ALEKSANDRS BRIEDIS

Educational and sports worker,
initiator of children's motor sport and skijoring,
publicist, decorated with an honorary badge of the Order of Three Stars

I was born in Riga in 1938. In 1962 I graduated from the Latvian State University as a lawyer. However, I worked very little in this capacity. I worked at the auto-motor club "Bierini", at the children's motor school belonging to it. I also worked at the Riga motor factory "Zvaigzne", at the Riga DOSAAF organisation (the technical sports school union), but from 1962 - at the Riga station of Young technicians.

During my school years, together with my classmate Voldemars Branka (son of the writer Voldemars Branka) I learned to master the motor bike, which had been presented to the latter. We organised a group of enthusiasts of the 11th school who were keen on motorcycles. Since it was not possible for us to implement our hobby at the big clubs where they used large racing bikes, we turned to ordinary people's sports, in fact, we created that sort of occupation. Being still a student, I engaged myself in "motorization" of the young and formed together with my friends a motoring section at the Latvian State University, as well as motor-ball team. We organised the first motor-ball competition, in which 5 teams took part (earning a sharp reprimand from the University's Military chair).

Making use of Kchrushchov's 1958 "thaw" and the possibilities it opened, I formed, together with friends, a motoring club "Bierini" (under protection of the DOSAAF from 1960). The club organised one of the first races in the world in 1960-1961 for motor bicycles, mopeds, and scooters on roads and in cross-country.
In 1964 world's first motoring sport school was founded at the Riga 4th high school. In that year (like in other European countries) we started, using the Baldone and Bierini race-tracks for organising a national mini-motor championship for children and school children, both road and cross-country for the "Great Latvian 50 km prize. In this we were ahead of Great Britain by a whole year. The club managed to revive skijoring in Latvia (1963). And after the demonstration match in Moscow, from 1972, skijoring became a national sport in Latvia.
In 1971 a school children's tournament for mini-motor bikes was established, with the "Golden moped" prize. This started a period of changes in the development of motor sporting in the country, bringing in lots of children and ordinary motorists with ordinary personal motor-bikes, scooters and motor-bicycles. The club was accused of "distorting Soviet sport".

I helped the club to apply the new changes in the law, so that they could pass to a many-sided economic mode of working (badges, advertising, production, service). This enabled us to purchase 120 motor-bikes and 11 motor cars. We also gained a number noteworthy results (first place in cross-country with side-car at the 1962 Latvian DOSAAF competitions, victories of the club's school boys' team at the eleventh USSR DOSAAF sports schools at the 1972 and 1973 contests). "Bierini” became a threat to the large DOSAAF clubs and schools. Accordingly, at the first opportunity, under the pretext of it being "ungovernable", it was liquidated and reorganised under the name of Technical sports club of the Marupe Collective Farm (it continued faithfully the traditions of "Bierini" right till National Awakening).

Thanks to the efforts of V.Kleinbergs, constructor of sports motor cycles and an old member of "Bierini" I was taken on at the plant "Sarkana Zvaigzne" at the bureau of sports and advertising. As early 1976 I managed to effect an increase in the activity of the Plant as regards the development of children's motor sport. We arranged all-Union moped cross-country moped and skijoring contests with hundreds of participants from as far as Siberia and Kamtchatka. Together with Kleinbergs we succeeded in 1986 in achieving that Latvia obtained a special status in min-motoring and skijoring, namely motor sport was permitted from 8 years (in the rest of the country it is 12-14 years). Latvia is also the only republic from the former Soviet Union where on may get the title of Master of Sports in skijoring.

Since 1979 mini-motor races on the road are organised, in addition to the "Golden Moped" cross-country races, also in Riga, in the Victory (Uzvaras) park. Apart from it a children's bicycle races were arranged (with three-wheel up to ordinary bicycles participating). These races have become a tradition among schools and take place on all cartodromes of Latvia. These races frequently meet with active opposition. Thus, in September 1997, the children's motor track "Bierini", which was under construction was demolished out of protest against these races, and pupils of the 4th high and 8th elementary schools organised a sitting piquet, a thing, rather rare under Soviet conditions. This took place in front of the "Aurora" sports hall during the session of the deputies of the Riga Lenin district council. The militia dispersed our piquet, however the demolition of the track stopped.

Starting with 1988 in addition to the "Golden Moped" races of the motor factory a new contest in road racing on mopeds was established between clubs of young technicians of different republics. These contests became international after the National Awakening, with boys from Denmark participating. The Danes rode "Hondas" and "Yamahas", but were surprised at having to cede the first places to the modern Latvian enforced vehicles. In 1988, in the atmosphere of the "perestroika" I succeeded in achieving that a special children's motor sport development committee was established at the USSR Federation of motor sport (I became head of it). In 1989 All-Union mini-motor road and skijoring competitions took place in Moscow, on the grounds of the Exhibition of Economic achievements. The Latvian "Golden moped" team participated with the banner of independent Latvia in these races. It turned out to be an effective antidote against the pest of rockers - motor hooligans gaining more and more ground in the centre of Moscow and causing a lot of road accidents. The example in education set by the Latvian neighbours was stopped by the disintegration of the USSR.

My book "Mini-Motor and Skijoring" appeared in Moscow in 1990. It contains a lot of historical and statistical material. The film "Golden Moped " produced by the Riga film studio (1986) has been well received. A topic has been produced for the newsreel "Sports Review" (1987, No.4).

I have published about 1000 articles in Latvia, as well as abroad on the cultural tradition of motorization, about its formation, about mini-motoring, skijoring, and other questions.

I have been active in the Federation Latvian School sports, arranging not only school children's mini-motor contests on roads and bicycle races on cartodromes, but also organising competitions at residential places, thus continuing the traditions started in the seventies. These competitions take place in Bierini and in the Victory Park in Riga, more than 60 events every year. New coaches and umpires have been trained. I should like to mention A.Abols, A.-I.Vomi, Dz. Blums, I.Parums, I.Treilone, A.Getaute, also many foreigners, particularly from Russia.

The very high participation in the course of the years of contests in Latvia, the record numbers of contestants, well worthy of being mentioned by Guinness, may be considered as the age of constituting the formation of a Latvian cultural tradition of motoring. Its significance has not yet been fully appreciated.
 

Figures:
Victory Park in Riga, 1995. Children's contests according to places of residence take place about 30 times each season. Many knows this tradition of collecting in Wednesday evenings in this Park.

March 2000