The\u00a02024 South African BMX Freestyle Championships\u00a0took place as part of the\u00a0Park Lines BMX\u00a0Tournament\u00a0over\u00a0the weekend. The event, sanctioned by Cycling South Africa and UCI, was presented by\u00a0LW Mag\u00a0and\u00a0Dragon Energy\u00a0in\u00a0association with\u00a0Garmin,\u00a0Balwin\u00a0Sport\u00a0and\u00a0DJI\u00a0and saw\u00a0Murray Loubser\u00a0and\u00a0Jenna Byrnes\u00a0crowned the champions in the Pro Men and Women categories,\u00a0respectively.<\/p>\n
The iconic\u00a0Gold Reef City Theme Park\u00a0was the backdrop for the tournament, which took place at the venue for the first time with an event-specific\u00a0park built in the Town Square.\u00a0The park offered riders a variety of obstacles and line choices to showcase their skills in their bid to impress the judges.<\/p>\n
50 riders competed in the Amateur and Pro divisions as judges took use-of-park, amplitude, execution, trick variety and difficulty into account when scoring the riders\u2019 runs.\u00a0The Pro\u00a0riders\u00a0not only\u00a0competed for South African rankings\u00a0but also\u00a0their share of the R37\u00a0500.00 prize money and Garmin Instinct Smartwatches.\u00a0The winner of Amateur devision took home a new Mongoose BMX\u00a0with\u00a0the other podium finishers\u00a0winning\u00a0Garmin Instinct Smartwatches and prizes from Leatt.\u00a0A DJI product voucher\u00a0to the value of\u00a0R10\u00a0000.00 was up for grabs for the Best Trick award.<\/p>\n
Amateur Division<\/p>\n
The biggest division of the day saw eight riders qualify\u00a0for\u00a0the finals.\u00a0The\u00a0development and growth\u00a0of the sport were showcased through this division\u00a0as riders stepped up their riding\u00a0in comparison\u00a0to the 2023 Park Lines event.<\/p>\n
14-year-old\u00a0Patrick Wodrich\u00a0impressed the judges with his progression and consistent riding. He landed his first Backflip in competition and used the entire park to place third.<\/p>\n
First-time Park Lines competitor Jabsi Louw made his name known by putting down an impressive run, kicking off with a Caveman into the quarter straight into a 360 over the box.\u00a0A big Backflip Can Can over the big box scored Louw the points to earn\u00a02nd\u00a0place.<\/p>\n
Last year\u2019s 3rd-place finisher, Duan Stapelberg, stepped it up to claim his first Park Lines win.\u00a0Stapelberg\u2019s run saw him trick most of the obstacles with a solid run that included a 360, Suicide No-Handers over both boxes, a Toboggan and a Tyre Grab over the spine to earn him 1st place. The win will see Stapelberg advance to the Pro Men category next year.<\/p>\n
Pro Divisions<\/p>\n
The only competing female rider in the\u00a0Pro Women\u00a0category,\u00a0Jenna Byrnes, displayed her talent by making use of the whole park while including a Backflip, 360, Barspin, Tuck No-Hander, a No-Footer and Can Can over the big box into her run to be crowned South African Champion yet again. Byrnes\u00a0is still\u00a0the only female rider to land a Backflip on a BMX in South Africa.<\/p>\n
A competitive field of top riders from all over the country competed in the Pro Men category, with the chance of earning valuable UCI points and an official SA ranking by qualifying for the 12-rider final.\u00a0Unfortunately,\u00a0as the final was about to kick off, the predicted cold front with rain reared its head and put an end to the competition.\u00a0The decision was made to take the scores from the qualifying rounds as the final results.<\/p>\n
Nkosinathi Nkosi,\u00a0known\u00a0for his stylish riding, was no different\u00a0as he\u00a0took to the course with a big 360 Toboggan over the big box, Turndowns and stalls on the quarters to finish in 5th place overall.<\/p>\n
Doran Mathewson made use of his racing background to speed through the park, landing Supermans and Tailwhips over the big box. 360s, Barspins and Flairs were thrown into his run for good measure, finishing in 4th place.<\/p>\n
Malcolm Peters is a legend of the sport in South Africa and took to the course with a big 360 Tailwhip over the big box, a 360 Barspin over the spine, and an Opposite Flair on the quarter, amongst other tricks to claim 3rd place.\u00a0Peters\u2019 Opposite Flair also earned him the\u00a0DJI Best Trick\u00a0award.<\/p>\n
