Ticket sales for the British BMX Hall of Fame event on 5th November 2022 are now live on Eventbrite.co.uk.

The first annual event to honour and recognise the people who have made significant contributions to the sport of BMX in the UK.

The sport of BMX racing and freestyle first hit the UK’s shores in the late 1970s. Over the years, the sport has seen many highs and lows, but throughout that time has been kept alive through the hard work and dedication of many people – the riders, event organisers, officials, the BMX media, the BMX industry and an army of volunteers – to the point that BMX in the UK is now experiencing a new golden era, as evidenced by Team GB’s haul of 2 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

The purpose of this long overdue event is to remember and honour those people who pioneered the sport of BMX in the UK as well as those who continued to carry the torch for future generations to enjoy this amazing sport.

BRITISH BMX HALL OF FAME UPDATE: The Organizing Committee is in place. The date is set. The venue is booked. We are now pleased to announce the members of the British BMX Hall of Fame Selection Panel:

ANDY RUFFELL:  needs little introduction.  At age 11, Andy saw the BMX episode of CHiPs and dreamed of one day being able to upgrade his Raleigh Grifter for the real thing.  After working on a market stall and doing paper rounds 7 days a week, Andy was able to purchase his first BMX bike, a Mongoose Supergoose. Before BMX teams were a thing in the UK, Andy spent all of his spare time at Rom and Harrow skate parks and built a reputation as one of the best park riders in the UK, credited as one of the first UK BMX’ers to perfect aerial 360s and giant airs.  In 1980, Andy joined the UK’s first BMX race team, Team Ace, won the first official BMX race in the UK, and was quickly snapped up by Ammaco Mongoose to become Mongoose’s first factory sponsored European rider.  As BMX blew up in the UK, Andy became the UK’s first BMX superstar, traveling the world racing and also putting on freestyle demos to huge crowds.  With the sport at its peak, Andy signed the biggest BMX sponsorship contract in UK BMX history with industry giant, Raleigh Bicycles.  Off the track, Andy developed a significant career in TV, hosting BMX Beat, The Tizer Freestyle Championships and Kellogg’s BMX Championships on mainstream TV.  Andy also founded and produced several BMX events, most notably Holeshot, which attracted the top BMX and skateboard talent from all over the world.

SCOTT DICK:  is well known on the UK BMX race scene as a legendary commentator and someone who has dedicated his life to growing the sport of BMX.  Scott’s BMX journey started some 41 years ago when he was Track Director of the fabled Westway track in West London (his wife Margaret also handled admin and finish line duties).  After Westway, Scott became Chairman at Hillingdon Hawks BMX club, and when his son Alex began racing at 3 years old, Scott, Marg and their 3 kids became regulars on the UK and European race circuit.  As Scott’s presence and reputation grew, he was invited onto the Board of GBBMXF and the BCF BMX Commission.  Scott was also instrumental in devising and promoting BMX race events at the NEC Bike Show, NASS and the No Clips Series.  More recently, Scott set up the London BMX Series seeing it grow from 80+ riders in 2012 to 300+ riders in 2019, and also created a Schools Outreach Project which goes into local schools spreading the word of BMX and teaching kids how to ride bikes.

CLIVE GOSLING:  has veritably feasted on BMX over the last 40 years and continues to remain heavily involved in both BMX racing and freestyle through the Mongoose and GT BMX brands as Marketing Director for Cycling Sports Group. As well as being a National #1 BMX racer (achieved by winning a perfect 10 nationals out of 10), Clive was also an early crossover street rider in the 80s, and in the 90s promoted/presented the GT Air Show with freestyle legends Simon Tabron and Zach Shaw.  Clive represented some of the biggest and best factory teams in BMX such as Revcore, Robinson, Zeronine, ELF, Mongoose and GT to name just a few.  Racer, King of Dirt, street rider, team manager, MC/commentator, Clive has experienced all walks of the BMX life.

