Red Bulletin UK 5/21

UK EDITION
MAY 2021, £3.50
BEYOND THE ORDINARY
SUBSCRIBE: GETREDBULLETIN.COM
Fresh
focus
Meet the B-Boys
and B-Girls shaping
a new era for
British breaking
Pictured: B-Boy Sunni is putting the
UK scene back on the map
Ghetts on
success
“NOW I KNOW
EVERYTHING IS
POSSIBLE”
Deep, dark &
dangerous
THE DARING CAVE
DIVERS GOING
WHERE NONE HAVE
GONE BEFORE

ALPHATAURI.COM

© Jean Nouvel, Gilbert Lézénès, Pierre Soria et Architecture-Studio / Adagp, Paris, 2021

Editor’s letter
THE DISCOMFORT
ZONE
CONTRIBUTORS
THIS ISSUE
Pushing into unknown territory is rarely easy, as the subjects in
this month’s issue of The Red Bulletin demonstrate. But it’s how
each of them is managing to find true fulfilment.
Cover star Sunni is one of many UK breakers (page 30) with a
fresh take on what their scene can be. Together, they’re working
to make it a more athletic, artistic and accepting place, which is,
in turn, inspiring a whole new generation of dancers.
We meet cave explorers Klaus Thymann and Alessandro
Reato (page 42), who take us on a deep dive into their pitch-black
underwater world as they become the first in modern history
to enter a claustrophobically narrow waterway beneath the
Mexican jungle, on a mission to unearth ancient artefacts.
Then we follow the women of inaugural freeride event
Formation (page 56), who braved the unforgiving red-rock terrain
of Utah’s Zion National Park on two wheels to break new ground
– literally and metaphorically – for the female biking community.
And we sit down with Ghetts (page 66), who attributes his
current chart success to looking at himself in a new light.
Having shed his ego,
stopped conforming
to what he thought
others wanted to hear,
and brought honesty
to his music, the UK
rapper is finally
getting the recognition
he has long deserved.
We hope you enjoy
the issue.
WILL LAVIN
In a career spanning almost
20 years, the British music
journalist has interviewed
everyone from Nas to Nile
Rodgers. “I’ve watched
Ghetts’ evolution firsthand,”
says Lavin, who met up with
the grime star again for this
issue. “Every time we speak,
his energy is electric. His
resilience and passion for
what he does is empowering
beyond words.” Page 66
PARIS GORE
Already a veteran of shooting
Red Bull Rampage, the US
photographer was excited
about shooting the first
Formation. “I knew many of
the riders [already], so it was
great to see them challenge
themselves in new ways,” says
Gore, who has shot for the
likes of National Geographic,
Patagonia and Arc’teryx. “The
way the women supported
each other brought a unique
vibe to the event.” Page 56
Catching a break: AJ the Cypher Cat performs a headspin for
photographer Gavin Bond at our cover feature shoot Page 30
GAVIN BOND (COVER)
04 THE RED BULLETIN

