Martyn Ashton (born 2 December 1974)[1] is a former British and World Champion mountain bike trials rider, stunt rider and team manager.[2] He had been riding professional trials since 1993,[3] and has been described as a mountain biking legend,[4][5] and credited with turning trials riding into one of the fast-growing areas of the sport of mountain biking.[6] Ashton was paralysed in an accident in 2013, during a bike trials demo at the British Moto GP.[7]

Biography

Martyn Ashton is a retired trials and stunt cyclist who started-out as a child motorcycle trials rider but took-up mountain bike trials in the early 1990s. He is a four-time British Biketrial Champion and former World Expert Biketrial Champion, and the Guinness World Record Holder for the Mountain Bike High Jump.[8] In 2008 he entered the Mountain Biking UK 'Hall of Fame'.[3]

Besides riding trials, Ashton has also designed exhibition stages[9] and products for his own Ashton Bikes range.[4] He has had extensive media coverage, and published his own Hop Idol column in the MBUK mountain biking magazine.[4]

In Ashton's 2012 viral YouTube video “Road Bike Party”,[10] he rode a road bicycle in stunts typical of trials.[11] A sequel video entitled "Road Bike Party 2" was released the following year and proved even more successful.[12]

Ashton first broke his back in 2003, when he compressed a vertebra and fractured it during a fall after misjudging a landing. He soon recovered and returned to riding.[13] Ashton again broke his back on 1 September 2013 when he fell from a 3-metre high bar during a demo at Moto GP, causing serious injuries to his spinal cord which left him paralysed.[14]

Since his accident, Ashton has continued his pursuit of the outdoors with customized all-terrain wheelchairs.[15] He returned to mountain bike riding with a heavily customised bike, and in 2017 took part in the Crankworx Air DH in Whistler, British Columbia.[16]

Ashton currently lives in Port Talbot, Wales.

References

  1. ^ "Martyn Ashton". Cycling Website. Archived from the original on 11 May 2012.
  2. ^ "Martyn Ashton - Animal". Animal. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2017.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  3. ^ a b "Martyn Ashton". Ashton Bikes.
  4. ^ a b c "Team Ashton Diamondback Is Launched". Diamondback. Archived from the original on 12 June 2008.
  5. ^ "Martyn Ashton : Mountain bike legend". ADS Projects.
  6. ^ "Martyn Ashton". Mud in the Blood. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
  7. ^ "Feature: Story behind Martyn Ashton's Road Bike Party 2 Film - velouk.net". Retrieved 28 March 2017.
  8. ^ "Getting back on track: The Story of Martyn Ashton". 1 February 2016. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  9. ^ "Animal Mountain Bike Champions, Martyn Ashton and Grant 'Chopper' Fielder, at the Sportsboat and Rib Show 2005". Southampton Sports Boat and RIB Show. Archived from the original on 8 January 2006.
  10. ^ Martyn Ashton - Road Bike Party, archived from the original on 21 December 2021, retrieved 30 August 2019
  11. ^ js (23 December 2014). "Road Bike Party 3 gets dirty with jaw-dropping tricks". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  12. ^ Martyn Ashton - Road Bike Party 2, archived from the original on 21 December 2021, retrieved 29 July 2020
  13. ^ "UK Trials ace Ashton recovering from broken back". February 2003.
  14. ^ "Legend Martyn Ashton is set for a new trial". DIRT. Archived from the original on 19 December 2013. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  15. ^ "Personalised all terrain Mountain Trike wheelchair for global trials rider, Martyn Ashton". Mountain Trike.
  16. ^ "Martyn Ashton rides Whistler Bike Park 2017". Red Bull.
Allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martyn_Ashton
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