but has
also allowed the club to host community events, such as the Cancer Society’s Relay for Life.