The Lowell and Cedar Lake Journal is posting every race result in there weekly publications. Pick up a copy today !
BY ROB EARNSHAW
Times Correspondent Sunday, September 28, 2008
Bicycle Motocross, or BMX as it's more commonly known, has been around for more than 30 years. The sport just became a lot more "legit" in the minds of many following its debut in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. American racers took home three medals -- Mike Day (silver), Donny Robinson (bronze) and Jill Kintner (bronze).
There are three American Bike Association-sanctioned BMX tracks in Northwest Indiana -- Hobart, Portage, and Lowell. The next Olympic BMX medal winner might be racing on one of them.
The goal of Teresa Nowdomski is to compete in the 2016 Olympics, especially if Chicago is the host city. Teresa will be 20 years old by then. The Hanover Central Junior High School seventh-grader has been competing in BMX since she was 4. Teresa won the Redline Cup in Ohio earlier this year and is ranked in the top 10 in the country in her age group.
"It's really fun," she said.
"Teresa was a quiet and shy girl, but BMX 'brought her out,' " said Teresa's mom, Mary Jane Nowdomski. "She also plays volleyball and soccer but will give up everything to race."
Nowdomski and her husband Ed operate one of the three tracks in the region, Freedom BMX, located at Freedom Park in Lowell. Racing has been "their life" for eight years, since Teresa started, but Freedom BMX began operations only a year ago.
"There was nothing for kids to do around here," Nowdomski said.
"No sidewalks for kids to ride. We wanted to open a track within a park, because it's a family-oriented sport."
Nowdomski and her husband have seven kids -- and they all race BMX. The Nowdomski's Thanksgiving is spent with their "BMX family" in Tulsa, Okla., during the Grand Nationals.
Nowdomski said the Olympics have definitely brought more attention to BMX
"People recognize BMX as a sport now," she said.
When Jackie Altizer went around the region and asked people if she could build a BMX track in their town, they looked at her and said, "you want to do what?"
That was in 1999.
"BMX was viable -- it was everywhere," Altizer said. "It had been around since the early '70s."
But everywhere she went they told her the same thing. They didn't want "those types of people in our town."
Eventually, Altizer said, she hooked up with then-Portage Parks Superintendent Carl Fisher, who was experienced in BMX because there was a track at his former job in Goshen. The Parks Department offered some land at a local park, and in the summer of 2000 Imagination Glen BMX was born.
By that October, Altizer was planning an indoor BMX track, because "kids need somewhere to race during winter."
Enter Steel Wheels Indoor BMX in Hobart.
Altizer first became aware of BMX when her 12-year-old son started riding his bike on trails in the region's woods.
"I would always go with him, because I didn't want him going himself," she said.
One day on the trails someone handed her a flyer promoting a BMX track in Elgin, Ill. From then on, every Saturday she would haul her son and his friends to the Elgin track.
"We loaded up the truck with bikes and coolers; it was like the Beverly Hillbillies," she said.
Eventually she got advice from the Elgin track owner and started her quest for something more local. By this time her son was hooked on racing -- and so was she. But it wasn't until 2007, when she turned 51, that Altizer seriously began competing.
"I finished last year in national age group (46-and-older) at Number 5," she said. "I'm hoping to finish Number 3 this year."
The reason BMX is popular with adults, Altizer said, is because the sport got big in the '80s -- a lot of those riders are parents today.
"I have what I call 'boomerangers,' " Altizer said. "They rode as a kid, and now they're back."
One BMX rider who's still a kid is 6-year-old Kenny Nork of Orland Park, Ill.
Kenny's already been to Nationals. He likes "jumping" and "racing people."
"I come all the way to Indiana to race," he said.
BY JOHN BURBRIDGE Saturday, September 20, 2008
BMX's Olympic debut spurs interest at first-year track
LOWELL Like a good son, Greg Parman gives his mother a head start whenever they race during practice runs at the Freedom BMX Track in Lowell.
Then again, the Lake Village 10-year-old knows a few shortcuts.
"He loves jumping two hills at once," Andrea Parman said of Greg's favorite launching site after the dirt track's first banking turn.
Greg has preceded his younger siblings -- Zoe, 6, and Riley, 3 -- into the sport, as well as his mother, who's still looking for her first win against Greg.
"One thing I have learned after doing this myself is not to yell at my kids when I think they're not trying," Andrea said. "A lot of parents don't know it's not as easy as it looks."
Not that clearing a 20-feet-long jump in the midst of a hotly-contested moto looks easy, but they've been doing all summer at the first-year track located within Freedom Park.
"Still, a lot of people don't know we're here," track director MaryJane Nowdomski said. "But with BMX in the Olympics the first time this year, I've seen a lot more interest.
