CSP lends a helping hand to local BMX club
Like most minority sports clubs Mountain Raiders BMX Club, based at Lloyd Elsmore Park in Auckland, has limited funding. After undertaking a number of improvements to the racetrack since 2011 the club was keen to further maximise its usage by installing flood lighting – a fairly significant task in terms of coordination and cost.
Based at Pigeon ‘mountain’ in Pakuranga, BMX Mountain Raiders Club was one of the first in New Zealand to take on what was then the ‘new’ sport of BMX as it spread across the world – having got its start in California in the late 70s.
In 2008 BMX hit the spotlight with its inclusion in the Olympic Games. Almost overnight it was considered to be a serious sport and the pressure came on clubs to produce facilities to support the growing number of keen young riders wanting to get to the Olympics.
In 2011 the need for water and power to make the track safer and more accessible for the community led to an option for a new site which saw the club work with the Council to design and build a facility at Lloyd Elsmore Park.
More recently, with a maturing club and more national publicity, there was demand to increase facilities and allow for more dynamic use of the track.
“Most things are done by the club with help from the community,” says Ed Stubenitsky, Design Manager, Building + Interiors for Fletcher Construction. “So to get new lights we had to go back to the community and businesses to ask for help.”
Ed is a stalwart of the Mountain Raiders BMX Club and was the driving force behind the track upgrade. With his various contacts within the Fletcher Building businesses, Ed was able to convince the likes of Firth and CSP to come up with a flood lighting package that made the project feasible.
“We supplied the columns and the crossarms, as well as the base reaction calculations to enable the foundation design to be undertaken,” says Bruce Stephens, Sales Engineer - Barriers & Structures for CSP. “We also helped out with industry contacts who were able to undertake the installation of the columns.” “We are extremely grateful to CSP and the other Fletcher companies that have helped us with this project,” says Ed. “There is no way we would have lights without their support.” |
Recently the club was allocated the second biggest event in the BMX NZ calendar in 2018, the ‘North Island Titles’ which will bring 700+ riders and 2000 supporters along with public spectators to the track.
“We are very proud of our track and now this facility is something that the Howick – Pakuranga community can also be proud of,” says Ed.
Mountain Raiders BMX club would like to thank the following companies for their support:
|