IT was Indiana Jones meets teenage Nicole Kidman when council workers unearthed an old BMX race track in Beaconsfield last week.
Workers were laying a cycle path along Carrington Street when they exhumed tyres and dirt from an old course at Hilton Park.
Opening in 1979 near the height of BMX fever, it was decommissioned in 1990 when another track was built on an old tip site in Cockburn.
A thrilled Jade McPherson relives his youth at the old Beacy BMX course.
The 400m Beacy course was a favourite with locals and home to Jade McPherson, who went to compete globally.
In a glittering career, McPherson won more than 30 state titles, several national and international titles and finished fourth at the world championships in Canada.
He’d started riding at four after his stepfather, a motor-cross enthusiast, took him down to the Beaconsfield track in the year it opened.
Now 40, McPherson still races in the over-30s masters division and coaches kids who’ve represented Australia at BMX racing in the past two Olympics.
McPherson as a youngster tears up the track in the 1980s.
The sport became a medal event at the 2008 Beijing games.
“Back in the ‘80s, I used to race at the Beaconsfield track every weekend on my Kuwahara,” McPherson recalls.
“Seeing sections of the old course brought back some great memories. I broke countless bones over the years, down here, but it was all great fun.”
McPherson previously worked as a high performance coach for BMX Sports WA, before becoming a freelance coach.
“There are around 1200 registered BMX riders in WA, so the sport is in pretty good shape,” he says.
McPherson as a youngster tears up the track in the 1980s.
“We’re never going to attract the money that sports like soccer and football do, but the inclusion of BMX racing in the Olympics has made a big difference.
“BMXs have always been cool, despite changes in fashions and trends,” he says.
“I still keep in touch on Facebook with old riders from back in the day.”
Council supervisor Lachlan Buck says the Carrington Street cycle path will be complete in around two weeks.
by STEPHEN POLLOCK
