At the beginning of November, The Italian national BMX freestyle team traveled to the UK to spend 5 days training at the park. The 10 riders on the team were eager to hone their skills at the same facility Team GB’s Charlotte Worthington (Olympic Gold Medalist) and Declan Brooks (Olympic Bronze Medalist) trained at before winning their medals at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Despite having some fantastic skateparks in Italy, it was deemed that nothing compared to Adrenaline Alley.

Italy’s BMX freestyle head coach, explained: “With the World Championships coming up in Abu Dhabi, I decided to fly the team over to Corby to train. It’s been an amazing trip for all of us.

“We decided to come after seeing the progression of the team riders that had been here previously. Adrenaline Alley has different parks for all kinds of riding. It’s perfect for learning tricks, developing flow, and for fitness training. Also, being indoors, we are guaranteed to ride every single day. Coming to Adrenaline Alley has been a great investment for the team. I’m going to try to get a bigger budget for the next trip so we can spend more time here.”

Alessandro Barbero, Italy’s BMX freestyle team captain, said: “Now I’ve realised how awesome the facility is, I regret not coming before. We are all so excited to be here and everyone has already shown signs of progression.

“The ramps are similar to those at world events and that’s what international riders need to prepare to compete. Great Britain brought home two medals in the Olympics games; there’s not much more you could do to prove how good this place is for training.

“I was also amazed to see all the younger kids riding here, that’s something we don’t see so much of in Italy. I definitely want to come back again soon”

Mandy Young MBE DL, our co-founder and chief executive, commented: “We are so proud to be increasingly recognised as an international destination for action sports, especially by national teams from other countries. It’s amazing to think how far we have come since the charity’s humble beginnings two decades ago. We are now not only bringing thousands of national visitors into Northamptonshire every month, but more and more riders and skaters are travelling to us from overseas”.