DALE HOLMES:  came across a copy of Official BMX Magazine at school in 1981 and shortly after began racing locally at Bunney’s track in Nottingham on his Raleigh Supercross.  1983 was Dale’s first full season of racing and BMX became a family affair with Dale and his sister Rachel travelling all over the UK chasing regional and national points.  As Dale’s profile increased he attracted sponsors such as Bunney’s Bike Shop, Shenpar, JMC, Powerlite and Cyclecraft.  Then, in the summer of 1988 at the age of 16, Dale made the move up to Superclass hoping to supplement his £28.50 weekly YTS wage and fulfill his ambition of BMX becoming his career.  Heading into the 90s Dale began to race frequently in the USA and, after winning the UCI world title in 1996, made the switch Stateside permanent.  Dale spent the next 10 years travelling the world representing GT, Nirve and Free Agent, also picking up another UCI world title in 2001, eventually moving into full time team management for Free Agent and mentoring BMX legend Kyle Bennett and 2 x Olympic Champion, Maris Strombergs.  Dale’s BMX career has now come full circle, racing for fun in Vans on flat pedals, and giving back to the sport by running a number of grassroots school and camp programs for the next generation of BMX’ers.

BRITISH BMX HALL OF FAME UPDATE: January 2022

SAVE THE DATE!

With Christmas and New Year out of the way for another year, we are now excited to confirm the date and venue of the inaugural British BMX Hall of Fame banquet and induction ceremony:

WHEN: Saturday 5th November 2022

WHERE: National Conference Centre, Solihull

TIME: 1800 until 0100

Details of how to purchase tickets (and pricing) will be released shortly.

Every year many of us Brits attend the USA BMX Hall of Fame Awards event in San Diego. The conversation amongst us at the end of the weekend is, “We need to do this back home in the UK”. Over the years we’ve had countless conversations with many of our friends about the very same subject. Maybe a lot of us were just hoping someone else would take the initiative to do it. Then, another year passes by without anything happening.

Mike Wong recently reminded us of a Scott Dick (Uncle Buck) quote that resonated with us when talking about the early days of BMX in the UK: “BMX always belonged to the kids, and the parents were just looking after it until the kids were old enough to look after it themselves”. Well, “we the riders” are a little late to the gate but we decided it’s time we started to look after or at least started to preserve the British BMX History part of BMX as much as we can and get on with doing it.

Over the last month, a group of us along with other well respected friends and industry folks in the background have been talking almost on a daily basis and actually putting things into place to roll out the British BMX Hall of Fame in 2022.

There is still a lot to do but the plan is tentatively for an event in Oct/Nov 2022 in Birmingham. A full Hall of Fame banquet event with the induction of our first British Hall of Famers for 2022 in all categories.

We understand, respect and acknowledge that NBMXA inducted a number of riders into its version of a Hall of Fame during the 1987/88 period and we do not want to diminish or disrespect this in any way. What we want to create is an official, unified (all sanctions, race and freestyle) version of a Hall of Fame which can be built into something year on year that everyone from every era of British BMX can be a part of, the aim being to pass on the torch from generation to generation to keep our sport’s history alive for future generations. We hope to grow it into something all generations of British BMX’ers can be proud of with the ultimate goal of keeping the British BMX flame burning for years to come.

From the early days of Don Smith, Geoff Wiles, Alan Rushton, Arthur and Alan Woods, Malcom and Sue Jarvis and so many other riders and behind the scenes people that invested in the foundation of BMX, we want to give them the acknowledgment and thanks they deserve.

We will continue to update and share news as things progress. Looking forward to your feedback as we move forward. We will update the British BMX Hall of Fame website, Facebook (British BMX Hall of Fame) and Instagram @britishbmxhalloffame with regular updates.

Also, we wanted to thank both Cash Matthews and Eddy King from the USA BMX Hall of Fame and also Jeff Osmus from the Texas Hall of Fame for taking the time to share advice and insights on setting this up. Exciting times. Stay-tuned.