The Backyard Jam BMX

A BRIEF OVERVIEW

Our first shop in Hastings was called ‘Backyard’ so it made sense to put on an event in our home town. The first competition was held in 1991 in Hastings and attracted a good crowd of riders and locals. BMX was dead at the time and wasn’t popular at all, in fact that was the complete opposite of skateboarding, which was extremely popular at the time. We ran comps from 1991 - 1997 and then in 2004 and 2006 with the last backyard jam was held in Sheffield, UK. The BMX scene was a lot smaller and tighter back then so running an vert, mini ramp and dirt jam was a logical move. We had to stop running the events in 1997 after the night life got a bit out of hand and the local authorities got involved. The first event had a small attendance of 200+ people and the last Jam in had upwards of 5000+ people.