BMX Pump Track Build Bury St Edmunds

Skatepark users in Bury St. Edmunds wanted to expand facilities at their Suffolk skatepark by building a brand new pump track for BMX bikers.

Bury Skatepark Experience, a group of youngsters and skating enthusiasts, were successful with an application to the Big Lottery Fund Changing Spaces programme to help fund a new BMX track.

Bury Skatepark Experience began life officially in 2009 and regular skating users aged 10-25 formed a committee to draw up original designs for a new pump track and began fundraising. You can find their Facebook page here.

The funding initiative, with the support of St. Edmunds Borough Council, had begun a year before the pump track building started.

The original skatepark has served the local young people well, seeing more than 10 years of skateboard action, but a significant upgrade was in order.

The pump track development in Olding Road, Bury St Edmunds was carried out by Clark & Kent Contractors and saw the installation of a brand new BMX track, plus lights, planting, bins and benches.

The new track was built alongside the popular skatepark and now forms part of the comprehensive complex.

Council Youth & Community Development Officer Simon Pickering said: "Clark and Kent Contractors took the youngster's ideas for the track and developed a track which has been described by young people and the older BMX community as amazing."

The pump track building work carried out by Clark & Ken was, started in April 2011 and was completed a few weeks later right on schedule.

The skatepark, featuring a range of challenging ramps and a street course, is one of three council-managed skateparks in the area. Others can be found at Haverhill and Newmarket.

The new pump track is a tight-knit figure-of-eight-style track that is not only fun to ride but challenges all levels of BMX bike riding ability.