"On Sundays, we get around 25-50 riders of all ages."
It was Nowdomski's 10-year-old son, Eddie, who introduced Greg to sport and, thus, helped spawn another family tradition.
Whether it being formal introductions, family ties or dreams of Olympic glory, the BMX "bug" tends to be catching at first. But for some veterans, getting back on the horse after a nasty spill can be challenging.
John White, 14, of Crown Point has been racing for six years and has won numerous state-champion events. Then he had a brush with reality.
"I was messing around at home, and I flipped over my handlebars," White said of a concussion he sustained last year.
"I didn't have my helmet on."
White "retired" from BMX in the aftermath, but returned this spring in part inspired by the emergence of Freedom BMX.
"I missed it," said White, who now not only wears a helmet at all times, but a neck-brace for added protection. Younger brother Jeremy also wears a neck-brace.
Weather permitting, Freedom BMX holds races every Friday starting at 6:15 p.m., and Sunday starting at 1:15 p.m.
"We'll keep racing until the first week of November ... or until it starts snowing," Nowdomski said.
* Freedom BMX is located at Freedom Park, 17105 Cline Ave., Lowell. For more information, go to www.freedombmx.net.
Tuesday May 13, 2008
Lowell Tribune, Pilcher Publishing
BY Sandra J. Natais
When Freedom BMX director Ed Nowdomski recived a call from one of MTV's reality show MADE producers late morning May 5th he didnt hesitate to say ,YES ! to the last minute request for the use of Lowell's BMX track.
The producer called around 10:00 a.m. and asked if they (MTV) could use the track tomorrow (May 6) to conduct interviews, Nowdomski said, "I didnt even stop to think about it and said yes immediately". "I mean, this was a prducer from MTV asking if they could use our track in our little town of Lowell.... I didnt even ask all the details or care that the track wasnt ready for riding...this was MTV coming to Lowell !"
Nowdomski and his wife Mary quickly went to the track to assess the needs of preparing it for what they had no idea other then MTV needed a BMX track to hold interviews the following day.
With a massive pay loader donated for use by Ronsons Equipment, volunteers, rakes, and a whole lot of excitement damage from rains that washed out sections of the track and other seasonal wear Freedom BMX was aptly prepared for whatever MTV might need.
Flying in from Brooklyn, Saimon Kos, a freelance shooter/producer regularly hired by MTV arrived at the park and filled in the Nowdomski's the best he could. He explained that he is hired by MTV to shoot footage that he drops off at the New York office for editors to assemble into a video interview for the main executives to view and decide who will be chosen.
MADE is interviewing up to 15 BMX pros for one of them to participate in the reality show, Kos said. Im here to tape the interviews of four of them. There are also interviews in California today.
Within the spontaneity to catch raw emotions, reactions, and unscripted elements of reality TV, the four BMX pros were given even less information when a producer called them, giving them less than 48 hours to get to Lowell for the interviews.
George Andrews arrived from Rockford, Illinois bring two of his students along in hopes of impressing actual producers with their spotless, slick, and shiny bikes from waxing with furniture polish. Pampered on a smooth concrete track, Andrews barely could make the first two jumps, even falling on occasions as his 17 year old protegee blamed the track.
"It took Rockford 25 years to be what it is " Freedom BMX volunteer Marie White stated, We are still a baby track."
Disappointed no actual producers were at the track, Andrews thanked no one as he and his students left without greeting the arriving Justin Travis.
Travis drove 4 hours from a small town in Ohio not too far from Columbus and shortly afterwards, Ryan Birk from Warsaw, Indiana walked through the gates of Freedom BMX.
Travis and Birk greeted each other like best friends and questioned each other on what was going on. It was soon evident that neither had any more information than having received a call from MTV to be at this location. Travis asked if he could ride the track while Birk was doing the interview process. Collecting his bike he was soon at the beginning of the run and zipping off. Returning, he took off his helmet and exclaimed, "This track is awesome ! "
"Its a very fast track", he continued, "For only being two years old and all Volunteer in the making, this track is awesome ! And you think it isnt ready to open (for the season) ? "
Off to his turn in front of the camera, Travis, who listened in on some of Birks interviewing, shook his head, " I dont know if I can reply better than you did. You are tough to follow."
Looking nervous, Birk confessed that though it would be an incredible opportunity for him if he is selected, he is apprehensive. "What if ,after 6 weeks of my training, this person, who from we are being told has rarely rode a bike, still sucks ? " "What will that say about me as a teacher? " Birk worried as he divulged that he is just a "big kid on a little bike." In no rush to leave, Birk and Travis hung out with the Nowdomskis and volunteers to discuss returning to Lowell and offering training camps as the final pro to be interviewed arrived.
