A THREE-DECADE old dream is about to be fulfilled for Braintree Bullets BMX Club head coach Julian Allen as prepares to head to America for the UCI World BMX Championships.

Allen will be one of seven Bullets riders competing against the finest riders on the planet at Rock Hill in South Carolina next week as they look to bring a coveted world title back to the UK.

The club has already seen recent international success after Seb Pantlin claimed the European boys’ 13s title in France last week and they are now gunning for more glory.

Allen will be riding in the over-35 men’s event and is one of a number of Bullets who will be flying to the States.

New European champion Pantlin will be in the boys’ 13s, while Adam Gilbert is in the boys’ 12s, Oli Cutmore is in the men’s 17s to 24s Challenge and Cruiser classes, Freia Challis will be in the girls’ nines, Molly Nice is in the girls’ 14s and Hayden Challis will be riding in the 15 and 16s Cruiser class.

It’s a great achievement for the club to have so many riders qualified and Allen believes they have a good chance of bringing back a title.

He added: “It’s great for the club and amazing to get that number of riders there.

“There should also have been Christian White, who was all set to go, but he broke his wrist in the National Series a few weeks ago and some others qualified but couldn’t go because of the financial burden of travelling over.

“Out of the riders who are going, though, I think we have a realistic chance of at least three of them getting into finals if not winning.

“Seb will travel with so much confidence and he’ll be in a great position and Freia Challis is another who has absolutely dominated domestic racing and she showed by making the final in Zolder in 2015 that she can be competitive at that level.”

Three other local riders will also be competing in South Carolina - Bethany, Luke and Noah Shriever in the Elite Junior Women’s, the boys’ 14s and the 17 to 24s Cruiser class respectively.

The three siblings are from Finchingfield.

But for Allen, it will scratch a 30-year-old itch as he finally gets to compete on the big stage.

He said: “It is a 30-year childhood dream of mine being fulfilled.

“I didn’t qualify in 1987, but my sister did for the World Championships in Florida, however, we couldn’t go.

“It was in America, which is the home of BMX racing and I was desperate to go.

“I always remember the guys who went talking about the experience and now 30 years later, I’m really going to go and I’m looking forward to putting that dream to bed.”