News

5 Minutes with Chris Urquhart

                       

 

·        First of all tell us a bit about yourself?

·        Well my name is Chris Urquhart and i am 29 years old from the Gold Coast. I have been racing continuously since the age of 6. I raced professionally for 6 years in seniors and have since progressed on to professional coaching with Yamaha through the Y-AIM program.

·        How long have you been coaching?

·        I have been coaching for 12 years now. While I was still racing I started coaching with Stephen Gall then progressed onto working for myself coaching for a while. But I now coach for Yamaha Y-AIM fulltime now.

·        What is the Y-AIM program?

·        It is a coaching initiative set up by Yamaha where they play a more active hands on role in coaching at all levels. Each state is set up with an agent. This works well because we know the market place and the riders we are involved with. Each agent has spent his life racing locally and therefore we are able to develop a better relationship with our local riders.

·        Do you just teach motocross?

·        No I also teach supercross and have had a fair bit of experience coaching on the enduro side of things.

·        What sort of skills can students expect to learn at your schools?

·        Depending on what type of school it is we start off learning the basics such as standing on the bike, clutch, throttle and brake control, cornering and various race techniques. In our advanced courses we go further teaching things like off bike training, nutrition and mental preparation.

·         What sort of skill ranges do your classes cater for?

·        Everything from the 5-year-old beginner, ladies and amateurs right through to complete pro-class guys. For the pros we even do camps at the Australian Institute of Sport where we teach them the complete package.

·        How important do you feel it is for people to be coached in a sport such as motocross?

·        Well its extremely important for a few reasons. First and foremost is the safety aspect. If we can teach riders to learn good habits and correct technique from the start they will be safer to themselves and those around them. This in turn leads to a more enjoyable experience and helps keep their interest and progression in the sport. Second if you look at all other sports especially football, tennis etc coaches are everywhere and motocross should be no different. The time has come where if you want to be successful at this you really should enlist the help of those who know.

·        Where do you conduct you schools?

·        I conduct a weekly two-hour school at Reedy Creek Mx club here on the Gold Coast every Thursday afternoon. Other than that I travel anywhere from the bottom of Queensland right up to the top end and out west. So really anywhere there is a motocross club I go there.

·        Do students require all of their own equipment?

·        Yes they do. I have been asked this before but the logistics of me providing everything is just not feasible. So yes you need a bike and all safety gear but you do not have to have a race licence to attend my schools.

·        What is the best way for people to find out more about upcoming schools and other info?

·        The best way is through my website www.urkymx.com. That has all of the info and is updated regularly with all the latest news, schools, photos and other things. Also if you don’t live in Queensland you can still contact me and I can provide you details of the Y-AIM agents in other states.

 

Updated on 14/02/2009