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World-first researcher recognized at Vic Sport Awards Leading the way: Erik Denison (right) and his husband Kevin Perry are stoked to see Erik get nominated for a Victorian Sports Award. Picture: Fleur Darren
Sharks host BMX ‘Track Attack’ By Ben Triandafillou THE 2019 BMX racing season kicks off on the Mornington Peninsula this week with one of the longest running series in Victorian BMX, the ‘Track Attack’, set to take place at the Frankston Sharks BMX club on Thursday 17 January. Now in its 20th year, the Track Attack series is held over an entire week and uses six different locations from across Victoria for riders to battle it out to be crowned champion. This year, Frankston Sharks BMX club have the privilege of holding the fourth event under lights on the Thursday night with the first race set to kick off at 5:30pm. Riders from all around Australia and as far as New Zealand will all be making the venture as well as several local hopes from the Frankston BMX club. For some of the Frankston BMX club members, such as Maya Ellis, it is the first chance for them to move out of the sprocket classes (under7s) and start racing for real points towards podium finishes (sprocket classes don’t score). Kane Lansdown is another Frankston BMX
By Ben Triandafillou AFTER spending more than a decade making sport more inclusive, Frankston resident and Monash University lead researcher Erik Denison is being acknowledged for his hard work with a nomination at the Victorian Sport Awards. Denison has been nominated for the inaugural Peter Norman Inclusion Award for his worldfirst research which looks into the prevalence of homophobic and sexist language within sporting clubs and how best to find a solution to the issues. The winner of the inaugural Peter Norman Inclusion Award will be announced at the Marvel Stadium, Docklands on Wednesday 20 February along with several other Victorian Sport Awards. Denison, who only moved to Victoria in 2017, said it’s a huge honour to be nominated. “I’m relatively new to Victoria in terms of living here but it’s been great with everyone being super supportive and welcoming when looking at these issues,” Denison said. “I’ve been trying to understand why kids use this homophobic and sexist language in sport as banter as well as trying to find a way to keep girls involved and playing sport in these hypermasculine sporting clubs. “It makes me sad to see any decline in participation.” Denison has been working alongside sporting clubs such as the professional rugby union team, Melbourne Rebels, and the semi-professional ice hockey team, Melbourne Mustangs, in trying to
find a solution. “We’ve been trying to see what works and what doesn’t in trying to prevent this language within sporting clubs,” he said. “Rugby has been a real leader and has been super brave in looking into these issues as not many clubs would want to dissect and possibly admit to having an issue like this. “It’s great that they want to be leaders and by doing this it opens them up as being an inclusive sport and I’m sure it’ll increase participation for them.” The world-first research which Denision has been doing with Monash University has been different to most as it focusses on finding a solution to the problem rather than identifying it. “Everyone is focussed on finding the problem but we know there’s a problem and now we need to look into finding a solution as to why there is this homophobic language and why girl’s continue to leave sport,” he said. “No one was doing this research when I started but once you get the ball rolling people want to follow and then there’s a bit of competition where everyone tries to outdo each other which is great as that only helps improve the cause. “It’s a cool feeling that Frankston and Monash is the first ever to do this sort of research and now places like Canada and the US are becoming interested so just by doing this people are starting to follow on.” Also being nominated for an award at the Victorian Sports Awards is the Mornington Peninsula Shire and the Frankston and District Netball Association. The Mornington Peninsula Shire has been nominated for the Local Government Initiative Award for their All Abilities Day and Fit and Fun initiatives. While the Frankston and District Netball Association has been nominated for the Sport Development Initiative Award thanks to their Walking Netball initiative.
club member heading to the Track Attack and he knows the track like the back of his hand having raced on the circuit for a few years now. Lansdown has made his way into the under-10 boy’s category where the competition is just as fierce as the elite men and women’s categories. Despite being a junior’s division, the boys and girls train just as hard as the elite, living and breathing everything BMX, and in a class where one error can be the difference between first and last, Kane is there to give it his all. Now in his 3rd year of racing he will be out there putting it all on the line, but having the best fun at the same time. The series also utilises the BMX tracks at the Eastfield BMX club (12 January), Lilydale BMX club (13 January), Knox BMX club (15 January), Park Orchards BMX club (19 January) and Casey BMX club (20 January). For further information on the Track Attack visit the Frankston Sharks BMX club Facebook page and for anything else BMX and mountain bike related, check out The Riders Life on Facebook or Instagram.
Ready and rolling: Kane Lansdown gets set for the Track Attack at his home track, Frankston Sharks BMX. Picture: The Riders Life
Frankston Times
15 January 2019
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