Top level BMX racing is set to return to Tamworth for the first time in almost a decade.
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The Tamworth City BMX Club has been awarded the hosting rights for a round of next year's BMX NSW State Series.
Running from February through to August, the 10-round series will get underway in Bathurst and bring the state's top riders to Tamworth on May 17.
"It's all very exciting," BMX club president Daniel Morris said.
It's further attestation that things are getting back on track after a tough few years for the club. In May it sent it's biggest contingent of riders for a long time to the sport's showpiece event - the National Championships.
The state series round is expected to attract upwards of 550/650 competitors.
But it's not just about the immediate impact.
"The whole point of us having this event is it will future-proof the club. Ideally for us, next year is about gaining support to have future events," Morris said.
Ideally for us, next year is about gaining support to have future events
- Daniel Morris
The opportunity to host major events have been few and far between for the club in recent years.
Morris said the last major meeting they held would have been a round of the state series back when it first started in 2012.
Prior to that the club was regularly hosting big meetings, and attracting the best riders in the country.
Two-time world BMX champion Sam Willoughby notably competed back in 2003, captaining the Australian Mighty 11s in their annual battle with their Kiwi counterparts. And he wasn't the only one.
"A lot of the current elite riders in Australia once competed at the event here," Morris said with Tamworth for a long-time (around 15 years) hosting the Australian leg of the test series.
He said the club did make a submission to hold a round of the state series in 2015. Initially successful, unfortunately when the time came they weren't in a position to.
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Since then they've "been in a rebuilding phase" to ensure that if they were given the opportunity to host a round again, or any other major event, they are able to.
"Financially we had to get back on track and be secure," Morris said.
Getting a strong volunteer base was also a big thing, and getting the track and facilities up to scratch.
"The last 12 months there's been a lot of work go into the facilities there," he said.
Being awarded a state round is good reward for that, he said. Not that the hard work is over. If anything it's just starting.
"For us it will be a six-12 month build-up, getting ready for it," Morris said.
They have some new lighting going in, and have applied for funding to get the track resurfaced with a surface that bonds the dirt.
"It's like mixing concrete, for dirt," Morris explained.
It would make the track virtually maintenance free for two years plus.
Presently it takes a "fair amount of work" just to have the track safe for day to day riding for the public.
"Obviously for us the constant battle is water," he said.
"We are on a very limited water budget. We have to get water trucked in to do any work."
