RICHMOND, Va. — Richmond BMX organizers are raising concerns after operating without electricity for more than five weeks at their track in Gillies Creek Park, potentially jeopardizing an upcoming statewide competition.
The nonprofit organization claims they've received no answers or timeline for repairs from city officials, despite multiple attempts to contact them.
"It makes holding our weekly races for the community that much harder," Rob Huddleston, Richmond BMX Special Event Coordinator, said. "It's frustrating."
Volunteers say they noticed nearby construction at the city-owned park before the power was cut. Since then, they've been forced to rely on generators to keep their operations running.
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The extended outage has caused significant financial strain, they say, with thousands of dollars lost in spoiled food and hundreds more in missed concession sales that help fund operations.
"This is a completely nonprofit, volunteer-run facility. And so while these things might seem like very small cuts, it's death by 1000 cuts for an organization," Huddleston said.
According to Huddleston, attempts to get answers from city officials have been unsuccessful.
"We've spoken to one person who said we're looking into it, and we get no return phone calls," Huddleston said. "We can't get the same person to answer the phone, so we've just been leaving a lot of voicemail. And I think it just got to a point where we needed to do some reach out and broaden the scale."
The timing couldn't be worse for Richmond BMX, which is scheduled to host the Virginia State Final Series for the first time in 26 years in the coming weeks.
"Without power. We can't run an event at that scale," Huddleston said.
Volunteers are currently paying out of pocket to maintain basic park functions, but they worry they can't do that much longer.
"We'll continue to deplete our funds, and it'll just be that much harder and harder for us to hold the races and the events," Huddleston said. "Without this we lose connections with our kids, with our friends and families."
Despite the challenges, the organization continues to operate while hoping for a resolution.
"We just want to get them to commit to a solution and a timeline, especially with this big event," Huddleston said. "BMX, and the cycling community in Richmond is just incredibly strong. We've got riders coming here every weekend, from two years of age to 77."
When asked about the issue, a spokesperson with the City of Richmond said the parts needed are currently on back order.
City officials are working with Dominion Energy to coordinate next steps.
This is a developing story. Email the CBS 6 Newsroom if you have additional information to share.
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