Denaye Giroux Blog: Family Matters

There aren’t that many sports out there that you can do with your entire family. I was fortunate enough to get involved in this sport at a young age. I was three when my parents bought my older sister Amber and I a PW50 with training wheels; we have a home video of our first rides on that bike. I laugh every time I see it because my Dad was running after me telling me to slow down.

We spent all of our summer weekends at the races. Everyone in my family raced so it was a true family sport for us. My Mom Carrie, Dad Roland, older sister Amber, younger sister Dallyn, and my younger brother Morgan got to spend a lot of time together. We would cheer each other on and push each other to be better riders. Our Ladies class at the time consisted of my Mom, Amber, Dallyn, myself, and one other girl. If one of us crashed we would pull over to see if they were okay, or my Mom would stop to help us up. I’m not lying when I say we had a few hundred trophies in our house.

As the years went on we each found different things we wanted to do in our lives. Morgan was a football player and is now going to school in Vancouver for Film and Editing, Dallyn was diagnosed with Lupus at a young age which held her back a bit from the motocross world but has recently graduated to become a personal trainer in Lethbridge. Amber had done a few years racing the National circuit with my Dad and I and is now big into the Endurocross world. My Mom did her fair share of racing and is very involved in Amber’s racing career. She now has a house down in California where we stay when we head down in the winter.

All I wanted to do was race motocross, so when I first heard about Canada having a Women’s National Series I was so excited. We travelled all across Canada to race against the fastest girls out there, and that’s when I knew I wanted to try my hardest to win a Championship. Year after year I gained a lot of experience and got to race in a variety of different places, not just in Canada but in the States as well.

I earned my WMA license in 2009 and competed in a few AMA races. I never did get the results I wanted or knew what I could have achieved down there. It was a great learning experience. There is nothing better than being able to park in the pro pits right behind Ryan Dungey’s private bus.
It wasn’t until 2011 when I got my first Canadian Championship, the Parts Canada TransCan Ladies Championship at Walton. There had been years where I was close, but just could not get the job done. Winning both those championships was the absolute best feeling I have experienced. All of the hard work, time, money, and dedication put in had finally paid off. My step mom, Lorrie, can tell you she has travelled more in the past few years than she ever has in her life with being involved in my crazy motocross career. She has been a big help these past years, and it’s good to have another friend around to talk to.
One of the biggest supporters has always been my Dad. We have put a lot of miles on, and won a lot of races together. He put the majority of his time into helping me achieve my goals and I couldn’t have made it this far without him. He has seen me at my best and he has seen me at my worst, he never pushed me into doing anything and always let me learn from my mistakes on my own. He is a true hero in my books and now we have memories that I will never forget.

There are so many people we’ve grown close to in this sport who I consider to be some of my closest friends who I can call part of my family. This is truly one of the only sports where you can show up to a race, meet new people and all have the same passion and love for the same thing. That’s what brings us all together every weekend, and I wouldn’t change a minute of it.

Denaye