Check out his latest video as seen on UK's 'Top Gear' earlier this week.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Sunday, July 5, 2009
PHOTOS GONE!
Hello all! So you may have noticed that all my photos no longer appear on my blog! I think it's because I deleted them from my gmail account and wasn't really thinking at the time! I am in the process of trying to upload most of the lost photos again and add them to the relevant past posts. For photos, videos, news etc please check out my links on the right hand side of my blog. Thanks, Martin.
Monday, June 1, 2009
KEN BLOCK-DCSHOES.COM/GYMKHANATWO
Riding on the success of the first Gymkhana Practice video that grabbed the attention of over 20 million viewers worldwide, the Gymkhana TWO video takes infomercials to the next level. Unlike other infomercials, this one sells the products with great action, cinematography, and a dramatic driving performance—and, no stereotypical cheesy informercial pitchman! Produced specifically to market Blocks first-ever Rally TeamWorks Collection, the new video is filled with great driving stunts, surprises, explosions, and a guest appearance from DC team rider, Rob Dyrdek. Filmed at the Port of Los Angeles, expect non-stop motor sport eye-candy as Block hits the all-new course in a custom tuned, high performance, and brand-new Subaru Impreza WRX STI. Visit dcshoes.com/gymkhanatwo for more photos and info on the high-performance video and Blocks complete Teamworks Collection.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Ultimate Boarder
Ultimate Boarder contest was super fun. I felt that I could have ridden a little better, but coming in 11th place after Chris Bradshaw is not too bad. Hope to do it again next year. Make sure you check the website out as it should be on TV fairly soon. There is photos and videos on the actual website, so go take a look. Peace!
Monday, January 5, 2009
Transworld Snowboarding Magazine Coverage
Just picked up the new issue of TWS ( Jan 2009 / Volume 22) and I have a shot on page 62. Thanks to Andres Quintana for the photo.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Friday, November 14, 2008
Ken Block Gymkhana Practice
Ken Block Gymkhana Practice from Ken_Block on Vimeo.
Ken Block Gymkhana Practice www.kenblockracing.com
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Friday, April 18, 2008
Santa Cruz Snowboards Advert - 'Whitelines' Magazine (Spring 2008 / Issue 78)
Santa Cruz Snowboards advert featured in the Spring issue of 'Whitelines' Magazine (Spring 2008 / Issue 78).
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
My new business cards
Thought I'd pull my finger out and work together with my girlfriend and make some business cards for handing out to folk at SIA trade show in Vegas.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Lauri Heiskari's Signature Jib @ Bear Mountain
It was super fun riding with Lauri and trying to do new tricks on the box with him and some of the other guys. Managed to score a photo in the gallery that is posted on 'Snowboarder' Magazine's website. 
Click here for more photos from the event.(Photo number 8 is myself)
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Volcom's PBRJ @ Bear Mountain
Volcom's PBRJ is a super fun event! I do it every year when it comes to Bear Mountain. The guys set up some sick jibs and I managed to get a few clips in the video and also have this shot on the website.
Click here for the full story.
Click here for the full story.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Friday, February 16, 2007
Saturday, February 14, 2004
Skye snowboarder is aiming for the top - a place in the Olympic team
Skye isn't the kind of place you normally associate either with snow or with British Olympic hopefuls, but Martin Robertson is one young sportsman who in each case defies the stereotype. ALASDAIR CAMPBELL talks to him about his snowboarding career.
If, like me, you'd be more inclined to call the plumber when confronted by terms such as half-pipes, big air and kickers, then you are probably in the ever-decreasing majority.
The above, for those of you who haven't guessed yet, is the parlance of snowboarding: the popular winter sport that sends hordes of twenty- and thirty-somethings heading for Aonach Mor and countless other venues at the merest mention of the white stuff.
The sport, which has put the cool into winter sports, is now an Olympic event and has shed much of its earlier rebellious, alternative image -though it's hardly stuffy. Indeed, Britain's snowboarders represent some of the country's better medal possibilities at the upcoming 2006 Olympics in Turin. And in Portree's Martin Robertson, Skye has its very own Olympic hopeful.
At 21 years old, Martin is considered to be entering his peak as far as snowboarding is concerned, and as part of Britain's development squad he is seen as one of the national team's potential competitors in Turin.
However, Martin, though not lacking in confidence, is keeping his feet firmly on the ground. "It's not long to the next Olympics," he says. "I hope I'll be part of it, I really do. But I'm just going to enjoy it - a lot of people take it too seriously and get burnt out. There are other routes other than the Olympics, so if I don't make it to the Olympics I'm not going to be gutted.
"So how does a Sgitheanach become part of the British Snowboarding Team?"
