Junior to tackle the world’s best

It will be full speed ahead for Baldivis sports enthusiast Chantelle Rae next week when she jets off to New Zealand to compete in the BMX World Championships.

The 11-year-old has been making a name for herself recently after experiencing success at the national championships in Brisbane.

The Settlers Primary School student regularly out-cycles boys her own age and puts in a strong effort against older age groups, according to proud dad Colin Rae.

“The girls’ population at Kwinana BMX track has doubled over the last couple of years — Chantelle is doing really well, we’re proud of her,” he said.

“She was 10th overall in the time trials at the nationals in Brisbane in April.”

Mr Rae said the whole family were passionate about the sport and Chantelle had got into it two-and-a-half years ago.

Melinda Rae, Chantelle’s mother, said she was confident her daughter would do well in the international competition in Auckland, but said she was a “good sport” if she did not achieve the result she had hoped for.

“We just want her to enjoy what she is doing — it keeps her fit and it’s good fun,” she said.

“It’s great for her to learn to be gracious whether she wins or loses.”

Chantelle said she trained once a week on her pink custom-built bike at the BMX track in Medina, but also occasionally visited tracks in Rockingham and Bull Creek.

“I like training at tracks with bigger gates and have never been overseas before, so I’m really looking forward to going to New Zealand,” she said.

The BMX World Championships run from July 24 to 28.