FATBMX Your Online BMX News Resource Since 1998

To make it to the BMX freestyle Park program at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris is not an easy task. Only 12 Men and 12 Women will be able to participate on the Olympic stage which will be built up at the Place de La Concorde in the summer of 2024. The Olympic Qualifying process has been announced and the points chase for quota places for Continental Championships and World Championships has started already. The more points the top two riders of a nation gather, the more riders (of that nation) will be able to participate at the bigger events in 2023/2024. Time has started for the top two riders to move their country up in the nation ranking. Throwing C1 events is a way for federations to offer their local riders an event that they can attend without having to travel far. At the BMX Open in Rotterdam on 4 September the Dutch Park riders showed up as well as a big delegation from Hungary, a German, and a rider from Slovakia.

The level of riding these days is insane. Double whips, barspin backflips, and truckdrivers have almost become 'filler tricks'. It's key to stand out from the pack by going higher, doing transfers no one else is doing, bring tricks that nobody else can do and pack as many of them in a 60 second run without making any mistakes using the entire course. Place #11 could have won an event only a few years ago but the level keeps going up making it hard for the riders to stay on top of things. At the end of the day it was Tom van den Bogaard (NED) who grabbed the 200 UCI ranking points at Skateland in front of #2 Zoltan Ujvary (HUN) and #3, youngster Tom Clemens (GER).

Name: Tom Nerriere
Age: 21
Hometown: Montpellier, France
Hook-ups/Sponsors: FuriousProducts

The FAT favorite list:

-Spot to ride: Grammont at Montpellier
-BMX video: FOX BMX - SCOTTY CRANMER - MADE FOR THIS
-Website/video: @tom.nerriere
-Travel destination: All the places where I can drive
-Riders to ride with: Especially with my twin brother Matthieu NERRIERE, but also with all my boys in France

Name: Anatole Rahain
Age: 24
Hometown: Caen, France
Hook-ups/Sponsors:  • Morex Custom  • Fourpegs

The FAT favorites list:

-Spot to ride: Ministère des économies et des finances - Paris
-BMX video: Fast forward - Alex Jumelin / Matthias Dandois in Hungary 2007
-Website: WeTransfer is the one I use the most actually!
-Web video: I really enjoy watching Fpv videos
-Food: Pokebowl
-Person on Instagram: @Flatbible
-Travel destination: Japan
-Riders to ride with: Everybody who's pushing hard and ride more than talking
-Car: Porsche Carrera GT

What started in 1987 as a street jam was continued at the Sugar Hills trails with the focus on riding dirt. In fact we did three street jams in Aarle-Rixtel before moving to De Valkendijk where the dirt spot has seen annual action for over 32 years now. Is the FATJAM the longest running annual BMX jam in the world? This past Saturday 3 September called for another one. The process remains the same; pick a date, make a flyer, tell people about the jam, and wait and see who turns up.

For the 2022 edition we added a 40-years EK Beek & Donk reunion. The Milky Way Open European Championships happened 40 years ago on our local BMX track in Beek & Donk a few miles from Aarle-Rixtel. If you wanted to talk oldskool BMX, the FATJAM was the place. Gerrit and Mieke Does, and Pieter Does made it to the jam early and first international visitor in 1982 Thomas Fritscher (GER) found his way back to Aarle-Rixtel as well. Former BMX photographer Christ Verhoeven and his son Gert showed up and contributed to the old stories as did Ans Vereijken, Tiny van Brug, André Duijmelink, Jan, Leo and Diny Leenders, Richard Waldt and Johan de Leeuw. Names who probably don't mean much to current BMX riders but were there when BMX was shaped. With 1982 EK Beek & Donk buttons and Milky Ways on the table the old stories came back instantly. 

Add Frits van der Linden on the BBQ and a JBL producing songs and you'll get the idea where things were going with some cool Bavaria's being opened from time to time....