Nigel Whyte whizzes into view and parks his electric scooter outside a row of shipping containers. ‘Bike check!’ he shouts. A gaggle of BMX riders — bodies armoured like riot police — line up for inspection. ‘Tell your mum,’ Whyte tells one with a smile, ‘if she doesn’t make sure your bike is shiny, she’s getting press-ups.’
Before long his own son, Tre, is sitting nearby. The 27-year-old is wearing roller skates — it’s a new hobby but already the race is on to reach his father’s level.
Fortunately his family are used to healthy competition; they’re well versed in driving one another on to big things.
Kye Whyte won Great Britain’s first ever BMX Olympic medal, with silver in Tokyo
A few weeks back Nigel, Tre, and around 150 others gathered in the early hours at Peckham BMX Club. Together they watched the family’s youngest son, Kye, secure Britain’s first Olympic medal in BMX racing.
‘Pure madness,’ recalls CK Flash, the 21-year-old’s first coach. Together with Nigel, Flash — real name Michael Pusey — has annexed this wedge of south London and dug a gold mine.
Kye was the eighth rider from Peckham BMX to be selected by Great Britain and the third sibling to fly this nest towards the sport’s peak — eldest brother Daniel was European champion, Tre won world championship bronze and is now hoping to race scooters worldwide. What started in 2004 with a motley crew on a dirt track and dodgy bikes has snowballed into a factory of talent.
‘When we get on the gate, we just produce champions,’ Flash says. Whyte’s silver in Tokyo was just the latest proof.
‘I think I’m on cloud 19,’ Nigel jokes. ‘We’ve still got a way for me to come down.’
Sportsmail visited the Peckham BMX Club – the place where it all started for Whyte
The endless conveyor belt helps keep him honest. Nigel is leading the first of three sessions tonight; later Tre will train the experts. Four days a week, this track welcomes 110 riders (aged four to 40-plus). They come from as far afield as Southampton.
‘We now have to turn people away,’ Flash says. ‘It might be another 50 per cent that would want to come.’
The new ‘Prince of Peckham’ is already crafting a legacy. ‘The kids can now see where they can go,’ Tre says. ‘They might see Chris Hoy… but they can’t really relate to him.’
Kye, though, walked his bike up the small ramp and dropped into the starting gates.
He whirred round this £1.2 million track, which rolls and snakes under the setting sun.
Just like everyone here. Even the girl, taking her first steps in BMX, who clatters to the floor.
Whyte is yet more evidence of how, over just three bends, this club can change lives and reshape perceptions of a place previously synonymous with crime and gangs.
In 17 years, the club has become quite the talent factory, with 110 riders competing each week
‘If it was simple, I wouldn’t be here would I?’ Nigel says. ‘It’s not just about teaching them BMX… if they can keep their equipment clean, hopefully they’re cleaning their bedroom.
‘If they come here early, hopefully they’re in early for school… there’s a lifestyle there and we’re not saying all these kids are going to be like Kye… if they just want to ride and have fun, that’s even better.’
At its heart, this is a community project offering a different way out. ‘If we’ve got some troublesome kids and I can get them off the road and in here for an hour, that’s a start,’ Nigel says. Kye’s journey started at age three, after Flash began training Tre in Brixton in 2003.
Nigel, whose sporting background had been dominated by football, was only roped in after Flash arrived late to one session. A year later they co-founded the club near here.
‘We’d have to dig holes to get rid of the puddles,’ Nigel remembers. ‘We’d walk the kids round in a line like police, picking up rocks and bottles.’ One jump was built on top of a washing machine. ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s still buried there!’
Racing on smooth tracks elsewhere proved relatively simple.
Kye was the eighth rider from Peckham BMX to be selected by Great Britain and the third sibling
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