BMX Love Story
If you were around Saturday post amateur racing at Grands 2019, you maybe saw a bit of a show. The lady in the white dress? Sarah Hill, a real bride, REALLY getting married.
Alan and Sarah were kind enough to share their day and some thoughts on the event with JournalBMX.
JournalBMX: You and Sarah have built a relationship strongly rooted in BMX. How do you think she became so involved in it, too?
The Hills: Well at first Sarah was opposed to her involvement, she told me several times "You will never see my on a bike.” At the 2017 Grands she rode my bike around the parking lot and decided she wanted to try it. I put a 20" together from spare parts and she liked it. At the local tracks the guys in novice class that she would race were very competitive and said they couldn’t wait to bang bars with her. So we decided to put her on a cruiser. Her first race was a State Qualifier and she raced with Ms. Kittie and Shannon Wunder, a huge honor. She bought a cruiser and we went to work. She fell in love with BMX and it now flows in her blood like mine.
JournalBMX:What gave you guys the idea to get married at Grands?
The Hills: First off I want to thank everyone that made this possible. USA BMX, John David, Jim Reilly, my Bikes For The Likes of Us family, Pat Bryant for marrying us, and the entire wedding party. Married at Grands was her idea, we had a few obstacles for the date we had originally set that led to delaying our wedding. She asked me in September if we could get married at Grands. I knew it would be perfect for us. I called Jim Reilly for some help getting it arranged and we got to work planning. We had no rehearsal and it kinda went it's own crazy direction but it was perfect. Who gets the National Anthem live with smoke and laser lights for their wedding procession?
JournalBMX: Was the orange color a nod to the BMX team?
The Hills: Definitely, we both bleed orange. Darby and the Bikes For The Likes of Us team is family. Our cake topper even had an orange bike as part of it.
JournalBMX:Do you know of anyone that has been married at Grands before?
The Hills: Not to our knowledge, if there is anyone we would love to hear about it. Sarah was diagnosed with renal cancer in November 2017 and suffers from kidney stones and a lot of spasms. It makes racing all that more special. October 30th I had shoulder rotator cuff surgery to repair a major tear and had a rough season recovering. Last August Sarah also suffered a mild heart attack which pretty much side lined the end of the season for us. But we are getting in the gym and looking forward to being very competitive in 2020.
We want to wish the newly weds and all of the Hill family - many of whom are racers including Alan's son and daughters - many congratulations and years of wedded BMX matrimony.
Have a similar wedding story? Share it with us!
Photos: Trevor Palmer @tapPhoto