Features

2015 ROUND UP: Greg Illingworth

These days, many BMX riders, artists, musicians and anyone whose career is built on attention from the public have to basically sell themselves 24/7. A lot of top riders have to promote their personality constantly with social media tactics to get noticed, stay in the spotlight and engage with their fans. I’m not saying this is a bad thing – it means the world of BMX is rich with fresh content and opinions every day – but I’m just saying it’s nice to still have a few riders whose riding truly speaks for itself, without any gimmicks. Greg is one of those riders.

The way Greg rides is fundamentally quite simple – fast and committed. He obviously does some of the wildest lines out there and there’s no hesitation, Greg handles it. I don’t think he makes things look too easy but he definitely has a knack of making lines make sense, even if they’re completely insane.

Greg had a great 2015 and continues to be productive in 2016.

Cover image by Eisa Bakos.

360 Table, South Africa. Photo by Eisa Bakos.

Mongoose South Africa Trip

Greg Illingworth:
Ah the annual Cape Town retreat. I love this time of year in South Africa. The weather is good, the contests are fun and we always have a solid crew. I love showing foreigners my home country and at the same time I love exposing pro riders to the local scene. Seeing pro riders when I was younger made a massive impact on me and my riding, so I know how important it is for the growth of any scene anywhere in the world. Watching the local riders get so stoked to ride and hang out with the international pro’s is hugely gratifying. Then seeing the local scene inspired and motivated in the months after is golden. I’m proud of the SA scene and I love how it’s growing.

Original trip article HERE. Video below.

Badlands Trip

The Bad Lands trip was a Red Bull project that I was invited on. The project was an extensive road trip from Cape Town, through the Karoo desert, up to the Namibian desert and then finally Windhoek (capital city of Namibia). The trip was incredible and the crew was really amazing (Russ Barone, Sergio Layos, Kriss Kyle, Alex Kennedy, George Marshall, Rich Forne and Wayne Reiche). As a pro rider almost every trip you do is with your team mates which means it’s often the same people, while it is amazing becoming good friends with those guys… This trip was refreshing in the sense I got to hang out with, ride with, and trip with guys I wouldn’t usually get the chance to. Each and every dude on that trip was a treat to be around and I got to learn a lot from them all.

Ending an incredible day riding the most amazing spot #Badlands15 @russbarone @krisskyle #richforne @ak633 #southafrica #bmx

A photo posted by Greg Illingworth (@gregillingworth) on May 8, 2015 at 9:39am PDT

All the media from the project got held back for some or other reason at Red Bull. I have heard it should be out in February 2016. I know it’s a long time but it will be worth the wait. The spots were unique and incredible, the riding was timeless. I literally cannot wait to share it with people!

Fox Edit

The Fox Belgium trip was another highlight for sure! I needed to film for my edit and Lima for his. Priesty should have been with us too but he was injured so we put his edit out early. I took what I thought was a long shot and asked Ruben if he wanted to come on the trip. He was up for it and the ball rolled on. We chose Belgium because of the high density of concrete bowls around and we had a mate there, Jelle, willing and able to show us around. One of the stops on the trip was Antwerp, which is close to where Tom van den Bogaard lives. Tom is a new recruit on the Fox team and I wanted to get him on the trip. It was interesting witnessing the opposite ends of the BMX spectrum, in the legendary Ruben and the future star in Tom, on the same trip. They are both awesome humans and things couldn’t have gone better!! Other than the hard crash I took at some trails early in the trip which put me out for a few days, it was a stella trip.

Channel gap table across the cradle, Kortrijk. Photo by Brent De Geeter – bdgphoto.tumblr.com

When we looked at all the footage it made sense for us to make a split edit with Tom and me. I’m stoked to share a video with Tom and I can’t wait to see what he offers the BMX world in the future.

Mongoose Jam

Mongoose Jam is always a blast. It’s like a childhood dream getting to ride Woodward for a week. To do it with a bunch of friends in a competition that doesn’t feel that competitive is awesome. I hear the format might change a bot next year which is going to make it really interesting.

2015 Highlights HERE.

Vans Oregon Trip

Another mega trip with Vans! I will never forget this one. The northwest of the USA is absolutely breathtaking. From spectacular mountains, rivers and forests, to a plethora of concrete parks. It’s just such an amazing place to camp out with your friends and ride BMX. I haven’t ridden that much since I was probably 16 or 17, it was so rad. We’d wash in rivers in the morning, ride insane parks in the day, then BBQ anything from lobster tail to stir fry at night. This trip required two things that I love; appreciating nature and riding concrete bowls.

Roof Ride

A photo posted by Greg Illingworth (@gregillingworth) on Jul 8, 2015 at 8:28am PDT

This photo was shot by George Marshall at the House of Vans bowl. It’s really fun there but the roof feels low in places. That particular spot just opens itself up to a roof ride, haha. I definitely got sketchy a few times but it worked out.

Irritable Bowl Syndrome

In the last couple years I’ve gotten more and more into riding bowls. I think it’s mostly to do with me finally having the opportunity. There weren’t many bowls around in South Africa when I was growing up but I always loved that style of riding.

After moving to London mid 2015 and having 4 bowls in riding distance of my house I knew what I wanted to do all summer. That’s when most of this edit was meant to be filmed. Unfortunately Fraser, the filmer, got held on some other jobs out in America for a while, so the filming was delayed and then we had to deal with the rainy weather. We also had some delays with the music license. All this means I can now present to you my Mongoose 2015 edit… in 2016. Enjoy… Hahaha