After only taking up BMX racing in November, Olds' Gavin Caskey has won his first gold medal in the sport.
Nine-year-old Gavin captured first-place honours in the novice category at the Alberta BMX Association's Provincial Showdown in Airdrie on July 14.
This was Gavin's first major competition in BMX racing and after placing in the top two positions in the three qualifying races during the day, he qualified for the competition's main race where he won gold.
“It was exciting,” Gavin said, adding he decided to try out BMX racing in the fall and winter when he couldn't ride his dirt bike outside. “My first race I was kind of nervous.”
He trained at the Olds MegaDome over the winter and now trains in Airdrie for the summer.
His mother Lindsay said it was “petty cool for him to win something at his first major series.”
“He likes going fast, the fun of it, the excitement of it,” she said. “Plus, he found he was good at it.”
Races in Airdrie on July 13 and 14 were the first in the association's series of summer competitions.
The next two will take place in Stony Plain on August 17 and 18 followed by the last pair of races for the season in Red Deer on Aug. 31 and Sept. 1.
The association's “Grands” competition and provincial championship will take place in Medicine Hat on September 14 and 15.
The next races Gavin will participate in are the Red Deer competitions.
At the end of the season, Lindsay said, the association will tally up the points from a competitor's top three races to calculate the racer's position in the provincial standings.
Currently a novice, Gavin could move into the intermediate category with two more wins.