CONTENTS
May 2021
08 Gallery: dragon racing in the
deserts of Saudi Arabia; anythingbut-plain
sailing in the North
Atlantic; winter wakeboarding
in central Denmark
15 Great escape: electronic-pop trio
Flawes give everyday hassles the
elbow with their dream playlist
17 Global perspective: sick of staring
at your neighbour’s fence? See the
world instead with WindowSwap
18 Work out: the camper van that
thinks it’s an office – and has
a sunroof with a difference
20 Root cause: the photographer
and activist fighting widespread
deforestation in British Columbia
22 Solar system: Sunflower House
– the nature-inspired, carbonneutral
home with petal power
KATIE LOZANCICH
24 Tom Evans
Motivational talk from the army
man turned ultrarunner who is
happy to suffer for his sport
26 Hannah Reid
The London Grammar singer on
fame, confidence, and calling out
inequality in the music industry
28 Jill Wheatley
The Canadian adventurer whose
traumatic brain injury gave her
even more mountains to climb
30 Breaking
Meet the B-Girls and B-Boys
who are power-moving UK
breaking up the world rankings
– next stop, Olympic glory
42 Cave exploration
In caverns deep beneath the
Mexican jungle, two divers have
uncovered a hidden history
56 Formation
The women-only event changing
the landscape of MTB freeriding
66 Ghetts
Perseverance pays – just ask the
grime veteran whose hard yards
have finally come to fruition
73 Para-alpinism: all the challenge
of mountain climbing plus the
exhilaration of paragliding
78 The riding’s on the wall: Kriss Kyle
gets creative in the Welsh woods
80 Power trip: everything you need
to know about e-biking – from
what to ride to what to wear
89 Pod bod: train like an astronaut
92 Work mode: how to forge a
successful career as a gamer
93 Beat combo: the pocket synth
with retro fighting-game style
94 Essential dates for your calendar
98 Rally royalty: ‘Mr Dakar’ in action
56
Carving their own trail:
at MTB camp Formation
in Virgin, Utah, female
freeriders can push the
boundaries of their sport
THE RED BULLETIN 07

NEOM, SAUDI ARABIA
Playing
with fire
Pareidolia is the name given to the
imagined perception of patterns,
objects or faces where they don’t
actually exist. Here we see Anton
Shibalov, Dmitrii Nikitin and Ivan
Tatarinov tracing the gumline of a
huge, slumbering dragon during this
January’s Dakar Rally. Or could it just
be the Russians tearing around Neom
– the site of a controversial megacitybuilding
project in Saudi Arabia –
in their Team Kamaz Master truck?
Whatever the truth of the matter,
French photographer Éric Vargiolu
was on hand to capture both beasts
for posterity. Instagram: @eric_vargiolu

ERIC VARGIOLU/DPPI/RED BULL CONTENT POOL DAVYDD CHONG
09

PIERRE BOURAS/ L‘OCCITANE EN PROVENCE DAVYDD CHONG
NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN
Heavy blow
There’s nothing like a pleasant sail. And the
Vendée Globe – the iconic solo, non-stop,
round-the-world yacht race – is nothing like
a pleasant sail. Last November saw the 33
starters in the 2020/21 race battered by 90kph
gusts off the coast of Portugal. The L’Occitane
en Provence boat, skippered by Armel Tripon –
and photographed here by fellow Frenchman
Pierre Bouras – was among the most badly
damaged, necessitating a 560km detour for
repairs. “The sea was white; it was very brutal,”
said Tripon afterwards. “But it’s a real gift to
be able to live it and see this.” And to survive it,
no doubt. Instagram: @pierrebouras
11

ESBEN ZØLLNER OLESEN/RED BULL CONTENT POOL DAVYDD CHONG
SILKEBORG, DENMARK
Cold calling
Dragging your sorry carcass outdoors to train
on a dark, wet, icy winter’s morning is tough.
And yet, despite long months of piercing cold
and precious little sun or daylight, Denmark
is among the world’s most active nations. This
resilience is celebrated in the video We, The
Danes. Among those featured is wakeboarder
Robin Leroy Leonard, captured here on
set by Copenhagen-based photographer Esben
Zøllner Olesen as he glides across the Silkeborg
lakes in central Denmark. To watch the film,
head to redbull.com. esbenzollnerolesen.com
13

GIVES YOU
WIIINGS.
ALSO WITH THE TASTE OF CACTUS FRUIT.

