Mayor Doug Echols made the official announcement that the city would host the 2017 BMX World Championship at the still-under-construction Novant Healthcare BMX Supercross Track. The forecasted economic impact to the area could be significant. Whereas various sports events brought $18 million of economic impact to Rock Hill during the whole of 2013, the BMX World Championship is estimated to contribute somewhere in the region of $13 million. For a 10-day event.

“The economic impact of this just really boggles the mind,” said John Gettys, the chairman of the Rock Hill Sports Commission. “Start thinking about those numbers when you have some time, and you’ll see why everybody’s smiling today.”

Three-thousand amateur and 300 pro racers will compete in the world championship, which will be held July 26-30, 2017, with practice days on the 24th and 25th. The competitors’ average stay is around 10 days.

Echols, Gettys, and South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism director Duane Parrish did the talking Friday morning. Novant Healthcare BMX Supercross Track head Mike King wasn’t present; the BMX Hall of Famer was part of a three-man delegation, including Rock Hill Parks and Recreation officials Thad Fischer and John Taylor, that was making its way back from Switzerland where BMX’s governing body, Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), made the announcement on Thursday.

A bid launched by the city about three months ago culminated in the awarding of the world championship.

“We’ve been sitting on it,” said Gettys. “It’s such a big deal, we didn’t want to let everybody know about it at the time.”

Rock Hill’s BMX Supercross track is expected to open in August and already has several events scheduled for late 2014. The track’s construction falls in line with Echols’ desire to sell Rock Hill as a destination for sports tourism. For years, the city hosted mega softball tournaments at Cherry Park, tennis events, and the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships at Manchester Meadows in 2012. But never before has the city played host to a world championship.

“When you think of the attention this will bring Rock Hill, South Carolina for a BMX World Championship as an isolated event, that’s one way to think about it, and you could put a period at the end of that,” Echols said. “I suggest to you that that’s not the case. What happens is that kind of exposure, worldwide exposure, is that people begin to look closer at our community for all kinds of reasons.”

Echols continued: “It’s a way of saying to the larger world, this is a special place. And when you have the opportunity to say that, it attracts the attention of others. I believe strongly that these kinds of opportunities lead us to other opportunities. They’re not in isolation.”

The BMX World Championship hasn’t been held on American dirt since 2001, when Louisville did the honor. After stops all over the world, including New Zealand, Great Britain and Denmark in the last three years, UCI was interested in returning to the United States. Gettys said that USA Cycling, which was contacted by the world championship organizers, cited Rock Hill as the perfect locale to host the event.

“Today is truly a day to celebrate,” he said, before adding, “We want championships in Rock Hill.”

Read more here: http://www.heraldonline.com/2014/06/13/6054787/formal-announcement-made-that.html#storylink=cpy

Caroline Buchanan (BMX Mania Approved!) crushed Felicia Stancil's (BMX Mania Approved!) dream, in the Women's Time Trial Superfinal with a last run victory over the speedy American. CB blazed in at an impressive 31.952 second, a little over a second faster the Stancil.

In the racing eliminations, 48 dudes and 24 speedy women qualified to join the Time Trial Superfinalists in Saturday's final rounds of racing, crowning ONE man and ONE woman, the Big Dogs of Mellowpark.

RED HOT BMX RACE ACTION PHOTOS AVAILABLE TO YOU ON THE BMX MANIA BERLIN BMX SX RACE REPORT PAGE!

BMX Mania Editor's Note: This has got to be one of the GREATEST programs in BMX! Dale Holmes is a visionary in taking his love for BMX to places that can impact young lives for the healthier and better.

Quote of the week, that's FOR SURE, BMX Mania Approved...."definitely something we want to do more of in the future, we want to expand and get more people involved and promote healthy lifestyle, healthy eating, and BMX racing.....get more people on BMX bikes, it's always our goal to get more people to the track!" AMEN! Couldn't have said it better from here at BMX Mania World HQ, Dale, GOOD JOB! - Jerry Landrum/BMXmania.com

The kids were fired up and ready for Exercise/Nutrition Jeopardy. The interaction was great and they all asked how they could stay in touch in the months and years ahead.

We are planning a major school program BBQ at a local track in the Fall to bring all of the schools together and to test their knowledge of what they learned during involvement in our program.

Capture a first-hand glance of our Ride to End Obesity program in action through this edit shot by Corinne Walder. We're stoked to have been able to reach more than 250 kids this semester with a positive message of eating well and exercising, while sharing our passion for the sport of BMX. It's great to have of our team involved and we're looking forward to an expansion in Fall. Learn more, daleholmesracing.com ridetoendobesity.com

More great things to come. ... ridetoendobesity.com ... daleholmesracing.com

 #ridetoendobesity #bmxinschools #bmxproforaday #buildinghealthykids

A Corinne Walder Video Edit! = vimeo.com/corinnewalder

Now, CGI is pleased to announce that its sponsorship extends to BOX forks.   “We’re extremely excited about this new deal with Redline. It’s a major big coup for us to be working with the Sam Willoughby, Alise Post, Tory Nyhaug and the rest of the great team, as well as Redline, as a whole. We look forward to a long relationship with Redline,” said Toby Henderson, founder and executive director of CGI.  

“We believe that Box components will help our Redline athletes win more races and set them up for success on the national and international stage. We are working hard to extend these technical advances on the bikes we sell to racer’s everywhere as we move into 2015,” said Dirk Sorenson, Redline’s marketing manager.

Starting June 1, the Redline Factory Team riders will begin transitioning to BOX forks. With the switch, the team also will make the move to 20-mil front hubs. Some riders will make the switch immediately, while others may take a little time to get used to the change.  

“We understand that this change, as well as any possible differences in geometry, might take some getting used to. With this in mind, and taking into consideration their upcoming race schedule, we are giving the riders some leeway. But we’re confident that once they put the stiffer forks and 20-mil front hubs on their bikes, they will be quite pleased,” said Michael Gamstetter, CGI’s senior brand manager and product designer.  

Besides Willoughby, Post and Nyhaug, the team consists of Josh Klatman, Collin Hudson, Hunter Pelham, Jason Carnes, Carly Dyar and George Goodall. In addition to BOX “X”, “XL” and “X2” forks, the entire team uses BOX brakes, seatclamps and number plates.