It was with great anticipation and immense planning that saw the Inaugural Wheelchair Moto Cross (WCMX) event take place at Adrenaline Alley Urban Sports Venue in Corby, Northamptonshire on Sunday 24th March. With over 20 riders aged from 4 years to 44 years old, representing all corners of the UK with many having travelled several hours to take part.

WCMX is a new extreme sport for wheelchair athletes and is a mix of BMX and Skateboarding and just like these other disciplines, it involves riding and doing tricks on your wheelchair at skateparks. Before the main event riders were given a warm up session to familiarise themselves with the course and  obstacles, it also gave them a chance to meet and get to know their fellow riders and Adrenaline Alley’s staff were on hand to give assistance when required.

With the main event about to get underway riders were lined up in numbered order and each given a two-minute run to navigate the course, try out new tricks and demonstrate their skills and abilities. For most participants, it was the first time that they had tried WCMX and the passion and enthusiasm shown by all was super impressive.

The event, organised by World Silver Medallist Lily Rice and her family, aimed to raise awareness of this new extreme para sport and demonstrated the inclusivity of the sport alongside other wheeled sports. It also enabled organisers to highlight any barriers to participation for future events.

On closing the event, all riders and their families were given the opportunity to try out Adrenaline Alley’s brand new, state of the art, Virtual Reality experience.  Funded by Innovate Northamptonshire, it is a World first for a skatepark. Visitors can get an immersive, VR point of view of what it is like to ride the skatepark in a wheelchair.

The organisers and staff would like to thank the main sponsors of the event, Roma Sport Wheelchairs, Princes Gate Mineral Water and Four One Four Ramps Designs and also a huge hank you goes to Shiner Distribution (Pro-Tec/ Bones Wheels), Remix Distribution (Gold Coast Surf Shop), SkateHut Ltd, Schwalbe Tires, IMG Distribution (Sheild Protectives), Silver-Fish Distribution (100%), Bell Power Sports UK & Underground Surf Shop (Tenby) for providing raffle prizes with all the money raised donated to Adrenaline Alley to help them purchase their own WCMX chair.

If you would like to donate and help us to progress WCMX please contact: mandyyoung@adrenalinealley.co.uk