Ballarat father and son Wayne and Josh Jolly are heading to the United States for the BMX World Championships.
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There will certainly be tough competition – Josh has 123 entrants in his 11-year boys’ class and 86 in the cruiser class, while Wayne has 60 in his 50-plus class.
The pair fly out to South Carolina on Friday.
Despite being just 10 years-old, this will be Josh’s fourth appearance in a world title meet.
He was named Ballarat’s junior sportsperson of the year for 2016, highlighting the impact he has already made on the sport in his brief career.
For Josh, there is sense of unfinished business about his trip to South Carolina. In 2015 he finished third in Belgium at the world titles and he won all of his heats in Columbia last year before suffering a fall in the semi-final.
Wayne said his son wais “out to make amends this year.”
After leaving the BMX scene in the 1980s, Wayne returned to the sport when his son began to show a keen interest in it from the age of two.
He now hopes to provide his son with the opportunity to one day represent Australia at the Olympic Games.
Although Josh will not be able to compete in the Olympics until he is 22, the father and son duo are not looking at that timeframe negatively.
“We don’t look at it as if it’s 12 years away – we take the approach that it’s only three Olympics away,” he said.