Johannesburg, South Africa – This year’s Park Lines BMX Tournament, the official 2025 BMX Freestyle South African Championships, took place over the weekend. The event, sanctioned by Cycling South Africa and UCI, was presented by LW Mag and Dragon Energy in association with Garmin, Balwin Properties, Insta360, Fox Racing and Mongoose. Vincent Leygonie reclaimed his title in the Pro Men’s category while Jenna Byrnes defended her title in the Pro Women’s category.
Park Lines BMX Tournament at Skylab
The competition took place at the newly built SkyLab Skatepark at the Joxi-X Adventure Park in Bryanston, Johannesburg. The park offered riders a variety of obstacles and line choices to showcase their skills in their bid to impress the judges through the qualifying rounds and the finals.
Riders from all over South Africa competed in the Amateur and Pro divisions. Judges took use-of-park, amplitude, execution, trick variety and difficulty into account when scoring the riders’ runs. The Pro riders not only competed for South African rankings but also their share of the R36 500.00 prize purse. Also, Garmin Instinct 3 Smartwatches. The winner of Amateur division took home a new Mongoose BMX with the other podium finishers winning prizes from Fox Racing. The new Insta360 X5 360º action camera was up for grabs for the Best Trick award.
Through the qualifying rounds riders had two heats (45 seconds per heat for Amateurs and one minute for pros). Both runs counted towards their overall score. In the finals, again two heats, but with the best run counting as their overall score.
Amateur Division
The biggest division of the day saw new up-and-coming riders enter to compete. Also, some old faces made their return to competition. This adding to the development and growth of the sport locally. It was a treat to witness how the riders progressed throughout the day. Eight riders qualified into the finals where Park Lines’ new comers would claim the podium positions.
Cape Town’s Stefan Heynes impressed the judges with his array of tricks through the course to slot himself into 3rd place. Having learned Backflips just two days before the contest Heynes did a Backflip on the Box Jump to land his first in competition.
New to the sport of BMX Freestyle, Sinjin Caromba used his BMX Racing background to flow through the park with speed and style. He linked together transfers that no other rider in the division was doing. That paired with big 360’s, a Nac Nac and Tyre Grab over the big box earned him 2nd place.
Sean Fulton made use of the full park and included tricks on almost every obstacle. His 360 over the box jump, Table Tops and Toboggan on the quarter pipes, Truck Driver over the big box, Turndown transfer and 360 over the spine put him ahead of his competitors to take 1st place. The win will see Fulton advance to the Pro Division next year.
Pro Division
Jenna Byrnes was the only female competing in the Pro Women’s category and still holds the record for the only female to land a Backflip in South Africa. In this year’s competition she showcased her progression by including a Backflip, Turndown, 360 and Barspin into her run to be crowned the 2025 South African champion.
The always exciting Pro Men’s category saw 15 riders competing for their chance of earningvaluable UCI points and official SA ranking by qualifying into the eight rider final.
Having qualified in 2nd place, Malcolm Peters took to the course in the finals but mistakes in both runs would see him finish in 5th place. Francois Bodenstien known for his technical tricks and use of park put in a good effort to finish in 4th place.
Nkosinathi Nkosi turned it up in the finals, utilising the full park with flowing and stylish runs. His tricks included a 360 Turndown over the big box, 360 Toboggan over the box, 360 over the spine, Fakie to 360 Cab and Turndown on the quarter pipe, which earned him 3rd place.
360 Over The Box
Making a statement in his first run in the finals Morgan O’Kennedy put down a solid run makinguse of the full minute run with a 360 over the big box, Turndown over the box, Flair on the quarter pipe, 180 Barspin to 180 out on the box, Tuck No-Hander transfer, Tailwhip and Tuck No-Hander on the quarter pipes. The run scored enough points for 2nd place overall.
Looking to reclaim his South African Championship title, Vincent Leygonie went all-in in the finals. With a few mistakes in his first run it all came down to the final run of the day. Not letting the pressure get to him, Leygonie took to the course to lay down the best run of the day, landing tricks on every obstacle of the course.
The run-down of his tricks included a transfer Tuck No-Hander, Backflip Tuck No-Hander over the big box, Toboggan on the quarter pipe, Truck Driver to X-Up on the box, 360 Toboggan over the big box, Can Can on the quarter pipe, Truck Driver over the spine, Nac Nac transfer, Tailwhip on the quarter pipe, reverse 360 over the box, opposite Turndown on the quarter pipe and a Flair on the quarter pipe. The run scored the highest points of the day and saw Leygonie crowned the 2025 South African champion.
Insta360 Best Trick Competition
The day ended off with the Insta360 Best Trick Competition. This saw huge battle go down between Malcolm Peters and Vincent Leygonie for the bragging rights. Leygonie started it off with a CashRoll over the big box. Having landed it with a slight bobble, he spent the rest of the 30 minute jam session trying land it clean but was unsuccessful. In the closing minutes Malcom Peters landed a Backflip Double Tailwhip over the big box. It was a first for him, claiming the Best Trick of the day and the Insta360 X5 360º action camera prize.
Park Lines organiser, Ryan van der Spuy says, “This was the fifth edition of the Park Lines BMX Tournament. I’m extremely proud of what we have been able to accomplish through this tournament. Over the years we have been able to provide a platform for local riders to showcase their skills. We created the official South African Championships, crowned champions, and produced South Africa’s first Olympian in this discipline. Now we have added our very own BMX focused park (SkyLab Skatepark) to the mix. This is a permanent fixture for riders to make use of as a training facility.
Stand-out factors from this year’s event were seeing new up-and-coming riders competing. Also, witnessing the camaraderie between the riders and the community. This adding to encouragementof progression and growth of BMX Freestyle in South Africa– a core focus of what Park Lines is about.
This event wouldn’t be possible without the support of our event partners. Also, the riders that come out to compete and put it all on the line. A heart-felt thank you goes out to all of you!”
2025 Park Lines BMX Tournament Results:
Amateur:
1st Sean Fulton – 75.33 Points
2nd Sinjin Caromba – 67.00 Points
3rd Stefan Heynes – 55.66 Points
4th Patrick Wodrich – 55.33 Points
5th Jaden de Swart – 50.33 Points
6th Storm Guiranovitch – 44.33 Points
7th Justin Williamson – 41.66 Points
Pro Women:
1st Jenna Byrnes – 40.33 Points
Pro Men:
1st Vincent Leygonie – 82.00 Points
2nd Morgan O’Kennedy – 62.50 Points
3rd Nkosinathi Nkosi – 61.00 Points
4th Francois Bodenstein – 60.00 Points
5th Malcolm Peters – 54.50 Points
6th Victor Sawkins – 50.75 Points
7th Jason Hood – 49.00 Points
8th David Boyter – 42.25 Points
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Video: Park Lines BMX Tournament Crowns 2025 South African BMX Freestyle Champions
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