The third round of this year's UCI BMX Supercross World Cup, the event was also part of the London Prepares series, London 2012's official sports testing programme. It saw 64 male and 32 female riders take part in two days of thrilling action.
Shanaze Reade's victory delighted the 2,500 strong sell-out crowd after rain delayed the start of the action. Reade said of her victory: 'The crowd gave me extra confidence, and it shows I can win in front of a home crowd. This will set me up for my winter and summer training. The crowd were great, it made the event high energy.'
There were also strong performances in the women's race by New Zealand athlete Sarah Walker, who took silver behind Reade, with Australian Lauren Reynolds finishing third. In the men’s race, New Zealand rider Marc Willers took victory closely followed by Joris Daudet of France and Nicholas Long of the USA in third.
Debbie Jevans, Director of Sport at LOCOG, said of the event: 'BMX is an exciting sport to watch and today we saw fantastic support from the home crowd, with a Great Britain win from Shanaze Reade really making many people’s day.
'The athletes loved the fast and challenging course and our volunteers and workforce rose to the occasion over the two days with challenging weather conditions of our own. I would like the thank all the spectators who waited through the afternoon while rain delayed competition to cheer on the athletes as they made their way around the course.'
Liz Nicholl, Chief Executive of UK Sport, which supported the event, said: 'We are delighted to be investing Lottery funding into the London Prepares Series. The delivery of these events has been outstanding and with plenty more world class events coming to our shores over the next twelve months, not only will we have more chances to witness top level sport in this country, but our athletes will also have the opportunity to compete in front of a home crowd before the Games next summer.'
