Martyn Ashton

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]

Martyn Ashton
Animal Bike Tour, Aberystwyth, June 2007
Personal information
Full nameMartyn Ashton
Born (1974-12-02) 2 December 1974
Team information
DisciplineMTB (mountain biking)
RoleRider
Rider typeTrials
Professional teams
1997Volvo–Cannondale
2005Animal MBUK
2008–2010Team Ashton Diamondback
2014–presentGlobal Mountain Bike Network (GMBN)
Major wins
39 world championships

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. "Martyn Ashton". Ashton Bikes.
  4. "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.
  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.
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