Tears of joy for BMX world champ

Dion Newth’s journey to become a BMX world champion has literally been one full of blood, sweat and tears.

Late last month, the 49-year-old engineer from Tokoroa travelled to Nantes, France where he was greeted by 40C+ temperatures as he looked to achieve the goal he had missed out on five previous times – that of becoming a world champion.

But it was almost not to be for Newth who was still in third place by the final corner – that’s when he knew it would have to be all or nothing.

‘‘I just went for it, I nailed a passing manoeuvre on the last turn and went from third to first.’’

It was his sixth UCI BMX world championships and his first win after coming agonising close to victory at the last world championships held in Belgium in 2019 when he crashed out of contention in the final.

‘‘For me, this one was redemption.

‘‘I went over the line and I just burst into tears, this has been a goal of mine for many years, and it’s the highest accolade outside of the Olympics.’’

Of Ngā ti Raukawa descent, Newth won the 45-49 Men’s Cruiser competition, beating out 69 competitors in his age group, including the former world champion.

‘‘When I got over the line the other riders and management ran over and I could hear the Kiwi fans in the stands – it was such an amazing feeling.

‘‘It’s about representing yourself, your country and your club and I’ll continue to race as long as I’m physically able – but you do put your body through hell in this sport, I’ve had lots of broken bones, hospital visits and concussions.’’

His win also means he will enter the Tokoroa Hall of Hometown Heroes alongside the likes of Sean Maitland, Regan Ware, Joseph Manu, Chelsea Alley and B J Watling. While the Covid pandemic put overseas competition on the back burner, Newth kept training hard keeping his eyes on an elusive prize, often working a 10-hour day before heading to a nearby BMX track in Cambridge to train at night, or to Rotorua on the weekends.

‘‘I’ve kept training hard every year, and got faster and better, and I thought it would only be a matter of time,’’ he said.

‘‘BMX is such a fickle sport, you can crash, you can make one small a mistake, and to win a world title everything has to fall into place – and it fell into place that day.’’

He said the European heat definitely played its part.

‘‘We are training here in the cold, and when we got over there it was up to 40-odd degrees, by the end I was quite fatigued.’’

However, it wasn’t all plain sailing and the day he arrived at his Air BnB in Nantes one of the local chickens died of heat exposure.

‘‘It was 45C that day and the owners had a chicken coop and a load of chickens that they asked us to look after. None of us could speak French and the owners didn’t speak

English, so we have to explain to them through one of those translation apps that one of their chickens had died.

‘‘I think they understood in the end and told us their children would be really sad.’’

The sport has become part of his lifestyle, as well as keeping fit, it’s been great for his mental health and keeps him focused.

‘‘And, every year I get out of a New Zealand winter for a couple of weeks and travel to places I’ve never heard of, it’s been a great adventure.’’

Newth said he’s looking forward to travelling to Glasgow, Scotland to complete in the over-50s competition next year and catching up with the many friends he’s made in the sport.

‘‘We go to war on the track, but I have a lot of international friends, and we are all pals outside of racing.’’