The History

Here is a little bit of history on how the first track came about:

Around 1982, a group of kids were fed up with breaking their Choppers, Grifters and similar around the building site next to the Gamsie. Word got around that a kid had moved into Moyness with a Puch Murray BMX. It was Lloyd John, and it was believed he had the first BMX in Blairgowrie. A group of kids at the time (Pete Nicol, Keith and Allan Crighton, and Jamie Reid) picked berries, tatties, did paper rounds until they could afford to buy catalogue BMX bikes.

It was then that they wanted somewhere to use these bikes. Borrowing their parents spades after school, they set off and built the first track out in the Weasley. It was only wide enough for 2 bikes at a time, but, it had berms, jumps and a drop off, all hand dug. It was at this point that they decided to start a petition for a proper track in Blairgowrie. The petition started gathering names by going around the doors, 4 kids on our bikes knocking on doors to a lot of success, and one bus driver shouting at us because we used to practice wheelying in the Gas Works car park. “But if we have a track we won’t have to go there!” we shouted as he chased us down the path. “You’ll just get better and be a bigger pain!”. Needless to say he didn’t sign the petition.

By now BMX was getting bigger and bigger, we struck lucky with a local Councillor who lived in Arthur Wynd, Annie. Annie was a gem, and started to take the idea forward. By now, Tom Carstairs was selling BMX parts in Rosemount. Tom’s back garden would be full of us checking out new parts every other night. More folk were coming to the Weasley, and bus drivers still didn’t like us. There was still The Dip and The Bowl down behind the school and on some nights there would be about 40 of us, it was a blast. Lifelong friendships were made, and Tam MacNicoll’s garage made a fortune selling sweets.

In 1983, the first track was built at Westfield common, and within a few months, and with a lot of support from Tom Carstairs, racing started. The only one who had ever raced then was Jamie Reid, who used to race at Falkirk. By this time Peter Nicol had sold his bike but he borrowed a bike for the first race meeting. People started to come from Fife and Glamis. The Glamis guys had built their own track too, which we found out about. We turned up en-masse one Sunday and won every race! We made new friends, and they came through and raced us in Blairgowrie.

After a year and a half or so, Blairgowrie got a Scottish National round. One problem, the track was too narrow and short. In the week before raceday, the track was rerouted to make it wide and long enough for the National. It was finished on the Saturday, and Race Day was Sunday! Other “grown ups” involved this time were Andy McConnal, Dick Robertson, and the amazing Ali and Cathy Stewart.

The National came and went. Jamie Reid and Raymie Crighton got podiums, and Pete Nicol got a 5th in the final. There may have been more…

The club at this point was going from strength to strength. The BMX scene in Blairgowrie was buzzing. Pete, Droopy and Dave Galbraith were more into freestyle by then, and were always pushing each other to harder tricks. The track held many race meetings after Pete retired at the end of 1985. It was time to move on with a head full of memories.

(Pete Nicol)