Yu Ting-yue and Tsang Hin-ying showed excellent form during first- round action of the 2009-2010 Hong Kong Inter-school BMX League. The competition was held at the Hong Kong Jockey Club International BMX Park in Kwai Chung last Saturday.
Ting-yue, from Sheung Shui Government Secondary School, won the gold medal in the boys' Grade A group while Hin-ying, from HKCWC Fung Yiu King Memorial Secondary School, took the championship in the secondary school girls' section.
Ting-yue, a Form Four student, had been practising BMX tricks for more than two years, but this was his first taste of BMX racing.
'I first got to know about BMX racing after doing volunteer work at the Hong Kong East Asian Games BMX competition,' he said.
'Speed racing is very different from doing tricks - you need power and stamina to win a competition while doing tricks depends a lot on body control.'
To train for the tournament, Ting-yue rode his BMX from Sheung Shui to Ma On Shan and back.
'I am really surprised but happy to win the competition. I have never done speed racing on a BMX before,' he said.
Ting-yue hopes his achievement will persuade his school to relaunch its bicycle team which was disbanded in 2000.
'When I joined the school, it had no bicycle team,' he said. 'But I heard from senior students that our school used to have a bicycle team but it was disbanded after an accident. I hope the school will set up a team again. After all, the school wants students to be engaged in healthy activities.'
Hin-ying, a Form Two student, was attracted to BMX racing when she went on a school trip to the BMX park in Kwai Chung.
'I became interested in the sport after seeing the facilities at the park,' she said. 'However, there is no BMX racing in our school, so I practise by riding mountain bikes on cycling trails. Riding on the tracks here is faster and more exiting than riding on cycling trails.'
Round two and round three of the competition will take place on May 15 and June 26, respectively