Brody McLean, 7, of Osoyoos became a provincial BMX racing champion in his class at recent provincial championships in Langley. (Lee Cejalvo Photography)
Like millions of Canadian kids, Brody McLean loves to ride his bike. But unlike most kids, McLean likes to ride his bike at high speeds over rugged terrain.
And he’s very good at it.
The talented seven-year-old from Osoyoos recently became a provincial BMX racing champion in his class taking home two gold medals at the recent BMX Provincial Championships in Langley.
Brody is the oldest son of Len and Kirsten McLean, who are well known in the community as the owners of McLean Construction and founders of the McLean Construction Charity Golf Tournament, which took place a couple of weeks ago at the Osoyoos Golf Club.
Brody’s little brother Zane, who just turned age five 10 days ago, also competes on the provincial BMX racing circuit.
“I don’t think my boys are any happier than when they’re out riding their bikes,” said Kirsten. “They literally ride their bikes from the second they get out of class at school until dinner time and then they’re often back outside riding their bikes until it gets dark outside.”
Len McLean was a competitive BMX racer when he was a youngster growing up in Vancouver and has passed his passion for the competitive bicycle racing down to his two boys.
Dad tried building a BMX track in Osoyoos two years ago, but didn’t have much success, said his wife.
“Snakes and puncturevine are not good when it comes to BMX bikes,” she said smiling. “We knew about the BMX race club in Penticton and signed our boys up, they loved it right away and we’ve been heavily involved ever since over the past couple of years.”
For the past two years, Brody, Zane and their parents travel every Monday night during the spring and summer to Penticton for practice and make the longer journey to Kelowna almost every Wednesday night.
At the recent provincial championships, Brody captured the title of provincial champion in the age seven and under “cruiser class”, which is for BMX bikes with 24-inch wheels. The cruiser class doesn’t have levels of skill, so all classes of riders from novice to expert race against each other.
He also captured the provincial title in the seven and under novice-intermediate class, which uses 20-inch wheels.
Brody had to beat more than 20 other competitors in his age class and win several preliminary races – called motos – to qualify for the finals and claim the provincial title.
He captured the gold medal in the final race by making a daring move on the final corner to pass the young rider in front of him and grab top spot, which gave him enough points to clinch the overall provincial title.
Becoming a provincial champion was an awesome feeling, said Brody, who is also a talented hockey player.
“I told all of the kids at school and they thought it was pretty cool,” he said. “I love racing and it’s nice to win.”
Because of his success, Brody has become an “expert” racer, which is the highest level of racing that BMX competitors can achieve before you turn professional when you get into your teenage years.
To advance from novice to intermediate, a rider must win 10 races and to advance from intermediate to expert, you have to win 20 races at the intermediate level.
“This means that Brody is now racing against the elite class or riders not just from Canada, but from all over the United States at national events in both countries,” said his mom.
Brody and his younger brother travelled this past weekend to the BMX Grand Nationals in Chilliwack, which is the final event of the race season with riders from across Canada and the USA competing.
Brody finished fifth in the age seven and under cruiser class and eighth in the expert class. He was fourth in the cruiser class and seventh in the expert class in the BMX Canadian Grand National event on Sunday.
Brody is now ranked in the top 10 in his age group in district 4 in B.C. for expert riders.
While Brody’s racing talent is obvious, McLean’s youngest son is also proving he loves the sport as he finished sixth overall in the five and under novice-intermediate provincial races against 25 other competitors.
Zane has to win three more races before he advances to the intermediate class.
“He’s still at the age where he’s not overly competitive and just races to have some fun, but he’s shown some talent at it too and loves going to the races just as much as Brody does,” she said.
While it doesn’t have the popularity of hockey or soccer, BMX racing is very popular in B.C. and Brody’s parents spend most of the spring and summer attending competitions across the province with their boys.
“They’re competing on the provincial race circuit in places like Vernon, Kelowna, Kamloops, Salmo, Penticton, Langley and North Vancouver, but there’s also a national series and we’ve gone as far as Las Vegas and Chilliwack to race in that series as well,” she said.
“People might not realize it, but BMX racing is a very popular and growing sport and there are competitors from age two to 72.”
Brody and his parents will be leaving next week for the U.S. Grand Nationals in Richland, Wash., where he will be competing against some of the top young BMX riders from across the United States.
“The American grand nationals are close to the border, so we’re expecting the top kids from Canada and the United States to be there,” said Kirsten. “He just won the provincials, so this will be a great test to see how he does against the very best American kids.”
Being able to travel with their kids to various competitions over the past two years has been a fantastic experience, she said.
“Len and I just love it,” she said. “We get to spend some real quality time with our boys and we know how much they both love competing and racing.
“We also get to meet some wonderful people on the circuit. It’s a lot like hockey in that respect.”
Brody said he hopes to continue improving and hopefully win more provincial and hopefully national championships in the future.
“I like hockey, but I love BMX,” he said.
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
