Tears and beers flow as we crown our winners, then hit the trails of BikePark Wales
Words James Costley-White Pics Steve Sayers, Andy Lloyd & various
We’re used to welcoming the odd famous face here at MBUK HQ, but we’ve never had three world champions in the building all at once before! Not only did Steve Peat, Rachel Atherton and Charlie Hatton all turn out for our inaugural Rider of the Year awards in Bristol, but so did a plethora of other pros, from World Cup stars Bernard Kerr and Laurie Greenland to backflip world record holder Tom Isted and YouTube favourite Ben ‘Deakinator’ Deakin. They were joined by a host of industry folk, along with many of our nominees, several of the talented youngsters from the MBUK-backed GT Viris team and some familiar faces from the pages of the mag over the years, including Andrew ‘Doddy’ Dodd and Andrew Titley.
Black-tyre event
While some pulled out all the stops, with Rachel Atherton and Casey Gemma looking particularly glam, the audience was a sea of plaid shirts, jeans and skate shoes – the default MTB uniform! They were in for a treat, with free beer from Wiper and True brewery, an exclusive Deathgrip II trailer and Q&A with the film’s star, Brendan Fairclough, and top hosting by our very own tech double-act, Rob Weaver and Tom Marvin.
Young Morgan Pickstock was visibly shocked to be named Newcomer of the Year in the public vote. The Athertons were stoked to receive the judges’ Lifetime Achievement Award – with Rach and Dan even being coaxed away from their beloved Dyfi to accept the trophy, on behalf of Gee, still recovering from his Red Bull Rampage crash. And Casey Gemma wiped away a tear as she was named MBUK readers’ Rider of the Year. There was a special gong for Brendog, too – the ‘Brendan should have won Rampage’ award, skilfully crafted by our ads sales ace Jo Penny.
On the lash – and the trails
The party carried on until well after our curfew, before heading over to the rider-owned Cock & Tail bar and a variety of other venues across town. If you happened to be out in Bristol that night, you may well have seen some familiar-looking faces having it large on the dancefloor after one too many free beers.
There were certainly some bleary eyes the next morning, when we met up at BikePark Wales for our inaugural Rider of the Year ride. The younger generation were out in force, with Morgan and Ffi Pickstock, Fin Davies, Amelia Martin and Liv Taylor all being too young to drink, but not to shred! Peaty, Laurie, Deaks and Bernard made it along, too, as did
