Maya Atkinson has twice won the Junior British Downhill Championships and has competed in the EWS and World Cup races. This coming year she will be moving up to the elite category, competing for a new team and hoping to hold her own against what is a pretty formidable British Women’s elite DH scene. She’s just released this video talking about her riding and her motivation, so we took the chance to catch up with her and see what makes her tick.
Who are you riding for this year, and what bike(s) will you be on?
I’m riding for Team Leslie Bike Shop/Bikes Boutique. They gave me a Demo 8 and I love it. It’s so quiet and smooth. It’s also nice to be back on a Specialized, because my first-time mountain biking in the Alps, I was on a Specialized Pitch Comp!
[wcm_nonmember]
Thanks for tuning in..
This feature is for members only. If you have an account, please log in. If not, you can get access by registering here for free.
Members get access to exclusive content like this but they also get..
- Fewer ads
- Post comments to stories
- Join in forum discussions
- Sell unwanted kit for free in our Classifieds
- Automatic shop discount on Singletrack merchandise
- Access more members only content
Premier members get more
- Magazine content in print 6x/year post free
- App access to every new issue of Singletrack
- Ad free website
- Big discounts on shop merchandise
- Access downloads like GPX files, PDFs and even iBooks
- Full mag archive access to all Singletrack back issues
Premier membership starts at just 1.99
[/wcm_nonmember]
[wcm_restrict]
What’s the race season looking like? Any particular goals, or courses you’re looking forward to?
It’ll be my first year of Elite in 2019 so I know it’s going to be hard, but I always try to aim high! So, I would like to podium at every round of the British National Downhill series, and to qualify at all the European World Cups. My ultimate dream is to be back on Team GB next year for the World Champs, but I think I will struggle to achieve it this season due to the huge amount of female Elite talent in Britain, such as Rachel Atherton, Tahnee Seagrave and Katy Curd.
I’m looking most forward to the Leogang World cup. I’ve been to Leogang so many times on holidays and but never ever raced there before, as it’s always been during my AS and A-Level exam period. It’s also the first place where I truly fell in love with mountain biking.
Any World Cup round will be a blast because I love the atmosphere and hanging out with amazing people. Big crowds make the race so much more enjoyable, just like in Fort William. It would be so cool to see more girls spectating, the boys are there with the signs and making so much noise with chainsaws and handlebars. They go absolutely crazy when the riders come pass. I would love to see more girls heckling and cheering the riders on!
What are you doing in preparation – is it just riding your bike? Or do you do cross training?
I have a programme that I work on each week. I try to ride my bike twice a week either downhill or enduro. I go to the gym three times week with a cardio vascular session at home. Hope Jensen is my team mate, and her sister Tea is a qualified personal trainer and has kindly written me a gym programme, so the new team is already helping me out a lot. Also, when my dad is not at work, we go to the gym together and do a bit of cross fit and generally piss about lifting weights. I’ve been keen to go to Ramp World or a dirt jump park regularly to work on my style. I really want to learn to T-bog!
Having time off is important too, I love to snowboard as well, so we’re off to Les Arc in France to snowboard and ride fat bikes in the snow!
Are you juggling study, work and racing? How is that?
I finished my A Levels this year and it was hard to focus on racing with the pressure of exams, plus we couldn’t do a lot of the World Cup rounds. I was always tired from the race. My Physics A-Level exam was on a Tuesday morning and we were travelling back from Fort William on the Sunday night to get back in the South West on Monday morning.
My mum wanted me to go to Uni, but I’m essentially having a gap year to try and become a full-time racer. I have a part time job working in the kitchen at school where my mum works. My parents are helping me with the fees, which I’m so grateful for because I couldn’t afford to do it without them.
View this post on Instagram
It’s a well documented phenomenon that girls tend to drop out of participation in sport as they hit teenage years – yet you started racing just as many would be dropping out. What got you into the sport?
I’ve always done sports as a kid; netball, tennis, basketball, swimming, skateboarding, skiing, snowboarding, kiteboarding, land sailing – you name it. Then my mum decided she wanted to try downhill, we had done a bit of MTB XC, but she hated the climbs, so she suggested we try a Vallnord bike park in 2011. We then travelled to Austria, as we have always snowboarded or skied in Austria, and we tried DH biking in Leogang. I did the practice drops, it was only 3-4 foot and I sat down and told my Dad ‘This is what I want to do. This is my sport’. My parents we so sceptical at first, because I had done so many different sports saying that this is what I wanted. My mum entered a race at Forest of Dean and came last! But the weekend was still amazing. From there I started doing Regional races and at age 14 tried my first Nationals. For the first two years, I ate dirt so many times that I was famous for it. The other girls expected me to crash out of the race. Then I started to crash less and less, and now next year I will be in the Elite category. If that’s not progress, I don’t know what is!
And what has kept you there?
I think as a family we do all the sports I mentioned above together, any time off we have, we always do something together outside. I think this may be what keep me in these sports, as they are just activities I do with my mum and dad.
The people at the races keep me motivated. Once at a National Race at Fort William, I shared a gondola with Loic Bruni and I was so stoked. There are not many sports where a 14-year-old can practice with the World Champion and race the same track.
Some people say it is a man’s sport and it is hard for a woman, but the guys at the races are so supportive. If I am unsure about the speed for a jump, the guys would tow me in. Companies are also very supportive for young women trying to get into the sport. Compared to the young male racers (they are soooo competitive), the women get a lot of support, however, that is reversed at the top. Once you get to the top, Pro men get more support, probably because they sell more bikes. I thought, for female racers to get more money, we need more female bikers. So that’s why I’ve been trying to get more women in to biking this year, by doing free guiding and coaching for women and girls, #closethegendershredgap. I still make time to go and race at my old local, Gawton Gravity Hub, and encourage younger girls to race and not be scared of the older faster riders, which I remembered, being quite intimidated.
What would you say to other teenagers to persuade them to try mountain biking?
The main priority is to have fun. If you’re having fun, you don’t realise how hard you are working. Watching biking videos on YouTube is a good way to inspire and get me stoked to ride!
What could it do for them?
Well, it’ll make you poor. Once you’re addicted, all your money will go to bikes, bike kit, bike parts, and bike holidays. Which is good for keeping you away from booze and other bad lifestyle choices. All joking aside, it’s a great way to be active which means you’ll live longer and happier.
You’re obviously taking the sport quite seriously – are there any downsides to that? Do you ever wish you could just go and ride your bike?
Practice days at races are just hanging out with awesome people and hitting scary lines. If I could do more practice days that would be perfect. Just hanging out with other riders and shred all day.
What do you look for in a good pair of socks?!
I love cool socks, I would rather look good than have warm feet. Vans make some awesome socks with cool patterns and they would be my dream sponsor.
[/wcm_restrict]
Thanks to Maya for chatting to us, and all the best for her first Elite season.
If you’re interested in more Downhill coverage, check out our #MakingUpTheNumbers reports.
Nice video to go with a great interview. Another Brit to cheer on. What I really liked was Maya’s Mum entering these races. How cool is that?
Thank you. My mum races when it’s our local races, it’s pretty cool to race with her. Not many mums can do this with their daughter.