Kenny Belaey’s Bigtime Trial Adventure

Continental and the Belgian Trial expert Kenny Belaey join forces for the brand new episode of the World Cup Chronicles on the Extreme Sports channel.

The 24 minute documentary, produced by Kenny’s friend, director, camera man and editor, Stijn Lammertyn, sheds light on a sport, existing in the shadow of more established extreme sports disciplines. It is a story about achievements and failures: Kenny, one of the most successful Trial athletes in the world, takes on the challenge to organize the first world cup stop in his Belgian home town Aalter. The story shows just how much of an odyssey it is to organize an attractive world cup stop. Fund raising, finding sponsors, the planning and construction of a Trial course and the complete responsibility for event run-down are not the type of obstacles Kenny is used to overcoming. In a nutshell, Kenny takes on everything that turns an event into a big sports competition. If that wasn’t enough, Kenny also wants to participate at the event as an athlete. But unfortunately, due to an unlucky injury, he is forced to stay off his 26’’ Trials bike for quite a long time.

However, Kenny’s mission to organize a world cup stop in Aalter was a big success. Furthermore, despite his injury, he recovered in time to achieve a second place finish at the third world cup stop in Antwerp – the second Belgian world cup stop after his event in Aalter. “From a riding point of view I am not satisfied with my last two performances. My goal is always to win! But I have to admit that taking into consideration my long lasting injury break, second place is quite ok. But I am stoked, that in the end all the struggling, all the extra hours and nightshifts was worth it. Both world cup stops in Belgium were a success for me, my team but also for the Trial sport itself”, comments the Conti-athlete.

Kenny Belaey is amongst the best Trial riders in the world. He is a four times Trial World champion, three times European champion and he has taken the World Cup overall championship six times. Basically, Kenny is an athlete that has won everything you can win in the world of Trials. But in contrast to most of his competitors he perceives himself not only as a professional athlete, traveling from competition to competition, but as a representative to this young upcoming sport. He wants Trial riding to be broadly recognized throughout the media, the biking industry and the public.
Through the course of his career, Kenny has developed from a pure competition rider to a Trial show artist and finally to an event organizer. After years of Trial biking, Kenny sees himself as more of an ambassador to the sport. His passion and dedication self-motivates him to put 100 percent of his efforts into the progression of Trials riding.

His sponsor, the German tire manufacturer Continental, also believes in the potential of this uprising mountain bike discipline and has supported Kenny Belaey (as well as street trials icon Danny MacAskill) in his projects for years now. The 2-Wheel Department at Conti’s Korbach factory in Germany is happy to support the production of this great TV-project with the Extreme Sports channel.

In Belgium, Kenny has achieved his first interim goal by attracting the attention of numerous mainstream media. Now he wants to bring Trials riding to the next level by putting it in the hands of the international media. During the UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships in Saalfelden Leogang, Austria (where Kenny also participated), the Trial competitions were held in the city center of Saalfelden. This great competition not only attracted the global media but also thousands of people. The motto was: Bringing the sport to the people – which is exactly Kenny’s approach.

Continental will keep on supporting Kenny as an athlete with products such as the Conti Kaiser or the Rubber Queen, which have been developed with a special rubber blend, meeting the specific needs for Trial riding. But also with Kenny as event organizer and Trial ambassador, Conti will continue to support his “mission” and wishes him all the best for his next season.

See also Kenny’s clip from Cape Epic in South Africa on YouTube:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTWumpUsCak[/youtube]