BMX Freestyler, Nina Buitrago flew in from Ohio, Upon spotting Travis and Birk with their gear, uniforms, and bikes, went into panic. "I didnt bring my bike ! Mtv didnt say anything about bringing my bike . They said it was just an interview ."
Thats why its called reality TV and MTV did do right by all expectations of life unscripted for these BMX pros and the Nowdomskis.
Current Freedom BMX events and schedule can be found at : www.freedombmx.net The track will be open for practice on wednesday may 14th and friday May 16th.
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
LOWELL: New BMX track taking shape in Lowell
LOWELL It's coming.
Rising from the dirt and mud, Freedom BMX will soon open its gates to BMX enthusiasts.
The 1,050 foot track is located on property adjacent to Lowell’s Freedom Park. The Lowell Parks Department leased the land to Freedom BMX’s founder Ed Nowdomski, who will also work as track director.
Nowdomski and his wife, Mary, spearheaded the creation of Freedom BMX as a non-profit organization and the building of the track after years of involvement with the sport and seeing the positive effects it can have on young people.
Ed Nowdomski and his brother, Dan, were both involved in the sport as kids. Dan continued with the sport while Ed moved on to other things. Years later, when he and Mary were foster parents to a troubled teenaged boy, Dan suggested that Ed should introduce the foster son to BMX racing.
The foster son quickly latched on to the sport and found a positive outlet. Ed and Mary’s daughter, Teresa, also fell in love with the sport and has since become a nationally ranked rider.
“We used this idea to present our proposal to the town,” said Ed, on his belief that BMX can prevent troubled kids from going over the brink. “We’re targeting at-risk kids. What you would call good kids ride, too, but we’re trying to help the at-risk kids.”
After signing a five-year lease with the parks department, Freedom BMX has moved quickly to try to make it possible for races to be held at the track before the end of summer. Ed Nowdomski and over two dozen volunteers have been soliciting donations of everything from front loaders to tons of dirt.
In a matter of a few weeks they had the track nearly completed and were just waiting for help in running water and electric lines from the existing park structures, as well as a fence to be installed. It is also the organization’s hope that they will be able to erect a pavilion near the track and other amenities as time goes on.
“There is nothing like this in these parts," Ed Nowdomski said. "You have a track in Portage at Imagination Glen and there are a lot of Lake County people that go there.
"Lake County needs its own track."
Vintage BMX: Local show displays bikes from the past
CROWN POINT -- No one sits on the bench in BMX racing, and it's a sport that interests young and old alike.
That's why the seventh annual Midwest Old School BMX Show and Swap at American Legion Post No. 20 recently drew young champions to adult racers reminiscing at the sight of the "old- school" bikes.
Freedom BMX, a local not-for-profit group named after the new BMX track in Lowell's Freedom Park, hosted the event as a fund-raiser. The show featured 100 bikes, all personally owned.
"Basically, the guys show their old bikes from when they used to race in the '70s and the '80s, very old bikes here," said Mary Jane Nowdomski, track director for Freedom BMX.
Nowdomski's husband, Ed, is also track director, and Mary Jane credited him for working hard to organize the show.
"He collects as many donations as he can through the prize table, and we conduct raffles," Mary Jane said. "He just organizes everything; the guys themselves and everyone votes on the bikes, and then they get awards for their bikes -- just like a car show. This time, we have food out, and we charge $10 a plate for adults and $5 for kids."
Freedom BMX started last year upon the opening of Freedom Park's BMX track. Freedom BMX is sanctioned by the American Bicycle Association.
"They keep track of the kids' points," Mary Jane said. They even hold national events, and kids travel around the country and race."
The Nowdomskis' children race, including 12-year-old Teresa -- currently ranked fourth nationally.
"My cousin was racing, and I went to a track when I was 4, and I just wanted to ride," she said. "I have traveled to 42 different states."
She's made some milestones for Indiana.
"She's the first one to ever get 20,000 points in the ABA in Indiana," Mary Jane said.
Andrea Parman of DeMotte, a volunteer with Freedom BMX, was inspired by her 5-year-old daughter, Zoe -- a BMX racer -- to take up the sport.
"She started when she was 4," Parman said. "I got bored sitting and watching, and I'm like: 'I've got to try this. It's exciting. It's a rush.' "
Rob Kikkert of Peotone, Ill., stopped racing in 1985, but said when he attends BMX events, he's immediately transported back to his racing days.
"It's nostalgia, because a lot of these bikes were the foundation of what BMX is today; this is where it all started," he said. "When I talk about this stuff, I can still taste the air. When people start talking about BMX, I can remember the way the wind felt on my arms, just sitting there, waiting for my next race. ... It really brings you back to why you love this sport."
Added Ed Nowdomski: "It's an individual sport; you can progress as you want."