A young BMX racer from Langdon is currently ranked second in the country in his favourite sport.
Kayden Berry, 10, took up BMX racing in 2018, at the age of just seven years old.
In the few years since then, his BMX resume has been filled with a growing list of accomplishments. He is currently the N2 plate-holder, as a result of finishing second in his age group at the 2021 Canadian BMX Championships, which were held in Calgary on Aug. 28 and 29.
“I was so excited and happy, and I am very proud to get an N plate,” he said. “My goal was to make podium at this years nationals and I did it. I feel like my hard work and training was all worth it.”
Other accolades the Grade 5 student at Sarah Thompson School has earned since taking up the sport include a third-place medal from the 2021 Provincial Cup Series in Airdrie in September, and a second-place showing in the 2019 provincial championships, hosted in Cochrane.
Berry said his determination and speed are his strongest attributes in BMX. He is currently being mentored by Daina Tuchscherer, a former Team Canada BMX racer who competed at the Pan American Games in 2019 and 2015, as well as the UCI BMX World Championships in 2018, 2017, 2015 and 2014. She is also a coach for Team Alberta.
“He does a couple of camps throughout the year and has been training with a trainer,” said Berry’s mother, Dawn. “He started training with a girl, her name is Daina Tuchscherer from Chestermere, and she’s a phenomenal BMX racer as well.”
In addition to the many camps and competitions Berry enters around Alberta, British Columbia, and the United States, Dawn said her son also keeps busy working on the various skills associated with BMX racing, such as manualing – the tricky art of balancing on your back wheels as you go over a roller, as to not lose any speed.
Berry said what he likes most about BMX is the opportunity to race against other riders and learn new skills. He said his long-term goal is to compete at the BMX world championships, and acknowledged he has to train a lot in the coming years to achieve that objective.
He added he would encourage other youth to give BMX a shot, if they have never tried the sport before.
“You should try this out – it’s really fun,” he said.
While Langdon is just a small hamlet of approximately 5,000 people, the community has become a bit of a hot bed for talented young BMX riders. Several competed at the recent national championships, and another nationally ranked rider from the hamlet includes Kingsley McHattie, who holds the N7 plate for her age group.
“We do have about…nine or 10 kids in Langdon alone who race,” Dawn said, adding the hamlet's involvement with the sport started as a domino effect after one Langdon family got involved with BMX some years ago.
“I think what happened was one parent started it, and since these kids are friends from school or whatnot, that parent said, ‘Oh, my kid races and you should check it out,’” she said. “From that, we went to watch, and then joined Calgary BMX.”
Dawn said Langdon has a tightknit BMX community, which is one of the factors that keeps the Berry family involved in the sport. She added she has two other sons who compete in BMX racing as well.
“For us, we think the BMX community is phenomenal,” she said. “The parents that are in it and the children that are doing it, it’s not just the sport we do, but it’s more of a family. We’re all so close, spending the weekends together. Everyone is so positive and wants everyone’s child to succeed. It’s just an awesome community.”
