July 24, 2009 (Adelaide, Australia) – Challenge racing concluded on Saturday at the with strong performances from the 15 and over Boys and Girls. In 15 Girls action, Paige Zarazun from BC crashed in her first moto but came back with two firsts to qualify through to the 1/4 finals, where she fought her way to a third place finish which put her in the semi final.

In a stacked field, Paige put the hammer down the entire way but came up short at the line in 5th, thus ending her day at the 2009 BMX Worlds. Exhausted at the finish, she said she has never raced so hard and felt great to make it that far.

In 16 Boys, Alberta’s Connor McCormack, defending his World #1, suffered a knee injury during motos, but still got the job done by making it through to the 1/8 finals, the 1/4 finals, and the semis to earn his ticket to the main event. This class showcases the future Junior stars – it’s super fast with all riders going for broke. McCormack did not have a great gate, but reeled in the competition through the second and third straights, ultimately crossing the line in third to earn a podium spot.

It was an awesome day for the Canadian Challenge team with some bright young stars to watch out for down the road.

The Championship classes practiced this afternoon, getting the track dialed for Sunday’s racing which gets underway at 12:30pm local time. Olympians Sam Cools and Scott Erwood looked smooth and confident. “I love this track!” exclaimed Cools, who has been training at the UCI Centre in Switzerland with a select group of athletes under the guidance of coach Herve Krebs. Cools looked more smooth and confident than ever before and we can look forward to some exciting racing from the Elite women on Sunday.

The Junior squad is led by Tory Nyhaug, currently sitting in second place overall in the UCI world standings. Nyhaug has the massive pro section dialed and is just itching to race. The Junior men’s class is one of the toughest in recent years. Live broadcast on uci.ch and Freecaster.tv.

Full Challenge results here.