Team Pickard was burning the midnight oil in Greerton last night as the family of Tauranga's top BMX rider settled into the sofa to watch his first Olympic races.

Step-father Ash Rawson says the family was 'stoked” with Kurt's performance – which saw him have a pretty smooth run, finishing mid-pack in seeding races.

Kurt Pickard's family –Ash, Kerryn and Shania Rawson, 13, and Jakob Millen-Rawson, 11, cheer him on. Photo by Tracy Hardy.

Ash, who is Kurt's manager and a competitive rider himself, says despite's Kurt's assurances that he was in a great state of mind he had been getting very nervous himself.

'But he's telling us he's never been better.”

Ash says Kurt is in a good state of mind and is riding well, following two weeks of training with the New Zealand team in Denmark and earlier competitions against elite riders in the US.

Both Ash and Kerryn would have liked to have been there in person in London, but he says with a family of talent racing up behind Kurt they wanted to keep money aside to support the development of the younger races.

'We've supported him helping get to six world championships, helping his development to professional rider level. Now we need to think about the others,” says Ash – who himself has eight BMX national titles.

Kurt's younger sister Shania Rawson, 13, is already making waves in BMX circles while Ash is also expecting success from Jakob Millen-Rawson, 11.

Kurt, who was only named in the cycling team in June told the Weekend Sun at the time he was 'pretty stoked” to be included. He said he was determined to do his best in London – but expects he could do even better in Rio in 2016 when he expects to be at his riding peak.

The BMX continues with quarter finals on Friday (2am), before Saturday's semi-finals (2.08am) and finals (3.40aMeanwhile fellow Tauranga Boys' College old boy Brent Newdick has got off to a fair start, ranked mid-field (16^th) with a score of 4104 points, with five events still to come. The decathlon continues on Thursday with hurdles (8pm), discus (8.55pm), pole vault (11.55pm), then on Friday with javelin (5.30am) and 1500m (8.20am).