Tulsa counting down to biggest BMX championships in the world
TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) – Tulsa is counting down the days to the biggest BMX racing event in the sport’s history. The USA BMX Grand Nationals will be in town Thanksgiving weekend for the 19th year in a row.
“Athletes from all across north America, including foreign countries that want to come in from Australia, from Columbia, from England, all those places Canada want to come in just so they can race in Tulsa,” said Vince Trinidad, executive director for the Tulsa Sports Commission. “They’ve all said that you know ‘I really want to go to Tulsa because that’s the biggest race in the entire year.’ And really it is, you have more riders coming to Tulsa every single year than an Olympics that they have.”
Trinidad said there’s more to the extreme sport in Tulsa than just the championships. The city will soon be the epicenter of the sport now that USA BMX is moving its headquarters from Phoenix to Tulsa.
Trinidad said this kind of successful partnership and years of planning is how they’re able to clinch other major sporting events to the area, like the upcoming NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament and the Big 12 Wrestling Championship.
“We’re starting to see a lot of that coming through and it’s not stopping there. You know, we’re going after things out there as far as 2020 and 2022. So there’s a lot of events that out that we’re actively pursuing,” said Trinidad.
The BMX Grands kick off Nov. 25. Admission starts at $10.
