Pro BMX rider Vincent Leygonie is flying high
BMX has been growing in South Africa over the years, and it seems like a new spark has been lit, with local rider Vincent Leygonie stepping up as one of the leading figures in local motocross.
Competitive BMX is big in South Africa – bigger than you might’ve thought.
BMX actually stands for ‘bicycle motocross’, which is a sport enjoyed by millions the world over. South Africa isn’t a slouch in this regard, taking on world champions every chance we get.
One of the riders who’s been making a name for himself both here at home and at the international level is Vincent Leygonie. When it comes to the top names in BMX locally, you’re definitely looking at him for a top contender. Now, you’d be forgiven if you thought that the top names in the sport might come from cities like Cape Town, Pretoria or the streets of Johannesburg, but this Krugerdorp local will soon prove you wrong.
Vincent used to compete in the mountain cycling circuit and, as a kid, was trying to climb the ranks and make it into the professional leagues. Though he was doing fairly well, he admitted that he was actually doing it for the fitness and adrenaline at the time. But, he quickly found an interest in trail-biking and wanted to give that a try.
Riding with a few friends in the streets, he soon visited a skate park in Randburg and quickly fell in love with doing BMX stunt riding. They’d get on their bikes, pedal all the way to Randburg during weekends, and ride all the way back after a long day of putting their legs through their paces. For him, there was no better feeling in the world, and it became nothing less than an addiction.
He only really started at age 14 in 2012, and by 2014, his friends and fellow riders had convinced him to give a competition a try, which he wasn’t very keen to do. He placed an impressive second at a King’s School open competition, and two weeks later he placed first at his second ever contest. “I was hooked then,” he said.
Since then, Vincent has competed multiple times at the internationally acclaimed Ultimate X and Night Harvest competitions, having placed high up in the top 10 for both, multiple times. The Ultimate X usually has about five South African and 30 international riders, of which Vincent was one. Last year he was voted as the Local Hero at this meet, an award which is given to the most impressive local riders at this prestigious event.
“I’d been riding unsponsored all these years against sponsored guys, and a while back I saw that Monster Energy was looking for local guys. I sent them a mail, and a few weeks later I got a sponsorship from them,” he said.
Now that he’s big in the business, he continues to emphasise how extremely important it is for him to get more young people into the sport. Riding regularly at the Key West park, Vincent sees how many kids go out and sit at the side lines the entire day looking at the other riders, too scared to jump in and try it out for themselves.
The moral of this story for young riders out there is that this really is a friendly and helpful community, and they can go out any time and ride, and even get a few pointers from the top guys.
