Walker defends Oceania BMX Racing title
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Twenty-year-old Olympian Leila Walker has started her 2026 season on a winning note, successfully defending her elite women’s title at the Oceania BMX Racing Championships in Brisbane.
The Cambridge BMX Club rider had the closest of battles with compatriot Megan Williams from Rotorua, with both riders finishing on the same points after a three-moto competition.
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Walker, who had the fastest lap time of the event, to be awarded the title on overall points, to follow on from winning the title in New Plymouth last year.
Williams produced a confident display with the kiwi pair were too strong for the Australians at the Sleemans BMX facility in Brisbane, which will host the UCI BMX Racing World Championships in 2026.
Walker was pleased to get some quality racing in the legs in her first competition since last year.
“It started out slowly. It has been a long time between drinks,” she said. “It’s been six months since our last international race. I found my rhythm towards the end, I knocked off the nerves and got the race day done,” said Walker.
Australian riders dominated the elite men’s competition won by Jesse Asmus over renowned Olympian Isaac Kennedy in a tight final with the experienced North Harbour rider Michael Bias sixth and Bennett Greenough (Cambridge) seventh.
The podium chances for both kiwis were thwarted with a crash in the final.
Cambridge rider Brooke Penny finished second in the under-23 women’s contest, racing with the elite women, while the Cambridge pair of Jack Greenough and Finn Cogan finished seventh and eighth respectively in the under-23 men.
Again a fall hindered the hopes for the kiwis with Cogan crashing and Greenough caught in the aftermath.
Whangarei club rider Tyla Dinsdale led the kiwi riders in the junior men finishing fourth, pipped from the podium by a slim margin after three third placings in his motos, with Nico Cogan (Cambridge) fifth.
The New Zealand pair of Madeleine Hunter (Mountain Raiders) and Azaria Thornley (North Avon) finished fifth and sixth respectively in the junior women’s competition.
There are around 200 kiwi entries in the Challenge and Cruiser class racing over the weekend in Brisbane, with the competition one of three events for World Championship selection for junior elite males and females.
The World Championships, expected to attract around 3000 competitors, is from 18 to 25 July.