By RUSSELL BENNETT
NASH Simunic has less than two weeks ahead of him before he takes off for the BMX World Championships in Medellin, Colombia.
The Endeavour Hills six-year-old knows the exact amount of days left before his flight, because he’s ticked them off on a calendar every morning since the ‘75 days remaining’ mark.
Travelling half-way around the world to compete on the global scale in Colombia would be a daunting prospect for almost anyone, but not Nash. He can’t wait to represent his country on the biggest stage.
And if his young age didn’t make his journey remarkable enough, he’s only been competing in the sport of a little over a year.
In that time he’s competed all over Victoria, as well as in the Oceanias in New Zealand in January.
And now he can’t wait for his first shot at the big-time – the first step in what he hopes will one day be a rise to the level of his heroes, Australian BMX superstars Sam Willoughby and Bodi Turner.
“They’re my favourites – I’ve had my picture taken with both of them!” Nash beamed.
In fact, the sport of BMX racing is such a tightknit community that he even managed to have a photo with Bodi Turner just minutes before one of his races in New Zealand.
Unfortunately, it’s not a mainstream sport so funding in BMX is particularly limited.
Still, Nash is doing his part to increase its profile.
His best friends Anthony and Adrian have shown a willingness to get involved, as well as his “girlfriend” Ella.
But in order to become a BMX racer at the highest level, they’ll need a combination of core strength, impeccable technique, and raw speed and Nash has all three in spades.
The Knox BMX track is his home base, but he travels to all parts to train and compete.
His father Dario is accompanying him to Colombia, and he says the trip over there and the World Championship, itself, are all about gaining experiences to last a lifetime. For someone at the age of six to get that opportunity is so incredibly rare.
“This is the first time he’s done it, and if he gets through the knockout stage then fantastic, we’d be rapt,” Dario said.
“Then after that it’s all about luck.
“He’s going to miss seven or eight days of school but the experiences he’s going to have in that time are going to last a lifetime – he’s going to be able to write school reports on them.”
Just think of the show-and-tell at school when he returns …
The 2016 UCI BMX World Championships will be held from 25-29 May. To keep up with Nash’s progress, search for ‘Nash Simunic’ on Facebook.
