HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES
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The Mountain Bike Hall of Fame’s 2020 Inductees
– and Some Changes
For 2020, the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame honored an international cast of six luminaries, each of whom have left an indelible mark upon our sport in the arenas of competition, technology, journalism and advocacy. Our 2020 inductees are: cross-country racer Julien Absalon, inventor Stan Koziatek, publisher/journalists Tym Manley and Steve Behr, trail builder/advocate Dafydd Davis, and downhill racer Jason McRoy.
Mountain Bike Hall of Fame Inductees for 2020
Frenchman Julien Absalon, the Cross-Country Phenom who dominated the game from 2004 to 2014 – during which, he prevailed over two decades of technological changes, adapting his skillset to team tactics, new wheel sizes, dual suspension, and to aggressive, new-school race course venues. Absalon earned two Olympic gold medals, five World Championship golds, seven overall World Cup victories, five European Cup titles and was French National Champion 13 times. More…
– and Some Changes
For 2020, the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame honored an international cast of six luminaries, each of whom have left an indelible mark upon our sport in the arenas of competition, technology, journalism and advocacy. Our 2020 inductees are: cross-country racer Julien Absalon, inventor Stan Koziatek, publisher/journalists Tym Manley and Steve Behr, trail builder/advocate Dafydd Davis, and downhill racer Jason McRoy.
Mountain Bike Hall of Fame Inductees for 2020
Frenchman Julien Absalon, the Cross-Country Phenom who dominated the game from 2004 to 2014 – during which, he prevailed over two decades of technological changes, adapting his skillset to team tactics, new wheel sizes, dual suspension, and to aggressive, new-school race course venues. Absalon earned two Olympic gold medals, five World Championship golds, seven overall World Cup victories, five European Cup titles and was French National Champion 13 times. More…
Dafydd Davis, a Welsh outdoorsman and trail runner who fell in love with mountain biking and later became a renowned trail builder. Davis realized early on that trails were the sport’s most important physical and financial assets, so he masterminded a nationwide strategy for dedicated MTB trail networks linked to tourism – a model program which opened trail centers across the world. More…
From the US, inventor Stan Koziatek, the godfather of mountain bike tubeless tire systems, invented a latex-based liquid sealant that bears his name, and a simple method to make conventional rims air-tight. Shortly after, Koziatek followed with rim profiles that stabilized tubeless tires and facilitated hassle-free mounting.
Stan linked those technologies, made tubeless accessible to the masses and altered the sport’s history. More…
Tym Manley and Steve Behr, co-founders of Mountain Biking UK, a magazine that rose to prominence as the voice of an emerging sport for British enthusiasts. The influence that innovators and athletes from the UK have had upon our sport cannot be ignored, and it was MBUK that rallied the country’s mountain bike community together to eventually become a global force to be reckoned with. More…
Jason McRoy, riding Specialized bike and kit, nr Whitby , North Yorkshire. circa 1995. Scanned October 2013. pic copyright Steve Behr / Stockfile
The Hall of Fame also awards a posthumous induction for Jason McRoy, a self-sponsored British downhill racer who flew the Union Jack in international competition against factory teams. McRoy’s fierce riding style inspired a generation of gravity racers from the UK – many of whom have become legends in their own right. More…
A Different Induction Ceremony
Restrictions related to the Covid-19 pandemic forced the Hall of Fame to postpone our annual Inauguration celebration at the Marin Museum of Bicycling. Those who have attended an induction here would agree that the backdrop of the museum’s collection is a perfect location, where fans and families meet, mingle and ride with our new inductees, along with a number of the sport’s elders who also have been honored by the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame. We will be combining this year’s inductees with those we plan to honor at the 2021 festivities. Please join us then! Our plans for holding the ceremony in Fairfax are firming up around the October 9th, 2021 weekend, assuming the COVID restrictions have lifted sufficiently before then. Subscribe to our mailing list to receive all our emails and newsletters.
Some Fundamental Changes…
Most mountain bikers are familiar with Julien Absalon and Stan Koziatek. It’s a safe bet, however, that many of us know much less about Tym Manley, Steve Behr, Dafydd Davis, and Jason McRoy – and might question how they came to be honored in lieu of more popular, higher-profile personalities who have also made contributions to our sport.
Good question. Addressing it underscores the mission of the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame, and speaks to some important changes we’ve made to the selection process this year in order to ensure that we don’t overlook men and women whose contributions and influence far exceeded their notoriety.
Public voting will no longer be used to determine which nominees will be inducted to the MBHOF. Instead, a selection committee will review nominations and, after consulting with sources within the mountain bike industry and sport, select the most eligible candidates for induction. This step was taken to prevent the induction process from selecting only the most famous people and to ensure that those among us who altered the course of our sport from behind the spotlight are not passed over.
Meet the Nominating and Selection Committee
Who makes those decisions? Our Hall of Fame all-volunteer Nomination and Selection Committee is assembled from journalists, industry insiders, and athletes, some of whom are HOF inductees. The committee has been in place for a number of years, working in the background as a review board and think tank. Nomination and Selection volunteers also reach out to influential people within the industry and sport to make informed decisions and further widen the selection process.
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