Mackay 16-year-old Keenan Burrow take to the sky in the sport of drone racing

Meet the North Queensland 16-year-old who’s hoping to take on the pro’s in the up and coming sport of First Person View Drone Racing. Read more.

For some racing fans it's all about the desert or the dragway, but for a new breed of speed fanatics, it's about taking to sky in feats of remote controlled acrobatics.

Meet Keenan Burrow, one of Mackay’s first and youngest drone racers who “doesn’t feel alive” unless he’s strapped into his first person view headgear and zooming through the skies in his drone.

“It’s so fun and it just gets the adrenaline going,” Keenan said with a huge smile on his face.

“It makes you think about the world in a different way, not as a flat place but in 3D.”

One of Keenan's favourite parts of drone racing is 'punching it' where he launches his drone into the sky at full speeds. Photo: Fergus Gregg

Keenan started out with drones when he was 13-years-old after he came across a YouTube video of a small drone flying through caves.

“I thought to myself ‘that was so awesome’,” Keenan said.

After searching online he found a second hand drone kit for $600, which contained three drones of different sizes, controllers and spare parts.

“I bought it and I got it and absolutely nothing worked,” he said.

Supporting Keenan in his hobby is father Scott Burrow who drives him to his events and has even helped build some of the drones. Photo: Fergus Gregg

Keenan’s dad Scott Burrow wasn’t pleased with this development and said “second hand electronics, take it to the dump yourself.”

“But I could see the value in drones,” Mr Burrows added.

Over the course of a year and a half the two retrofitted the drones before Keenan was finally ready to fly.

“It was just wondrous the first time he got it in the air,” Mr Burrow said.

“Then he crashed it and broke it and we had to get it going again.”

Keenan, piloting the drone through a first person headset, weaves through a series of obstacles setup in local sport fields, parks or even at Slade Point where he flies over perilous terrain and performs ‘cliff dives’.

After travelling to the Australian First Person View Nationals in 2023, Mr Burrow witnessed a rapid development in Keenan’s skill and enthusiasm after he was exposed to the drone racing community at large and introduced to new contacts.

Keenan's drone has no official type as he constructs his own using parts from other drone kits. Photo: Fergus Gregg

After competing in qualifying rounds and a club event in Brisbane, where he finished third in his group, Keenan will be competing against some of the world’s fastest drone racers in September.

“He’s currently flying 17 second laps and the best pilots are doing 11 to 8 second laps,” Mr Burrow said.

“They are unbelievable.”

“I don’t think I’m going to win,” Keenan said.

“But I think I’ll do better than a few people and have a lot of fun.”

Keenan hopes to one day see a bigger drone racing community in Mackay encourages interested newcomers to find someone to guide them through the process of buying their first kit.

Originally published as Mackay 16-year-old Keenan Burrow take to the sky in the sport of drone racing