Your Forum article 25th June 2012

 

Great Progress at BMX Club

 

 

Drop in to Ratoath BMX on the Fairyhouse road any Tuesday or Thursday evening and find yourself in a world that was thought to have died out several decades ago.

 

On this particular evening around fifty children and a smattering of adults are leaping over ramps and pedalling for all their might as the popularity of Ireland’s only BMX course (apart from Cherry Orchard indoor track) grows by the day. About sixteen of the riders are practising for the UK national competition in Braintree this weekend.

 

James ‘Shay’ McNally is chairman of the club. He has been living in Ratoath since 2003 and raced BMX bikes in Ireland from 1982 until around 1988 when BMX racing here died out.

 

The track is 350 metres long and is a UK standard track, based on a track in Manchester. The entire organisation is non-profit and membership costs just €35 per year. The future of the members’ enthusiasm is assured for life, the future of the club, however, lies in the hands of the volunteers who help to run it. Ratoath BMX club has 520 members and relies heavily on its sponsors including bikestore.ie, Tayto Park, Flynns printers and Des Kelly Carpets, to name but a few. Shay sings the praises of one supporter in particular, “Regina Doherty, local TD, has been fantastic since the very beginning.”

 

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