Pre-BMX

Prior to racing BMX both her brother, Michael, and she were involved in Schoolboy Motocross, generally both finishing middle of the pack.

BMX Career

1981 – Started her journey into BMX racing and had a first place at a Southampton race meeting.

1982 – UK BMX – Junior girls No. 1

1983 – NBMXA No. 1
NBMXA British Champion
Jag World Championships Burbank USA – 4th

1984 – NBMXA No. 1
UK BMX No. 1
Champion of Champions Winner.
Kellogg’s Overall Winner
European Champion

1985 – UK BMX No. 1
Kellogg’s Overall Winner
European Champion

1986 – NBMXA British Champion
UK BMX No. 1
European Champion

1987 – World Champion
NBMXA British Champion
European Champion
Also inducted into the NBMXA Hall of Fame

Post-BMX

Since Sarah’s departure from BMX, she continued Shotokan Karate and earned a black belt. She played Ice Hockey for 35 years during which time she represented Great Britain and the England ladies, playing in Ukraine and France. Sarah also had a role in a TV Show called, Ice Warriors, which was shown on ITV during 1997 for 9 weeks. She was Taaraz the Renegade in the show, which had the same production team as Gladiators and a similar format, except it was on ice. Sadly, they only made the one series. Sarah quit Ice Hockey, just recently, in 2020 when Covid hit, she felt at age 50 that she needed a change, but wasn’t sure what that looked like.

Around 2010, Sarah took up road cycling, and bought her first road bike. She trained hard to do a charity ride from a local village to Paris -210 miles which was incredible. Since then, she’s done a lot of road cycling over the years, including another long ride from Belgium back to the UK and a 100-mile event around the New Forest to name just a couple.

In September last year, Sarah decided what she finally wanted to do and that was to restore her old 80’s Redline and go to a few of the Old Skool shows and events that are held around the UK. Christian Kift was instrumental in helping Sarah restore her bike and in December she was doing Santa Cruise 7, a charity BMX ride around London dressed up as an Elf. Sarah was later invited by the local BMX track, Andover, to take her Redline along, to show, and talk about BMX in the 80s and the differences between then and now. Whilst at the track, she was given the opportunity to use a club bike and try out the bikes and track. To her surprise, she found that she still had a love of BMX racing. Within weeks, Sarah had purchased a second-hand bike, then some padding, (after learning the hard way not wearing any), and she is currently working on fitness and track craft with the hope of a comeback to race next year in the 30-plus lady’s class.

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.

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

Pioneer Influencer
Malcolm Jarvis & Sue Jarvis

Male Racer
Geth Shooter

Pioneer Female Racer
Sarah-Jane Nichols

Pioneer Male Racer
Alan Woods

Pioneer Freestyler
Neil Ruffell

Female Racer
Lisa Wright

Freestyler
Jamie Bestwick

Outstanding Contribution to BMX
Carole Gosling

KING OF Dirt
Stephen Murray

The Lifetime Achievement Award
David Maw