How the thrill of BMX can offer therapy on two wheels

Burgess Park
CK Flash and BMX riders at Burgess Park in Southwark Credit: Paul Grover

Even for someone as ancient, slow and wobbly as me it is an astonishing feeling. Flying out of the traps at the start of London’s Burgess Park BMX track, hauled by gravity over its bumps and dips, haring round its corners, a lap here represents a sudden injection of pure, unfettered adrenalin. As you pant over the finish line, it is impossible not to break into the broadest full-beam grin.

“Nothing beats it,” says CK, the coach in charge of the Southwark facility, as I return to the start line, still smiling, hoping for another spin. “This is what makes it very different to any other sport. That and what you learn here. This is less a sport, more a life skill.” 

As CK talks, dozens of local youngsters are lining up around me for their go around the track. Every evening it is like this here, alive with biking. All sorts come along, from the little girl who needs a bit of assistance from the coach to make it over the first incline, to the gaggles of teenagers preparing to race at improbable speeds over its contours. All of them having the time of their lives.

“I used to play in this park when I was a kid, then it turned into right wasteland,” says Joanne Murphy, who has come along to watch her seven-year-old son Mitchell be coached by CK. “To be honest, when they built this it was the best thing that has happened round here in years.”

Burgess Park is a small patch of open space surrounded by brooding tower blocks, in the borough of Southwark, the neighbourhood that achieved nationwide notoriety when Damilola Taylor was murdered 17 years ago. But in April 2013 things began to look up. That was when the £1.2 million, floodlit facility was first opened and a group called Access Sport began to run BMX sessions here. So successful have they become that eight local riders – including Tre White, a bronze medallist in the world BMX championships and Quillan Isidore, the former under-16 world champion – are now ensconced in British Cycling’s Olympic development programme in Manchester.

Burgess Park BMX track
Burgess Park was once a wasteland Credit: Paul Grover

But according to CK producing world-class talent is only a part of what they do here. The aim is to spread the word about the huge benefits of two wheels. This is BMX as social work, BMX as community development, BMX as a real alternative to a life of gang crime.

“The thing is, you get a buzz from the word go,” says CK, who was himself a BMX champion in his youth. “Kids have short attention spans, they don’t want to stand around having to learn how to play a sport before they can get a kick out of it. It doesn’t have to be sporty kids, either. Anyone who can ride a bike will buzz off this. And even if you can’t ride, we’ll soon teach you how.” There is no need, he points out, for specialist equipment. The storeroom staffed by volunteers is lined with bikes and helmets which can be borrowed for a burst round the track. From the very first visit, everyone is welcome.

“A lot of kids have got a lot of aggression in them,” he adds, as he greets a bunch of riders arriving at the start gate with a round of high fives. “This is the best sport for them. They can let it all out in a 35-second race.” 

One of those to have benefited from the therapeutic effects of two wheels is Mitchell Murphy. Diagnosed early on with ADHT he became an increasing handful for his mother, Joanne. A BMX bike, however, proved to be his place of sanctuary.

“He loves it here,” she says, watching as he dips around the track. “He never had any fear, this is putting that to good use. It’s enhanced his self-confidence so much. And really calmed him down.” 

Burgess Park BMX
CK Flash has overseen a flourishing BMX scene in south London Credit: Paul Grover

Mitchell is not alone. Many local schools have discovered that their most challenging pupils can find solace haring over the contours during the daytime sessions run here by Access Sport. And for those who display real talent, CK and his team are perfectly placed to offer expert guidance.

Indeed, so successful has the Burgess Park programme become that Access is extending it as quickly as it can raise funds. A new track in Tower Hamlets opens next month, and there are others being constructed in Lewisham, Croydon and Avonmouth near Bristol. Access has just restored a formerly crumbling, overlooked circuit in Brixton. And this afternoon, for its grand opening, it will play host to the BMX championships of the London Youth Games, featuring competitors from across 22 boroughs.

“Virtually everywhere local authority youth services and playing facilities are being shut down as budgets get squeezed,” says Mark Hardie, the chief executive officer of Access Sport. “I suppose we’re stepping into a void.” 

At a time when British Cycling is under critical scrutiny for some of its practices, on the rolling surface of Burgess Park is definitive evidence of the wholly beneficial effects of biking.And, as I discover when CK offers me a second turn round the track, there is nowhere else in the inner city where the adrenalin rush of speed can be so easily – and legitimately – accessed.

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