FLAWES
Dream
team
The indie-pop trio’s new EP
sees them caught in a
Reverie. Here are four songs
that transport them away
British electronic-pop band Flawes
– vocalist/keyboard player
Josh ‘JC’ Carruthers, drummer
Josh Hussey and guitarist Freddie
Edwards – formed in 2015. Later
the same year, their debut, Don’t
Wait For Me, was named a BBC
Music Introducing ‘Track of the
Week’ and reached number eight
on Spotify’s UK Viral 50 chart. By
the time debut album Highlights
dropped early last year, Flawes
were ready for a tour, but a world
in lockdown wasn’t, so they went
back into the studio. “Writing [new
EP] Reverie took us away from
this reality and gave us a positive
focus,” says JC. “Hopefully it
provides the same escapism and
positivity for the listener.” Here,
they share four songs that help
them escape daily life. Reverie
is out now; redbullrecords.com
JOSHUA HALLING FLORIAN OBKIRCHER
Ásgeir
Lupin Intrigue (2013)
JC: “I stumbled across this
track by the Icelandic singer/
songwriter a few years ago
and it’s my go-to for chilling
out. I just stick it on my
headphones at full blast and
get lost in my thoughts. The
arpeggiated synth, along with
the beautiful piano part that
escalates in the background,
traps you from the start. By
the time his vocal enters at 36
seconds, you should be well
on your way to a daydream.”
The Beatles
Sun King (1969)
FE: “There’s something really
hypnotic about this track on
Abbey Road. The soft, layered
vocals feel so soothing, almost
like a lullaby. The band were
experimenting a lot at this
stage; the guitar has a sitar-like
quality, and they sing in a crazy
combination of Spanish, Italian
and Portuguese towards the
end. I listened to the album
a lot when I was a kid, and this
song would always take me to
a different headspace.”
City and Colour
Day Old Hate (2005)
JH: “This song connected with
me the first time I heard it. I
find [singer/songwriter] Dallas
Green’s voice mesmerising –
soft yet powerful. I’ve listened
to it so much that it holds many
memories – it’s quite emotional
to listen to all the way through.
As soon as I press play, I find
myself in a daydream, looking
back over the last 10 years at the
good times and the bad. I even
got a tattoo of the album cover
on my back when I was 17.”
Sigur Rós
Starálfur (1999)
JC: “I’m a melody-over-lyrics
guy and [the Icelandic post-rock
band’s vocalist] Jónsi delivers
big-time on this song, One day
I’ll translate the lyrics to see
what I’ve been singing along to
all these years. But that might
spoil the fun, right? Perhaps the
reason this is such a great song
for daydreaming is just that:
your mind doesn’t get caught
up in the meaning of the lyrics,
so you can just drift away on
the melodies and harmonies.”
THE RED BULLETIN 15

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Positive outlook:
(clockwise from top left)
Tellaro, Italy; Chamonix,
France; Arizona, USA;
Grytting, Norway; Fayoum,
Egypt; Xishuangbanna,
China; Norola, Finland;
Fire Island, USA;
Edinburgh, Scotland
ALESSIO (ITALY), CONSTANCE (FRANCE), ELIZABETH (USA), EMMA (USA), IDIL (SCOTLAND), JUDAH (NORWAY),
NALLE (FINLAND), SEBASTIAN (CHINA), YACHAR (EGYPT) LOU BOYD
In April 2020, when most
of the world had entered
lockdown, husband-and-wife
Vaishnav Balasubramaniam
and Sonali Ranjit were stuck
in their cosy but cramped
Singapore flat, looking out of
the same window every day.
When they came across a
photo on Instagram showing
the beautiful view from a
friend’s Barcelona home,
the couple joked that they
should find a way to swap
windows. The two advertising
executives asked their friend
for a short video of his view,
and WindowSwap was born.
The online project
presents window views from
across the world, allowing
users to flick through
hundreds of different videos
uploaded by others. From
a small, chicken-filled back
garden in Kettering to rainy
side streets in Mumbai to a
balmy sunset on a Hawaiian
beach, a different scene is
selected at random each time
you click refresh. The website
transports you out of your
own space and gives you a
glimpse of another way of life.
“You see views of countries
that you don’t get in travel
magazines or generally in the
media,” says Ranjit. “Looking
through someone’s backyard
or side streets makes a place
come so much more alive.”
WindowSwap may have
been inspired by a desire
to escape lockdown, but
while designing the website
the pair realised that it could
serve as an escape from the
online world, too. “We didn’t
want to create those
dopamine-induced feelings
that TikTok gives, but rather
a calm space,” explains
Balasubramaniam. “We
debated whether to create
likes or a comment box to
connect people, but in the end
we decided to stick to a very
simple experience.”
The site instead serves as a
meditation throughout the day,
with no access to other users
or distractions from the video
itself. “It’s more like the early
internet,” he adds. “You’re just
there to have fun. No one’s
judging you, no one feels bad,
and you have nothing to prove.”
Since the launch of
WindowSwap, the couple have
WINDOWSWAP
Zoom with a view
What better way to allow your mind to wander than by staring
out of a window? How about letting it roam across the globe
certainly got their wish to see
more of the world – they have
now received more than 600
videos from every corner of
the globe. “One window that
got my attention [in particular]
shows the pyramids from
someone’s house; a view you
would never usually see,”
says Balasubramaniam. “The
pyramids are in the distance,
but at the bottom of the
screen you can see rows of
houses and alleyways. It’s
just amazing.”
window-swap.com
THE RED BULLETIN 17

