Supercross Fan’s 60-Ticket Birthday Plan Shows Why Calgary is Ready for World Supercross

Amanda Nicholls did not need much convincing when she saw the FIM World Supercross Championhsip was coming to Calgary – the date, 8th August, was already significant, it’s her birthday – so she was determined to turn it into a proper party.

But what started as an idea quickly became something much bigger. Nicholls and her dirt bike-riding friends began organising, pulling in one group from Edmonton and another from Calgary, then combining everything so they could all sit together.

She is not going alone, but bringing her riding community with her and the total now stands at 60 tickets for the World Supercross Canadian GP.

“Most of us all ride or are supercross fans,” Nicholls said. “A husband rides or the kid rides, but we are a mix of adults and kids coming. All the kids that are coming pretty much ride.”

Watching my kids’ face, they have been going out, camping and riding the trails together since they were little tots. Just watching their eyes light up for this is going to be incredible.”

For her, Calgary is not simply a night at the races but a chance to put everyone in the same place and let them experience the intensity of live supercross together.

During our interview her husband, Jason, was out riding around their track in their backyard, known as the Jammyard, while their children, Madi and Mac, started young and are moving up through the bike sizes as they grow. One is now on a 250. The youngest is moving on from a 50cc to a 65cc. Nicholls laughed that now her kids are older, she needs to get back on a bike herself.

Nicholls and her husband have been to a major race before, attending an event in Phoenix a few years ago, but Calgary will be different. This one is closer to home and it will be the first live supercross experience for many of the children in their group.

Asked what she is most looking forward to, she did not hesitate. “Watching my kids’ face,” she said. “But not just their faces, the whole group being together, ’cause these kids have grown up riding tracks together, going out, camping in the boonies and riding the trails together since they were little tots. Just watching their eyes light up for this is going to be incredible.”

Experience a night of racing under the spotlights

Even for a group that is already immersed in riding culture, she thinks live racing hits differently. They watch freestyle. They know riders. They spend time around the sport. But supercross, in a stadium, with the scale and pressure that comes with it, is something else.

Her group is coming from more than one direction, but Edmonton will be a major part of the travelling support. Nicholls said around half of the 60 will make the 3.5-hour drive from there to Calgary. In Alberta terms, that is manageable. In fan terms, it is still commitment.

“I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at your Calgary crowd,” she said when we discuss the race moving to a new location after two years in Vancouver. “Even just half of our 60, we’re driving the 3.5 hours from Edmonton to watch.”

That line probably tells you as much as any market research could. World Supercross is not arriving in a vacuum. There is a ready-made audience in Alberta that rides, follows the sport and is prepared to travel for the right event. Nicholls’ group alone would make noise. Multiply that across the province and Calgary starts to look like a city that understands exactly what this kind of night can be.

We’re gonna celebrate and just have a good old time there.

Nicholls certainly does. Her group is staying over, making a weekend of it and, yes, properly celebrating her birthday too. “We’re gonna celebrate and just have a good old time there,” she said.

That tone fits the event. World Supercross is elite competition, but for fans it is also an experience you plan around. You go with your people. You talk about the riders on the way in. You compare favourites.

In the Nicholls household, those opinions are already well established. Her oldest daughter loves Haiden Deegan. Her youngest is an Eli Tomac fan. Nicholls herself picks Ken Roczen — “Kickstart Kenny” — a choice that sounds like it has been debated at length at home.

She is now counting down the days to the Canadian GP, don’t miss out on your chance to do the same.