The founder of Peckham BMX Club was nominated for a Black Excellence Award for outstanding contribution to youth and community services.
He narrowly missed out on the award, which was given to Nathaniel Peat, who runs Safety Box, a social enterprise providing support to prisoners, prison officers and others, across south east England.
DJ and BMX coach Michael Pusey MBE established the club, responsible for producing Olympic champion Kye Whyte, back in 2004.
It quickly expanded and, in 2013, Michael launched the £1.2m Burgess Park track in collaboration with Southwark Council.
The London Chamber of Commerce caught wind of his achievement and invited him to an awards evening on Tuesday, October 17, an event also attended by stars including athlete Linford Christie and So Solid Crew.
Having received an MBE in 2016, and attended Prince Harry’s royal wedding, Michael is used to being recognised for his work, but says he still appreciates the praise.
He said: “People say to me ‘you don’t realise what you’ve done’. I’m just like I started a BMX club, put a structure in place, supported the young people, and built, and built, and built until it became humungous.”
Kye Whyte returns to Burgess Park this weekend to compete in the BMX Race National Series
Fellow nominee and friend Nathaniel Peat, whose programme Safety Box helps to reduce youth violence, won the award on the night.
Michael praised the work of his friend adding: “You don’t win everything and I thought It was a brilliant event.”
The BMX club’s next step is to build a clubhouse on the site which it is currently in talks with Southwark Council over.
The council also has plans to build a new skate bowl with an urban games area next to the BMX club in Burgess Park.