Wade Bootes (b. 30 May 1974 in Toowoomba, Queensland Australia) is an Australian professional "Mid/Current School" Bicycle Motocross (BMX) and Mountain Bike (MTB) racer whose prime competitive years are from 1995 to 2003 in BMX and 1999 to 2004 in MTB. Usually goes by the moniker "Bootsie" or "Bootsey", an obviously diminutive of his surname. During his mountain bike career he also picked up the nickname "Thunder from Down Under".[1]
Contents |
Note: Professional first are on the national level unless otherwise indicated.
Started Racing: 1981 in Toowoomba, Queensland Australia at age 7.
Sanctioning Body:
First race result:
First win (local):
First sponsor:
First national win:
Turned Professional: November 1993
First Professional race result:
First Professional win:
First Junior Pro* race result:
First Junior Pro win:
First Senior Pro** race result:
First Senior Pro win:
Retired: Still Active
Height & weight at height of his career Ht:5'8" 173 cm Wt:~180-190 lbs. 86 kg
*In the NBL "B" Pro/Super Class/"A" Pro/Junior Elite Men depending on the era; in the ABA it is "A" Pro.
**In the NBL it is "AA" Pro/Elite Men; in the ABA it is "AA" Pro.
Note: This listing only denotes the racer's primary sponsors. At any given time a racer could have numerous ever changing co-sponsors. Primary sponsorships can be verified by BMX press coverage and sponsor's advertisements at the time in question. When possible exact dates are given.
Note: Listed are District, State/Provincial/Department, Regional, National, and International titles in italics. "Defunct" refers to the fact of that sanctioning body in question no longer existing at the start of the racer's career or at that stage of his/her career. Depending on point totals of individual racers, winners of Grand Nationals do not necessarily win National titles. Series and one off Championships are also listed in block.
National Bicycle Association (NBA)
National Bicycle League (NBL)
American Bicycle Association (ABA)
United States Bicycle Motocross Association (USBA)
Fédération Internationale Amateur de Cyclisme (FIAC)*
International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)*
Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI)*
*See note in professional section.
National Bicycle Association (NBA)
National Bicycle League (NBL)
American Bicycle Association (ABA)
United States Bicycle Motocross Association (USBA)
International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)*
Fédération Internationale Amateur de Cyclisme (FIAC)*
Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI)*
*Note: Beginning in 1991 the IBMXF and FIAC, the amateur cycling arm of the UCI, had been holding joint World Championship events as a transitional phase in merging which began in earnest in 1993. Beginning with the 1996 season the IBMXF and FIAC completed the merger and both ceased to exist as independent entities being integrated into the UCI. Beginning with the 1996 World Championships held in Brighton, England the UCI would officially hold and sanction BMX World Championships and with it inherited all precedents, records, streaks, etc. from both the IBMXF and FIAC.
Pro Series Championships and Invitationals
Note: (defunct) denotes that the magazine was out of business before the career of the racer started.
Bicycle Motocross News:
Minicycle/BMX Action & Super BMX:
Bicycle Motocross Action & Go:
BMX Plus!:
Total BMX:
Bicycles and Dirt:
Snap BMX Magazine & Transworld BMX:
Twenty BMX:
BMX World:
Bicycles Today & BMX Today (The official NBL membership publication under two different names):
ABA Action, American BMXer, BMXer (The official ABA membership publication under three different names):
Note: Professional first are on the national level unless otherwise indicated.
Started Racing:
Sanctioning Body:
First race result:
Retired: Still Active
Note: This listing only denotes the racer's primary sponsors. At any given time a racer could have numerous co-sponsors. Primary sponsorships can be verified by MTB press coverage and sponsor's advertisements at the time in question. When possible exact dates are given.
Note: Listed are Regional, National and International titles.
Mountain Bike Australia (MTBA)
National Off Road Bicycle Association (NORBA)
Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI)
Pro Series Championships and Invitationals
"Bootes banned for six months. Australia's bike star Wade Bootes has been suspended for six months after testing positive to a banned stimulant. Bootes, a serious contender on the MTB 4-Cross and BMX circuits,tested positive for a banned stimulant at the Mont Sainte Anne Mountain Bike World Cup in Canada earlier this year. The 30-year-old from Queensland has contested the result, but the Court of Arbitration for Sport imposed the ban on Friday. Bootes is a former world champion in the now-defunct mountain bike discipline of dual slalom and a former Australian mountain bike and BMX cyclist of the year."[12]
He denied taking the drug intentionally:
Bootes denies intentionally taking stimulant: "I have tested positive to a banned stimulant following my worst result for the season at a race in Canada in June. I am totally against performance enhancing drugs in sport and any form of drug abuse. I always have been and I always will be. I did not intentionally take any banned or illegal drug before the event in Canada. "The Australian Cycling Anti Doping Policy, like the policies of most countries, does not distinguish between intentional use of banned substances and unintentional use. Thus I was found guilty of an infraction of Cycling Australia's Anti Doping Policy. "Thankfully the Court of Arbitration for Sport accepted that I did not intentionally take any banned substance . My 6 month suspension reflects that finding! I have to "wear" the ban, and I will. I have learnt a valuable lesson out of all of this and I will never again put myself in a position where this can happen again. "I would like for my unfortunate experience to be a warning to all athletes to understand the rules of the Anti Doping Policy and to be aware of all the banned substances and not to accept any food or drink from people that they do not know. "I do not wish for anyone else to be put in the same position which I have been, unknowingly and unintentionally taking a banned substance and being suspended due to the rules and regulations of the Anti Doping Policy.[1] ----October 13, 2004 Cyclingnews.com article.