CLUB HISTORY
The Hillingdon Hawks BMX Club was started way back in 1981 by a family called The Bonwicks, whose son Geoff raced BMX. Ron Bonwick ran the Club and race meetings with military precision, a format which was taken on by the all the clubs and the association at the time.
The Club was originally based at Kingshill Avenue in Hayes, Middx and successfully ran Nationals, Regionals, Gaywood Cup and Club meetings every Saturday. At one National they even had floodlights incase the event ran late, you have to remember that with over 1,000 riders and registration on Sunday morning in those days, things kind of ran late, I remember one National at Hounslow going on till 10.30pm with 5 & 6 year olds being woken up to race their Finals.....
In the Club's heyday it had over 300 Members, with some of the best racers in BMX, Lee and Nicky Restall, Paul Roberts, Dean Iddiols, Chris and Bobby Hyde, Ian Fry, Jamie Staff, Ben Beasley and the list goes on and on.... My own sons raced their first races there at 3 years old and as they say the rest is history....
The Club had to move from Kingshill Ave in the late 80's and operated in name only, but had some of its best times, with annual coach trips to Slagharen,
Euro events, Nationals etc.... Those trips have become part of UK BMX folklore with stories still being told to this day of the adventures We all had....
I am still
mentally scarred.........
The Hawks went into a partnership with Wycombe Wasps for a couple of years and then the offer of moving to Slough came along and we took it with both hands... Slough Swifts hosted the World's in 86 and the Euro's in 91, two of the biggest events to be held in this country to this day. Also the first Club to have a hydraulic gate with lights in this country and it still worked to the day we took it out and replaced it.
The first event the Hawks ran on the Slough track was the 96 British Champs and the following years the Club hosted Nationals each year and a second British Champs right up to their last major event @ Slough for the National over the Queens 50th Jubilee weekend in 2002... The Hawks have been National Club Champions numerous times and successfully won the BCBMX Club Championships at Slough and at Cheddar... One of the clubs greatest achievements was coming 1st-2nd-3rd in the Nat West Club Championships in the late 80's at Hounslow.
On a sad note the Hawks have had to recently cease operating from Upton Court Park, Slough due to increased vandalism and motorbike use on the site.
In 2004 the Hawks came 3rd in the Club Championships at Cheddar and three Hawks riders (Emily James, Ian Gunner and Callum Thompson) gained National No.1 titles for the 2004 BCBMX National Series.
Now this brings us to the present and the Hawks after all those years have returned back home to where they started, Hillingdon, the birthplace of the Hawks. A place we can truly call our home, a place we can develop and grow and feel part of the local community.
In 2006 The Hawks will celebrate 25 years in BMX, be prepared for the party.
Scott Dick
Hawks Historian & Member for 20 years.. 1984-2004
