BMX venue ‘buzzing’ as riders chase Paris glory

An urban sports venue is “buzzing” with excitement as several of its BMX riders prepare to compete in the Paris Olympics.

Adrenaline Alley in Corby, Northamptonshire, has trained gold and bronze-winning Olympians and is hoping to increase its medal tally this year.

Current riders include twins from Columbia, both in the world top 20, who were offered the chance to train anywhere in the world and picked Adrenaline Alley.

Another of its riders missed out on a place in the Great Britain team by one point.

Adrenaline Alley was set up by Mandy Young after her son was attacked and had his beloved skateboard stolen.

It has become the biggest indoor skatepark in Europe and has trained BMX world champions.

Harry Tucker-Harvey was a regular visitor to the venue in his youth and is now its marketing director.

He said: “There’s certainly an atmosphere round the park – we’re all buzzing, excited for it to get going.

“I’ve been there for the past nine years, and all I’ve learnt is that, whatever you think Adrenaline Alley is going to be in two years’ time, it’s going to be way beyond that.”

Charlotte Worthington moved from the Manchester area to Corby so she could train at the venue and is defending her Cycling BMX Freestyle Olympic gold from 2020.

Declan Brookes trained alongside her and took home a bronze medal from the same event.

Kieran Reilly, who moved from Newcastle to live in Corby, is competing in his first Olympics but is already a world champion.

Mr Tucker-Harvey also highlighted twins from Columbia, a country with very little in the way of BMX facilities.

“For the past 45 days, we’ve had Queensaray and Lizsurley [Villegas], and they come from a very remote, rural part of Columbia,” he said.

“When they got into the Olympic qualifiers, the Columbian government said ‘we’re happy for you to go anywhere in the world to train’.

“They looked at China, they looked at the States but, ultimately, they chose to come to the best place in the world to practise.”

Once the 2024 Olympics are over, more Adrenaline Alley riders will be setting their sights on gold in future Olympics – especially Jude Jones, who missed a place in the British team for Paris by just one qualifying point.