I think I was about 16 when I started. It was quite funny," Martin explains. "There was snow here, which you don't usually get, and a few of my friends were skateboarders at the time. We took off our trucks and wheels and we were just sliding about in the grass in the garden. It was just messing about - we used to go up to the Old Man of Storr and walk up and stand on our sledges or on these skateboard decks and slide about.
"And then I went on a skiing holiday and I had two days skiing and really wanted to try snowboarding. I got an instructor and I did it, and just loved it to bits. I thought I was progressing quite quickly - the skateboarding helped - and it really kicked off. And the next year I begged, pleaded and grovelled for a snowboard from my parents and they bought me one."
Martin completed his Higher National Diploma in Sports Coaching Outdoors last year at Aberdeen College, and since then has been competing on the European snowboarding circuit. His coaching certificates will ensure a future for the young sportsman after his career is over. But at the moment all his thoughts are geared towards getting as much snow-time and competition as possible.
THIS IS the Skye snowboarder's first senior season, in which he has been competing at various world cup events around Europe. Martin's season began in November last year when he, among 20 of Britain's top snowboarders and the 10 best in the world, attended an exhibition event in London.
"Then I went straight to France and I trained for three weeks and then had national smaller competitions," he explains. "You pick up points at these competitions and you need 10 F?d?ration Internationale de Ski points to get into a world cup event. That's when you have to start doing well, and you have to have so many points to make it to the Olympics.
"This is my first season doing this. I've been to France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria and Germany - and that's just from November. These are all senior events. The next one is in Japan, which is when I go back. That's the last one of the season, and then it all rounds off for me at the British Championships.
"It all sounds like a hoot. But, as you might suspect, there is a lot of hard work involved and not a little expense. "A lot of people think you're on a glorified holiday," Martin says. "But you are really working hard.
"This season so far I've spent 40 days just travelling to places. It does tire you out a lot, and then you have maybe a day's practice and then you have a competition and then you've got to go to another place. And then you have another couple of days' practice and then another competition.
"Not that Martin isn't enjoying the experience, and he is quick to express his thanks to those who have helped enable him to pursue his dream.
He says: "Loads of people have helped me, mostly businesses - they've helped me with travel and competitions. And I get sponsorship for equipment and things. People here don't know much about snowboarding but they see local talent. I am really grateful for that and it has helped a lot.
"Among those who have helped Martin are the local council and sports council, the local ski club, the housing association and many other Skye and Lochalsh businesses. And let's not to forget his parents, who have backed their son throughout.
JUST AS Martin strives to fund his own ambitions, so snowboarding in Britain enjoys something of a Cinderella role as far as finance is concerned when compared to other winter sports such as skiing.
The initial disdain with which snowboarders were regarded on the slopes has all but disappeared, according to Martin. However, despite some distinct medal possibilities - such as Aviemore's Lesley McKenna - snowboarding still struggles to attract major funding.
"A lot goes to skiing, but we're hoping that will change really soon because at the moment we're paying for everything out of our pocket - coaching, our expenses. We're not getting any backing from any governing bodies, just our individual sponsors," Martin says.
He hopes that this will change soon, particularly with the results the various team members are posting and the increasing number of people taking up the sport. "I definitely think we have a good potential for getting a podium or at least in the top 10 at the next Olympics," he says.
And what of Martin's own potential in his favoured event, the half-pipe (that's an event which involves tricks and stunts on a section of snow shaped like the eponymous half-pipe)?
"My best result so far was in a European Open event in which I came 27th out of 300 or so. There were lots of heats, and I was in a heat with some really big names and I was really happy with that result, considering it's my first season," the self-effacing Skyeman says.
As well as harbouring hopes for his own future, Martin is not slow to flag up the abilities of team-mates. If Martin is typical, snowboarding is not a sport riven with jealousy.
He speaks highly of McKenna and several promising juniors including Laura Berry. Then there's Zoe Gillings from the the Isle of Man. "She's currently third in the world in snowboarding cross - a mixture, like motocross, of berms and jumps," he says," a race with four at a time. There's also the British champion, Tyler Chorlton (17), who's my best friend. He was born in England, but he's living in Andorra. His family moved there, so he's been snowboarding all his life.
"AS Martin looks to head back to Tignes in France, the British team's training base, his thoughts are on improving and continuing to enjoy his sport.
"The main thing is to work hard and every time I snowboard try to get better and do well in competitions," he says. "I just see every competition as practice and see what happens.
"One thing is for sure: for someone whose nearest ski slope whilst growing up was two-and-a-half hours away, Martin Robertson has already worked very hard to get where he is.
