BMX riders left 'heartbroken' following devastating floods

Riders from the Caboolture BMX Club will be without a track for at least two months as the club rebuilds following the floods.

President Shaun Batty said it was heartbreaking to see how much damage had been caused to the family-friendly club.

“Initially, when the river burst its bank it inundated our free-standing tower, and then within a couple of hours we had over a metre of water in the canteen,” Mr Batty said.

“We have lost everything. I was there yesterday morning and the whole track needs to be replaced and resurfaced as it has been washed away.

“We use two components for the track so we are hoping someone will be able to donate what we need to fix it.

“We have people offering to help and give us machinery, but it’s too early for that because the ground is still wet.”

The recently refurbished canteen, which helps to generate extra cash for the club, also received extensive damage.

“We had to throw out almost everything in our canteen, which is heartbreaking because roughly two months ago we upgraded everything in it,” Mr Batty said.

“We had a lot of new equipment in there that we had purchased. We had a six-foot fridge and freezer next to each other, and we don’t know how it happened, but one of them was upside down.

“Both were filled with food and drinks, so we had to dump everything. We lost a lot of food that we had brought for a race night a few weeks ago, which was cancelled due to rain.

“We also had four fryers, three of which were new, so they all need to be replaced.”

The club will also need to purchase new electronic equipment including laptops, two-way radios, and decoders which are used to time the racers, which Mr Batty said cost $6000 each.

Photos supplied by the Caboolture BMX Club.

How you can help 

The club has set up a Go Fund Me with a goal of raising $35,000, as they were not insured.

“It could take us at least two months to get everything fixed, but that will also depend on how much money we can raise,” Mr Batty said.

“We are really hoping the local community will get behind us and help us get back up and racing.

“If we could get our members to donate $10 each, and some extra assistance from the community, that will really help us out.”

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The club has 194 members, with racers as young as three-years-old.

The track is used almost every day of the week for racing events, training and coaching.

The club is hoping to have everything operational before the upcoming State Series in June, which will see 700 people head to the track.