Beerwah boy puts best foot forward at first World Championships
By Kirra Livingstone
HINTERLAND nine-year-old Rory Upshall has just returned from the experience of a lifetime at the World BMX Championships held in the United States.
The Landsborough State School student and Hinterland BMX Club rider recorded a third place in his Moto 1 race, second place in the Moto 2 race, and first place in the Moto 3 race.
In his 1/8 final, he overcame a slow start to fight back from last to finish in fifth place, just missing out on advancing to the next round. Rory finished a commendable 40th out of 98 riders.
Rory’s mum, Sarah, said his family was proud of his accomplishments.
“We are obviously extremely proud of Rory and all of his hard work and dedication that he’s shown in his training and in the lead up to this event,” she said.
“We are super excited that we had the ability to give him this opportunity for this experience at such a young age and to go and have a chance to ride against some of the best riders in the world is pretty amazing.”
Sarah added that Rory has always been fascinated with bikes, so BMXing came naturally.
“He was always a kid who was on a bike and anything with wheels he’s interested in, so from a young age he was riding a bike at three and was super keen,” she said. “We took him to the track one day for a little bit of fun and then he said he really liked this so we looked into the local club.
“The people at Hinterland BMX Club were really helpful in getting us involved in the club, so he raced his first race and now he can’t get away from it.”
The Landsborough State School student council organised a fundraiser for Rory with nearly $500 raised to help cover costs to the event held in South Carolina. “We are very proud of Rory for what he has achieved and for travelling over to the USA to compete in the BMX World Championships,” principal Selina Barry said.
“Students were asked to dress as their favourite sports star and to bring a gold coin donation.”