If curling can capture the nation's imagination, then surely - no offence to curlers! - a sport which sees riders hurtling through the air performing death-defying tricks, and which is attracting more and more participants, is on the verge of producing new sporting heroes for this generation of Britons. And who knows . . . Skye's Martin Robertson might be one of them.
If, like me, you'd be more inclined to call the plumber when confronted by terms such as half-pipes, big air and kickers, then you are probably in the ever-decreasing majority.
The above, for those of you who haven't guessed yet, is the parlance of snowboarding: the popular winter sport that sends hordes of twenty- and thirty-somethings heading for Aonach Mor and countless other venues at the merest mention of the white stuff.
The sport, which has put the cool into winter sports, is now an Olympic event and has shed much of its earlier rebellious, alternative image -though it's hardly stuffy. Indeed, Britain's snowboarders represent some of the country's better medal possibilities at the upcoming 2006 Olympics in Turin. And in Portree's Martin Robertson, Skye has its very own Olympic hopeful.
At 21 years old, Martin is considered to be entering his peak as far as snowboarding is concerned, and as part of Britain's development squad he is seen as one of the national team's potential competitors in Turin.
However, Martin, though not lacking in confidence, is keeping his feet firmly on the ground. "It's not long to the next Olympics," he says. "I hope I'll be part of it, I really do. But I'm just going to enjoy it - a lot of people take it too seriously and get burnt out. There are other routes other than the Olympics, so if I don't make it to the Olympics I'm not going to be gutted.
"So how does a Sgitheanach become part of the British Snowboarding Team?"
I think I was about 16 when I started. It was quite funny," Martin explains. "There was snow here, which you don't usually get, and a few of my friends were skateboarders at the time. We took off our trucks and wheels and we were just sliding about in the grass in the garden. It was just messing about - we used to go up to the Old Man of Storr and walk up and stand on our sledges or on these skateboard decks and slide about.
"And then I went on a skiing holiday and I had two days skiing and really wanted to try snowboarding. I got an instructor and I did it, and just loved it to bits. I thought I was progressing quite quickly - the skateboarding helped - and it really kicked off. And the next year I begged, pleaded and grovelled for a snowboard from my parents and they bought me one."
Martin completed his Higher National Diploma in Sports Coaching Outdoors last year at Aberdeen College, and since then has been competing on the European snowboarding circuit. His coaching certificates will ensure a future for the young sportsman after his career is over. But at the moment all his thoughts are geared towards getting as much snow-time and competition as possible.
THIS IS the Skye snowboarder's first senior season, in which he has been competing at various world cup events around Europe. Martin's season began in November last year when he, among 20 of Britain's top snowboarders and the 10 best in the world, attended an exhibition event in London.
"Then I went straight to France and I trained for three weeks and then had national smaller competitions," he explains. "You pick up points at these competitions and you need 10 F?d?ration Internationale de Ski points to get into a world cup event. That's when you have to start doing well, and you have to have so many points to make it to the Olympics.
"This is my first season doing this. I've been to France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria and Germany - and that's just from November. These are all senior events. The next one is in Japan, which is when I go back. That's the last one of the season, and then it all rounds off for me at the British Championships.
"It all sounds like a hoot. But, as you might suspect, there is a lot of hard work involved and not a little expense. "A lot of people think you're on a glorified holiday," Martin says. "But you are really working hard.
"This season so far I've spent 40 days just travelling to places. It does tire you out a lot, and then you have maybe a day's practice and then you have a competition and then you've got to go to another place. And then you have another couple of days' practice and then another competition.
"Not that Martin isn't enjoying the experience, and he is quick to express his thanks to those who have helped enable him to pursue his dream.
He says: "Loads of people have helped me, mostly businesses - they've helped me with travel and competitions. And I get sponsorship for equipment and things. People here don't know much about snowboarding but they see local talent. I am really grateful for that and it has helped a lot.
"Among those who have helped Martin are the local council and sports council, the local ski club, the housing association and many other Skye and Lochalsh businesses. And let's not to forget his parents, who have backed their son throughout.
JUST AS Martin strives to fund his own ambitions, so snowboarding in Britain enjoys something of a Cinderella role as far as finance is concerned when compared to other winter sports such as skiing.
The initial disdain with which snowboarders were regarded on the slopes has all but disappeared, according to Martin. However, despite some distinct medal possibilities - such as Aviemore's Lesley McKenna - snowboarding still struggles to attract major funding.
"A lot goes to skiing, but we're hoping that will change really soon because at the moment we're paying for everything out of our pocket - coaching, our expenses. We're not getting any backing from any governing bodies, just our individual sponsors," Martin says.
