Hi Eoin, give us a little run down on what has gone into making Winston.

“Hello! So, Winston or {winston} has been in the making for the guts of about 3.5 years. We stopped filming in November, but I had some issues getting my super 8mm film developed and then finding a projector! Thankfully a local camera shop owner who I’ve been a customer of for the best part of a decade lent me his own one. Legend. (John Gunn Camera Shop of Wexford Street, Dublin.)

The riders in it, with full parts, are Conor Winters, Ryan Mollan, Derek Johnson, Ryan Aylward and myself. There’s 2 mixed sections from friends at home and friends abroad, Peter Adam, Donnacha Carroll, Niall Wolfe and Jake Ryan all have a decent amount in those parts.”

You’re a bit of a WW2 buff, so is the video named after Winston Churchill?

“I’m not sure if you’re joking, but I was studying to be a history teacher at one point, anyhow, I digress! The video is named after my old cat, Winston. He was our crew’s unofficial mascot until he died just after we started filming. It started as a joke because there was no name for the video and, well, here we are.

However, he was actually named after Winston Churchill as my sister was studying WW2 at the time. (You’re a smart-arse.)”

Raincheck was a legendary Irish video, how has the scene in Ireland changed since then?

“Legendary? Not sure about that, but it was a lot of fun to make. A learning curve, for sure, but a totally different video from {winston}.

The scene is a fair bit different now. A lot of new faces, a lot of old have disappeared. There’s still a decent scene around the country. The trails in Dublin is still kicking and they’re doing an amazing job of running their spot. The parks all seem to have dedicated crews, too.

Generally, everyone I ride with works, studies or has a family now. When I filmed Raincheck, we were all riding together a few times a week and working part time jobs. So, that has been a massive change. Back in 2012 I was riding 3 or 4 times a week, between time and weather, it can vary between once or twice a week to once a month.”

Is it true you funded the video by shooting pornos?

“I think we can all agree that there is no market for that, whatsoever. Nobody needs to see that.
I earn my crust in Ireland’s only rider owned and run shop, theboardroom.ie, truing wheels and making jokes that nobody likes.”

Who was the easiest rider (BMX rider) to work with and who was the worst?

“Oof. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have murderous visions involving Ryan Aylward from time to time, but he’s actually a good lad and we’re just chalk and cheese. Hahaha. Honestly, I can’t complain about anyone’s riding or ‘work’. They’re all good mates and they all put in serious effort when we were filming. I have more footage of Derek and Ryan than I know what to do with, though.”

What’s in your camera bag?

“A boojum loyalty card (popular Irish Burrito Bar), Sony VX1000. Sony TRV900. Sony Premium tapes. Yashica T3 Super. 400iso colour film. Canon Super 8 camera. Kodak 200t Colour Negative super 8 film. Depending on the number of riders I sometimes bring a manfrotto tripod which weighs far too much.
Aside from that, other essentials are tools, a sharpie, a bottle of water, a tube, phone, wallet and a spork. Generally theres a few @the_boardroom and @leftbmx stickers.

My back hurts. A lot.”

Thus far, what has been the most memorable moment of filming Winston?

“This might be a tad misty eyed, but travelling around the country with my friends is something I’m unlikely to forget any time soon. Belfast, Waterford, Donegal, Sligo, the list goes on. It’s been good. I was lucky enough to get over to Malaga, London, England and London, Ontario to ride with friends, too. So, in the scheme of things, it’s generally a good memory. Reg’s banger was pretty insane, though. I live 5 minutes from it and figured it might never be taken care of. That was a good evening.”

Any scary moments? (crashes etc. any run ins with the cops or robbers?)

“I smacked my head pretty badly on a rail feeble gone wrong. I ended up slicing my shin open with the sprocket and cutting my head on some bricks. Fun.

“His screams sounded like someone was being tortured…”

Derek dislocated his shoulder trying a nollie 3 off some stairs while I was filming Conor. His screams sounded like someone was being tortured… Luckily the mosher girls watching from a nearby ledge stopped laughing eventually and offered him some extra strength pain killers. Poor bastard. Aside from the odd ankle tweak (pretty much everyone) we were really lucky… Although, a minute’s silence for Donnacha Carrol’s new jeans that got scuffed on a wallride in Belfast has been requested. He took that one pretty hard.”