Report from Bmx European Championships in Sarrians, France

8 Irish riders travelled to compete in the Bmx European Championships in Sarrians, France last month.

All travelled from various clubs around Ireland to compete and experience BMX racing at European level.

On Thursday the group of riders were met on site by BMX Ireland Commission members Tom Campbell and Nathalie Lawlor to receive their registration packs and get ready to have their first practice session on the track.

On Friday they got to have another practice session early that day except for one rider Matthew Campbell who was competing in Junior Men and their practice was later on Friday evening. Temperature was slowly rising by the minute but still didn't stop the Irish riders smiling all day.

Saturday was race day for the 13 and overs. First up was Niall Davis from Ratoath Bmx who was competing in the Male 14 group, then we had Matthew Malone also from Ratoath Bmx and Sam Murphy from Lucan Bmx competing in the Male 17-24. All lads rode extremely well finishing in top four of their groups which meant they qualified for the 1/8's except for Niall who unfortunately got pushed out of his group due to two riders in his group finishing on joint points.


Sam Murphy and Matthew Malone ended up in same race for the 1/8's with Sam qualifying for the quarter finals but unfortunately ended there. Next up on Saturday evening was the Junior Men and we had one rider Matthew Campbell from Ratoath Bmx Club in this group. Big competition in this group big challenge for Matthew as it was his first time competing in Junior Men and taking on the Pro section of this amazing track. Matthew did fantastic but unfortunately crashed in his third moto but lived to tell the tale of this great experience.

Sunday we had the Under 12's racing and Team Ireland had four riders competing. We had Evan Bartley from Lucan Bmx Club who was competing in Male 7's, Shay Flynn from Cork Bmx Club in Male 11's, Jay Mackness from East Coast raiders in Male 12's and our pedalling princess Miss Carly Hayes who was our only Irish Female competing to retain her already European plate. Carly is no stranger to these competitions as this was her third year competing in the European Championships where she already held and E4 and an E6 plate.

Again temperatures were in the mid to high 30's but didn't stop these four kids as they raced fantastic and again with big smiles on their faces. All getting through to their next rounds but only Evan And Carly getting further to not only semi finals but to the main finals which was a huge achievement in itself.

Both Evan and Carly raced their heart out and finished 6th in their finals which meant they were bringing home two E6 plates for Irish Bmx. This was Carly's third year reaching the finals and Evans first year to reach the finals, amazing achievement to these two rockets.

Without a doubt, Bmx Ireland are very proud of all eight riders who raced so well and doing their clubs, families, Bmx Ireland, Cycling Ireland and themselves extremely proud. They all wore their jerseys with extreme pride with and were a fantastic group to be with, well done to you all and especially to our two finalists.