This past weekend at the Bournemouth Air Festival saw the Bike Tour team tackle the British summer with a vengeance, putting on 17 awesome shows amid some diabolical weather for thousands of ultra appreciative fans. With 4 days ahead of them, Blake, Martyn and the crew were looking forward to what was always going to be a special date for the tour at what promised to be some of the busiest shows on record.
photography: Robin Kitchin & James ‘Big Hair’ Ioannou
The rain didn’t hold off but that was not going to stop a determined Bike Tour crew wowing the crowds at a packed Bournemouth beach, with the team throwing everything they had at the rig and putting their own safety last on the agenda in the wet conditions. Their hard work paid off though, with many spectators confirming that the Bike Tour was, ‘the best part of the whole event!’ We’re pretty sure there are a few pilots that would disagree, but when you’re pulling out 17 shows over 4 days compared to just the 1 by the Red Arrows, there’s only one winner in our eyes!
“The location and sheer numbers of spectators made this a significant event for us. We had an ambitious schedule of 5 shows a day; we managed that on Thursday & Friday despite the strong winds. Saturday was very difficult…so Sunday we came out fighting with the intention of riding all 5 shows no matter what the weather threw at us. It was a tough day but maybe the best example of why the Bike Tour is such a great thing to be a part of – we went above and beyond what the event could have expected possible and I’m positive the spectators appreciated our extra effort.” Martyn Ashton.
As usual we shared this winning love and a big congratulation’s goes to Kimberley Isgar who won the Diamondback Peak HD in our Text to Win comp, Kimberley was very pleased, “The show was absolutely exhilarating to watch. It was full of entertaining and daring stunts, which kept us all cheering for more. The show prompted me to enter the competition for the bike and winning it was just amazing!”
Luke Machin as winner of the VIP day with Tour chose the Thursday in Bournemouth for his unique experience, ” I had such a awesome day with the Bike Tour team, I was made to feel welcome from the moment I arrived! It’s such an awesome show and the whole crew work hard to make it all happen slickly – I was happy to play my part! Just make sure you see this show…and say hi to Blake & Martyn as they are two of the nicest people you could meet! Thanks to all for the day and my new bike!!”
Not only that but we have also picked our latest Twitter winner – you can check out JakeMooreUK’s winning shot at twitter.com/Animal_Team . Thanks to everyone who entered the comp – this was the strongest fought battle so far for the Animal watch!
Stats; 1 Diamondback Peak HD, 1 VIP winner, 17 Bike Tour T’s, 20 MBUK’s, 22 Bottles of Muc-Off, 30 Vito Sport Test Drives, 68 Animal caps & wallets, over 300 twitter photo comp entries, 2,400 Bike Tour posters & stickers, 7,000 Relentless samples, more than 15,000 supporters, 1 MC with a happy sore throat and 2 riders stoked to have not only survived but conquered!!