The defending South African champion, Vincent Leygonie, was on form all weekend long, making use of the whole park and riding through it in every direction possible with speed and amplitude.\u00a0His runs were stacked with big tricks like a 360 going the opposite direction over the box, a Backflip and Double Truckdriver over the big box, a 360 Tuck No-Hander over the spine, a Lookback and 540 on the big quarter and a 360 Tailwhip over the box. His combined score of 83.38 points from both runs saw Leygonie take the second step of the podium.<\/p>\n
Cape Town\u2019s\u00a0Murray Loubser\u00a0is a podium threat in any competition he competes in.\u00a0Loubser\u2019s execution and use of park were unmatched as he tricked everything possible during his runs.\u00a0His trick-filled runs included an Opposite 360 Lookback and a Cannonball over the big box, Suicide No-Handers over the box, big Flairs on the quarter, a 360 and off-axis Backflip over the spine, a Tailwhip transfer between the boxes, a Barspin to Fakie over the spine, and a G-Turn over the box.\u00a0Loubser\u2019s score of 85.20 was enough to dethrone Leygonie and be crowned the 2024 South African BMX Freestyle champion.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a back-and-forth battle between Leygonie and Loubser in the Pro Men category for the past four years,\u00a0with\u00a0both riders now having two Park Lines wins under their belts.<\/p>\n
Park Lines organiser Ryan van der Spuy said at the conclusion of the event, \u201cWe are proud to have hosted another incredible Park Lines BMX tournament at such an amazing venue, bringing the sport of BMX Freestyle to the people and enabling them to witness this action-packed sport.<\/p>\n
With BMX Freestyle an official Olympic sport, it is important for us to host events like this, especially a South African championship round, where riders can earn UCI points that will enable them to qualify for\u00a0the World Championships and the Olympic Games.<\/em><\/p>\n Park Lines is an event for the riders and the perfect platform to encourage the progression and growth of the sport locally.\u00a0A huge thank you goes out to\u00a0not only\u00a0our event partners for making this all possible\u00a0but also\u00a0the competing riders\u00a0who put\u00a0it all on the line over the weekend.\u00a0We can\u2019t wait for the next instalment.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n image: Jenna Byrnes @ Eric Palmer<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n 2024 Park Lines Amateur Results:<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1st Duan Stapelberg \u2013 58.33 Points<\/p>\n 2nd Jabsi Louw \u2013 54.66 Points<\/p>\n 3rd Patrick Wodrich \u2013 53.25 Points<\/p>\n 4th Chad Randall \u2013 50.83 Points<\/p>\n 5th Mathys Putter \u2013 50.33 Points<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 2024 Park Lines \u2013 Pro Results \u2013 South African Championships:<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Pro Men:<\/p>\n 1st\u00a0Murray Loubser \u2013 85.20 Points<\/p>\n 2nd\u00a0Vincent Leygonie \u2013 83.38 Points<\/p>\n 3rd\u00a0Malcolm Peters \u2013 82.16 Points<\/p>\n 4th\u00a0Doran Mathewson \u2013 65.50 Points<\/p>\n 5th\u00a0Nkosinathi Nkosi \u2013 59.58 Points<\/p>\n 6th\u00a0Dylan Lamb \u2013 56.83 Points<\/p>\n 7th\u00a0Francois Bodenstein \u2013 56.66 Points<\/p>\n 8th\u00a0Morgan O\u2019Kennedy \u2013 53.16 Points<\/p>\n 9th\u00a0Victor Sawkins \u2013 53.08 Points<\/p>\n 10th\u00a0JD Baird \u2013 50.33 Points<\/p>\n 11th\u00a0Damion Fourie \u2013 49.16 Points<\/p>\n 12th\u00a0Mark Pienaar \u2013 47.75 Points<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Pro Women:<\/p>\n 1st\u00a0Jenna Byrnes \u2013 46.83 Points<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The\u00a02024 South African BMX Freestyle Championships\u00a0took place as part of the\u00a0Park Lines BMX\u00a0Tournament\u00a0over\u00a0the weekend. The event, sanctioned by Cycling South Africa and UCI, was presented Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3598,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[177],"class_list":["post-3597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other-sports","tag-bmx"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3597"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3599,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3597\/revisions\/3599"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}