Category: British BMX Hall of Fame 2022

Congratulations to the late David Maw. Inducted into The British BMX Hall Of Fame.

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We have lots of stories and background on David’s life and career in BMX the Maw family has kindly shared with us and we will post in due time but for now let’s look at his amazing resume of results from his time in BMX.

1981 Age 3
Started racing part way through the season

1981 Age 4
No.2 in UK BMX National Series
No.2 in UK BMX Regionals

1982 Age 5
UK BMX National Champion
UK BMX Regional Champion
Won Anglo American Cup – Redditch, England

1983 Age 6
UK BMX National Champion
NBMXA British Champion
UK BMX Regional Champion
No.5 (rode up an age) in World Championships – Slagharen, Holland

1984 Age 7
World Champion – Nagoya, Japan
UK BMX National Champion
No.2 in European Championship
UK BMX Regional Champion

1985 Age 8
World Champion – Whistler, Canada
European Champion – Spain
UK BMX National Champion
NBMXA National Champion
NBMXA British Champion
UK BMX Regional Champion
IBMXF International Champion – Lowestoft, England

1986 Age 9
World Champion – Slough, England
UK BMX National Champion
NBMXA National Champion
NBMXA British Champion
UK BMX Champion of Champions
U.K BMX Regional Champion
No.1 Scorpion Sponsored International

1987 Age 10
UK BMX National Champion
NBMXA National Champion
NBMXA British Champion
U.K BMX Regional Champion

1988 Age 11
BBMXA Hall of Fame
UK BMX National Champion
BBMXA National Champion
UK BMX Regional Champion
No.3 in European Cup – Holland
Awarded Humberside Higher County Colours

1989
Age 12 European Champion – Alborg, Denmark
E.B.A National Champion
E.B.A Champion of Champions
E.B.A Regional Champion

David quietly left the BMX scene at the end of the 1989 season, he needed a new challenge
after winning nearly 100% of all the motos he raced in.

In 1990, David embarked on a new career in Moto-X. He soon became South Humberside Youth Moto-X Champion and held this title for several years. This led him to start racing in the Schoolboy National Moto-X where his first win was at Chippenham, England.

David had a bad accident soon after this and had to have a break to recover and heal.

Congratulations, Stephen Murray! Inducted into The British BMX Hall of Fame.

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Stephen and his brother Martin grew up in the Northeast of England and began racing BMX in November 1983 at just 3 years old. By the time he was 16, Stephen had been British Champion 9 times, European runner up twice, and also made two World Championship finals, in the 6 & under expert class in Slough 1986 and 10 years later in 16 expert in Brighton.

Along the way, he rode for some of the most iconic teams to ever come out of the UK. GT, the mighty Titan team run by his mum and dad, Cyclecraft, UGP, Robinson, and Haro. However, his real passion was dirt jumping, and having won numerous Squirt of Dirt and King of Dirt events over the years, his dream was to move to the US and ride against the likes of Ryan Nyquist, TJ Lavin, and Cory Nastazio.

When Stephen left college at 18, he made the infamous Bicycles & Dirt video all on his own and made enough money to make the move out to California to live with Dale Holmes, Neal Wood, Paul Roberts, and others to see if the dream could come true. He picked up his first Pro sponsorship deal with Nirve and in his first year in the States he only managed to complete two Dirt Jump contests having broken 9 bones, and 2 KO’s throughout the year. Nirve tried to cancel the remaining year on his contract thinking they’d signed a duffer but a contract is a contract and they would have to see it through. In the 2nd year, Stephen went on to win the 2001 X Games, becoming the first person in the World to pull a double backflip on dirt in competition. Two weeks later he won the Gravity Games pulling another World’s first with the 360 turndown backflip, a trick still not done by anyone else today. Stephen went on to become one of the best dirt jumpers in the World, breaking Guinness World Records and winning the Gravity Games again in 2002. He helped elevate the sport of dirt jumping by pushing the boundaries of big tricks, mixed in with the best style.

Stephen lived the high life in California for the next 6 years with a BMX career most of us could only dream of, and a rock and roll lifestyle you only ever heard of in the movies, until his unfortunate accident in Baltimore in 2007 where he crashed at the Dew Tour Dirt contest and broke his neck. Flatlining 3 times in the first week, Stephen ended up paralyzed from the shoulders down and from that day onwards his life would take a very different turn. Though he lost the use of his body, he never lost the fighting spirit that took him to the top of his sport and saved his life.

Post-BMX

Stephen has been an inspiration to not only the BMX world, but to the action sports world for not just what he achieved on his bike and for what he did for dirt jumping, but for how he has managed to Stay Strong in the face of everyday adversities and fight for a better tomorrow. Stephen is courage in-action and a true gent making anyone fortunate to know him, grateful.

Photo – Courtesy of Si Paton Malverns Classic / Michael Evans Street Photography

Richard Eames & Neil Stewart (British BMX Hall Of Fame Hosts)

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Richard Eames

If you’ve been to a UK BMX national in the last two decades and have heard an unmistakable Wigan accent on the mic calling the race action, that’s Rich Eames.

Rich has been announcing BMX races for over 20 years, starting at the Coppull ‘Grands’ race as a last minute stand-in, which led to races at every level up to and including the London 2012 Olympics as the venue announcer.

Additionally, Rich has commentated at European Cup rounds with Hall of Fame co-host Neil Stewart, combining their passion for racing with a 26-year friendship, occasionally leading to some unintended, yet hilarious results on the live stream broadcasts.

Add in live BMX World Cup and World Championship commentary for the last four years, this gives Rich unparalleled experience and expertise in ‘talking BMX’ which is why he’s honored to be one of the hosts for the inaugural British BMX Hall Of Fame event.

Neil Stewart

Neil is a former Nightclub DJ who started announcing at BMX Races in the late 90’s. An 80’s racer, Neil decided to return to racing in 1996 after being inspired by watching Dale Holmes win the World Champs in Brighton. 

He’s still racing and also announcing the biggest BMX Races in the world for the UEC and UCI.  Over the past decade, Neil has announced European Rounds, European Championships, World Cups and World Championships.  

Neil’s is now working with his long-term buddy Rich Eames where they host the UEC Livestream Shows for all of the European Cups and European Championships.

British BMX Hall of Fame Update

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We wanted to give everyone an update on how our planning for the British BMX Hall of Fame is coming along.

A few weeks ago Mike Wong, Darren O’Neill and I went over to the National Conference Centre in Solihull (the venue for the Hall of Fame event) to check it all out, get a visual and start to get some idea on how we are going to lay things out on November the 5th. We are really happy with the facility and the location (very easy for all attendees to access from wherever they are travelling from).

Everything seems to be moving in a positive direction for the night with ticket sales going good (if you’re still sitting on the fence, please don’t leave it until the last minute as we can’t issue more tickets once our allocation is sold out) and we’re really starting to gain some momentum amongst the BMX community, as the pressure of actually pulling this event together comes into play. It’s a challenge we’re taking on, no doubt, but it’s now full steam ahead and we cannot thank everyone enough who has helped us in the background with advice, services and moral support. We’re humbled by the number of people who have reached out and offered their support in one way or another. 

Other news, we will roll out our Freestyle Top 8 category in the next few days and will also reveal an additional category which we will post in the next few weeks. We also have another special award planned and we look forward to sharing info on that soon too.

We will also share who is going to host the event, something we are extremely happy and excited about.

As ever, lots of work going on behind the scenes to make this the best BMX reunion event the UK has seen for decades.

Thanks again to everyone who has supported and got behind the event so far. It makes all the hard work worthwhile.