01/09/2026
🇬🇧🏆 ANDOVER BMX CLUB — BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIPS 2026 🏆🇬🇧
What a weekend for Andover BMX Club! ❤️💙
The British Championships are always one of the biggest weekends of the BMX year, and this one had absolutely everything — racing, (some) sunshine, a brilliant club BBQ, some seriously impressive results... and eventually enough rain to turn the place into a giant slip-and-slide! 😂🌧️
30 individual Andover riders took on the best in Britain, producing an incredible 11 top-eight finishes across the various classes.
And amongst those results were THREE British Champions! 🏆🇬🇧
👑 OUR BRITISH CHAMPIONS 👑
🇬🇧🏆 Sarah-Jane Nichols — 30+ Female Cruiser
A brilliant performance from Sarah-Jane to take the British title!
🇬🇧🏆 Esme WARD — Female 14
Esme was absolutely faultless, winning both her qualifying phases and going on to claim the British Championship! 🔥
🇬🇧🏆 Annabel TOWNSEND — Female 19–29
Yet another fantastic performance from Annabel, who topped her class to become British Champion! 🇬🇧
Three champions. One incredible club. ❤️💙
And a huge congratulations to everyone else who finished inside the top eight:
🥈 Newton Hindley — 15–16 Cruiser
🥉 Phuong Clements — Female 30+
🥉 James Miller — Open 14
🏅 Connor Blyth — 17–29 Cruiser
🏅 Noa Kerr — Female 7
🏅 Phuong Clements - Female 30+ Cruiser
🏅 Ornella Maria McGarvey-Miles — Female 30+
🏅 Newton Hindley — Open 15
🏅 Clara Salmond — Female 14
🏅 Arthur Mason — 9–12 Cruiser Open
🏅 Matt Haywood — Grand Veteran 50+
And that doesn't tell the whole story.
For many of our riders, simply making it to the British Championships and lining up against the country's best is an achievement in itself. Every rider who wore the South Region Jersey and represented Andover this weekend should be incredibly proud. 👏
🍔 THE ANDOVER BBQ
Before the racing even started, Friday night gave us one of those evenings that reminds us what this club is really about.
The Andover BMX Club BBQ was absolutely brilliant. Great food, great company, plenty of laughs — and, remarkably, NO RAIN! 😂☀️
Riders, parents, families and friends all together, getting ready for a huge weekend of racing.
That's what makes Andover BMX Club special. ❤️
🌧️ AND THEN THE WEATHER ARRIVED...
For the most part, we somehow managed to keep the racing mostly dry throughout the weekend.
Then Sunday night happened. 😳
A proper storm rolled in, the Long Jump competition was cancelled and suddenly the campsite became a massive slip-and-slide/mud bath!
So naturally... the only sensible thing to do was get stuck in. 😂🌧️🛝
What could have been a disappointing end to the weekend turned into one of the biggest laughs of the whole trip.
Mud everywhere. Smiles everywhere. And memories that will last a very long time.
And perhaps that's the perfect way to finish a British Championships weekend.
🏆 36 Classes
🏆 30 Riders
🥇 3 British Champions
🏅 11 top-eight finishes
🍔 1 brilliant BBQ
🌧️ 1 enormous mud bath
❤️💙 And one very proud Andover BMX Club
❤️ THIS ONE IS FOR COACHFIXEE ❤️
There is one person we simply have to mention.
Eric Esslemont — AKA CoachFIXEE.
Head Coach. Chairman. Mentor. Chauffeur. Mechanic. Motivator. Weather warrior. Professional problem solver. 😂
But more than anything else, Eric shows up.
He shows up for our riders at club sessions.
He shows up for team sessions.
He shows up at races, wherever they are.
He shows up when it's sunny.
He shows up when it's freezing.
He shows up when it's absolutely hammering down.
And he doesn't just turn up.
He helps.
He supports.
He coaches.
He encourages.
He picks riders up when things don't go their way and pushes them to believe they can do more when they do.
His dedication to the riders and to Andover BMX Club is quite simply like no other.
There are a lot of people behind every result you see on a BMX results sheet. Parents. Families. Volunteers. Sponsors. Friends.
But there is one person who is there, week after week, session after session, race after race, giving his time and energy to make our riders better.
Eric, we love you. ❤️
And while the names above are the ones on the results sheet, we want you to know that these results belong to you too.
Every podium.
Every Champion.
Every rider who stood on that start hill this weekend.
This is your result as much as it is theirs.
So from all of us at Andover BMX Club:
Thank you, CoachFIXEE. ❤️💙
Now put your feet up...
..although knowing you, you'll probably be coaching someone tomorrow. 😂
Massive congratulations to every single rider, and a huge thank you to all the parents, families, coaches, volunteers and supporters who make weekends like this possible.
We race together. We celebrate together. And apparently... we slide through the mud together! 😂
🇬🇧❤️💙 ANDOVER BMX CLUB — PROUD TO BE PART OF IT. 💙❤️🇬🇧