He hopes that this will change soon, particularly with the results the various team members are posting and the increasing number of people taking up the sport. "I definitely think we have a good potential for getting a podium or at least in the top 10 at the next Olympics," he says.
And what of Martin's own potential in his favoured event, the half-pipe (that's an event which involves tricks and stunts on a section of snow shaped like the eponymous half-pipe)?
"My best result so far was in a European Open event in which I came 27th out of 300 or so. There were lots of heats, and I was in a heat with some really big names and I was really happy with that result, considering it's my first season," the self-effacing Skyeman says.
As well as harbouring hopes for his own future, Martin is not slow to flag up the abilities of team-mates. If Martin is typical, snowboarding is not a sport riven with jealousy.
He speaks highly of McKenna and several promising juniors including Laura Berry. Then there's Zoe Gillings from the the Isle of Man. "She's currently third in the world in snowboarding cross - a mixture, like motocross, of berms and jumps," he says," a race with four at a time. There's also the British champion, Tyler Chorlton (17), who's my best friend. He was born in England, but he's living in Andorra. His family moved there, so he's been snowboarding all his life.
"AS Martin looks to head back to Tignes in France, the British team's training base, his thoughts are on improving and continuing to enjoy his sport.
"The main thing is to work hard and every time I snowboard try to get better and do well in competitions," he says. "I just see every competition as practice and see what happens.
"One thing is for sure: for someone whose nearest ski slope whilst growing up was two-and-a-half hours away, Martin Robertson has already worked very hard to get where he is.
If curling can capture the nation's imagination, then surely - no offence to curlers! - a sport which sees riders hurtling through the air performing death-defying tricks, and which is attracting more and more participants, is on the verge of producing new sporting heroes for this generation of Britons. And who knows . . . Skye's Martin Robertson might be one of them.
Monday, February 17, 2003
Skye snowboarder wins "passport" to Olympics
Portree's Martin Robertson has recently been awarded a "silver passport" by the British Olympic Association in recognition of his potential to compete for Britain at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.
The 19-year-old snowboarder, who is currently studying outdoor sports coaching at Aberdeen College, is one of eight young athletes recommended by the British Ski and Snowboard Federation to receive the passport which provides a number of training benefits as they are groomed with a view to realising their full potential and possibly compete at the games.
Robertson has been granted free use of Aberdeen council-owned training facilities and has been personally invited to travel to Canada to train under Craig Smith, one of the world's leading coaches who coached several competitors at the recent Olympics.
Smith said: "I think Martin has the talent to take him far in snowboarding. He is very coachable, he works hard and gives of his best. If he can overcome his low self-confidence I think no one can stand in his way and I would love to have him come out here."
The Skye snowboarder intends to complete the final year of his studies and said he was grateful to the college for agreeing to grant him time off to attend training camps and competitions in Europe in the forthcoming season. Robertson also hopes to take part in the World Juniors Championships in Italy next February before heading to Canada to train in the autumn of next year.
The rising star is a member of the British Junior Snowboard squad, the Scottish Junior team and Scottish Freeriders in addition to his recent inclusion within the National Development team working towards the 2006 Olympics. He started snowboarding five years ago, on a modified skateboard at first, before moving on to the real thing and then into competitions by 1999.
Robertson said the "passport" would help with his training, giving him free and concession access to facilities at home and abroad. He also thanked all his sponors who have helped with equipment costs.
The 19-year-old snowboarder, who is currently studying outdoor sports coaching at Aberdeen College, is one of eight young athletes recommended by the British Ski and Snowboard Federation to receive the passport which provides a number of training benefits as they are groomed with a view to realising their full potential and possibly compete at the games.
Robertson has been granted free use of Aberdeen council-owned training facilities and has been personally invited to travel to Canada to train under Craig Smith, one of the world's leading coaches who coached several competitors at the recent Olympics.
Smith said: "I think Martin has the talent to take him far in snowboarding. He is very coachable, he works hard and gives of his best. If he can overcome his low self-confidence I think no one can stand in his way and I would love to have him come out here."
The Skye snowboarder intends to complete the final year of his studies and said he was grateful to the college for agreeing to grant him time off to attend training camps and competitions in Europe in the forthcoming season. Robertson also hopes to take part in the World Juniors Championships in Italy next February before heading to Canada to train in the autumn of next year.
The rising star is a member of the British Junior Snowboard squad, the Scottish Junior team and Scottish Freeriders in addition to his recent inclusion within the National Development team working towards the 2006 Olympics. He started snowboarding five years ago, on a modified skateboard at first, before moving on to the real thing and then into competitions by 1999.
Robertson said the "passport" would help with his training, giving him free and concession access to facilities at home and abroad. He also thanked all his sponors who have helped with equipment costs.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
