Revisiting the UK’s First Documented BMX Race — Brockwell Park: 1980, Not 1979

As we continue documenting the history of BMX in the UK, we want to acknowledge that this is a fluid process — we’re constantly uncovering new stories, photos, and information.

We originally posted and documented that even though the first official race in the UK was held at Redditch on August 30th, 1980, there was still an event documented prior to that at Brockwell Park, London, in 1979, which was won by Pete Middleton. The event was heavily supported by Richard Barrington’s ACE Team and US Mongoose rider Danny Oakley.

Through ongoing research, talking to as many riders as possible who were there, and obtaining new documents, we’ve since discovered that the Brockwell Park event actually took place in June 1980 — not 1979, as we initially believed. After speaking in detail with Malcolm Jarvis (Ammaco Mongoose), he confirmed that Brockwell Park was a demonstration race on their mobile plywood BMX track in 1980. Malcolm also noted that they ran various small-scale events on the plywood track before the official first Halfords Redditch event in August — including ones at Brands Hatch (with TV coverage), Lydden Race Circuit (also televised) for TV, in the Jarvis’s back garden for the Multi-Coloured Swap Shop TV programme, and at other locations throughout 1980.

There’s more to come as we continue digging deeper, and please reach out if you were one of the riders at Brockwell Park that we might not yet know about — we’d love to include you in a future Brockwell Park deep dive we’re working on.

We’re grateful to everyone who continues to share their knowledge and help us keep the record as accurate as possible.

History is living — and with your help, we’ll keep refining it so future generations know exactly how UK BMX began.

Photo – Left to right: Wayne Bigby, Trevor Shanks, Pete Middleton (winner of the final), and Clive Berry.