About BMX
THE HISTORY OF KZN BMX
BMX started in KZN around 1980 with the first track at the Roy Hesketh Raceway in Pietermaritzburg and a little after that a track in Howick.
By 1982 tracks started to be built in the Durban area. Initially a very popular venue was established on the Bluff, followed soon there after by a track in Queensburgh (where we still race today), Forest Hills (where the current Forest Hills Sports Club, in fact BMX was the reason the club was started) then a year or so later a track was built in Hillcrest which became very popular and hosted some major national events. Another major venue was established in New Germany in 1982 and was in existence until around 2004 when it had to make way for a housing development. There was also a track built in Westville as well as Salt Rock and even Richards Bay and Empangeni had tracks for a while. These tracks were developed and run under the National BMX Association of South Africa (NBMXSA) banner.
There were also tracks built for the SABMX franchise at Ashburton, Newcastle and Ladysmith. By 1984 there were many tracks to choose from and racing every weekend was on both Saturdays and Sundays every weekend, so there was no shortage of race opportunities.
The sport was extremely popular in the early to mid 80’s with entries to standard club meetings often being in the order of 500 riders. The 1983 national event held in July at the Bluff had in excess of 1,500 entries.
Races were initially not under any affiliated body however in around 1980 an organisation called SABMX was started by the Gilmer family from Gauteng utilising the rules and format of the American Bicycle Association. This was a private organisation which was not affiliated to any national sporting codes. In 1982 an organisation was formed called the which had affiliation with the SA Sports Council and would be in a position to award both provincial and national colours, from which we benefit today.
