THE Portland BMX Club was inundated with riders and their families across the weekend as they hosted the second and third round of the AusCycling State Series at Alexandra Park.

While the hot weather provided its own set of challenges, the club has come out of the weekend satisfied with the event and how they navigated through such a big weekend.

“It was a huge weekend but we’re really, really happy as a club with how it all turned out,” committee member Maddy Sutton said.

“The heat knocked us about a bit on Saturday, we ended up altering the racing and dropped the D and C heats so we just went to semi-finals and finals to cut out some of the racing.

“Everyone was absolutely spent and because we cut out those races we ended up finishing on time so it all worked out in the end.”

Along with the riders from across the state, almost 30 local racers also hit the track, being the first time some of them have competed in an event of this magnitude.

Emmy Bicknell from Portland BMX Club had a standout performance, finishing on top in her class (nine-year-old girls) on Saturday.

Stella Middleton and Meeka Fish both had solid runs in the Cruiser 15-16-year-old girls, placing across both days.

“The locals kids had an amazing time, a lot of them got some personal best times on the track because they had kids to chase down which bought a lot out in them,” Sutton said.

“To watch the improvement of all of them across the weekend was amazing and they all did such a great job.”

Sutton said hosting an event of this magnitude will give the club the boost it needs to keep building.

“I think in the end it’s so good to see that we can make an event like this happen,” she said.

“It’s been so good for club members and even though it’s a mountain of work it’s so rewarding in the end when it all comes together and is done.

“We want to keep upgrading the track and getting events like this so it’s a great incentive to get the track up to standard and push for more state and national events.”