New BMX track in Brickland to pave the way forward for Singapore cyclists

SINGAPORE – To hone their skills, Alayna Khalid and her national cycling teammates often have to head to Malaysia as there is a lack of training facilities in Singapore.

The long distances and travelling time required to get to places like Johor and Negeri Sembilan made it a rather unconducive arrangement for the 16-year-old, who is part of the national development team.

“It has to be a weekend trip, just because the drive up is too long, so it’s really difficult especially if there is school on Monday,” said the Secondary 4 student at Raffles Girls’ School.

“It’s not as conducive as if we have our own BMX track in Singapore... I don’t have to spend so much energy travelling there, and I can also have more regular training throughout the week as well.”

With the expected completion of the Singapore Cycling Federation’s (SCF) BMX Academy in Brickland, Choa Chu Kang, in 2025, Alayna and her teammates can look forward to more training time in Singapore soon.

The academy will have a BMX track in an area about the size of a football field. It will be part of The Bricks: Sport-In-Precinct & Cycle Park at Choa Chu Kang Avenue 7.

While the BMX track will support high-performance programmes for national cyclists of all levels and host events for the 2029 SEA Games, it will also be open to the public.

On Aug 11, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong, also an MP for Chua Chu Kang GRC, attended a ground-breaking ceremony for The Bricks, which will also have a sheltered basketball court, fitness corner and playground.

Other guests at the ceremony included two other Chua Chu Kang MPs – Mr Don Wee and Mr Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Transport and Sustainability and the Environment Baey Yam Keng and SCF president Hing Siong Chen.

The SCF had

announced plans to build a BMX track back in 2022

but that was delayed due to a lack of funding.

But with $1.5 million secured through various fund-raising activities, Hing then partnered Mr Wee, who looks after the Brickland district of Chua Chu Kang GRC, to make it happen.

With BMX providing the foundation for cyclists to branch off to mountain, road and track cycling, Hing hopes this will be a catalyst for the development of the sport.

He added: “BMX starts the children very young. It’s a very simple bike, and it’s in a very controlled environment – we don’t put the kids on the road.

“So within (a track the size of) a football field, there is a facility that can train young children all the way until they can be elite athletes and they can get a gold medal at the SEA Games and at the Olympics.”

The upcoming BMX facility is music to the ears of cyclists like Alayna, following the

closure of a BMX track in Tampines in 2014.

Alayna, who had her first cycling experience on that track, said she would “love to see more people participate in BMX” when the The Bricks is ready, adding: “I got to experience what it’s like to be in such a tight-knit community (which was) really important in building that passion for BMX.

“Seeing different people practise at the track as a young kid, I was really inspired by all of them.”

With the SCF having a “Go for Gold” campaign for the 2029 SEA Games, Hing is not stopping at just the BMX track.

He said: “We know that we have a very good chance in 2029 if we (can) build an outdoor velodrome and we can get people training on it. We already have a few athletes who are already at a silver or bronze medal standard.

“We just need a lot more track time to bring them up.”