Mine’s a Vanhattan:
quaff cocktails on
the roof if you’re not
driving – just don’t
forget the handbrake
NISSAN OFFICE POD
Roadwork
ahead
Adventure in the front, office in the back
– this kitted-out camper is all business
Traditionally, if you wanted to
travel the world and experience
the freedom of life on the road,
you’d have to save up and leave
your job behind. But the events
of the past year have almost
certainly changed that for ever.
With people working remotely
and most meetings hosted
online, jobs that were once tied
to an office can now be done
from anywhere in the world.
In response to this, Japanese
car manufacturer Nissan has
designed a new type of camper
that is part van-life, part office
space, allowing you to combine
the most radical lifestyle with
a traditional nine-to-five job.
Controlled by a mobile app,
the camper’s retractable pod is
a pop-up office on wheels. Not
only does it fit a person, a desk,
a full-size screen and an
ergonomic chair (by esteemed
US furniture maker Herman
Miller), it also has a transparent
floor to gaze through between
emails and remind yourself
that you’re on a mountain trail
or beside a beach.
When the daily grind is over,
just hop outside, tap the app
to fold away your office until
morning, and head out for
a surf or a hike; inside the
camper’s glove box you’ll find
a ‘UV antibacterial lamp’
to disinfect your personal
possessions on your return.
Alternatively, climb up onto
the rooftop deck, which has its
own sunlounger and parasol,
for après-travail drinks.
According to research
by tech solutions firm MBO
Partners in 2018, 4.8 million
American workers at the time
described themselves as ‘digital
nomads’, and the number is
growing rapidly. “Many office
workers are having a variety
of issues working at home,”
says Nissan of its invention.
“[We want] to solve this by
giving them more choice of
where and how they work.”
The Office Pod is only a
concept at present – it was
unveiled at this year’s virtual
edition of the Tokyo Auto Salon
car show – but it’s based on
a modified version of Nissan’s
popular NV350 Urvan caravan
and is something the company
is serious about. “Hopefully
this is the start of a new era
where we can design our own
outdoor-based lifestyles,”
says Nissan, “and where we
can work from wherever
makes us feel happiest.”
NISSAN LOU BOYD
18 THE RED BULLETIN

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ANCIENT FOREST ALLIANCE
Protecting
our elders
We take photos to capture cherished memories;
activist and photographer TJ Watt is using the
medium to save the planet’s ancient woodlands
TJ Watt’s latest photo series is a
story of two halves. In the first,
the nature photographer stands
beside the giant ancient cedars
of the Caycuse Valley in southern
Vancouver Island, Canada, on a
clear blue-skied day. The second
half tells a darker story. We see
Watt posing against the same
backdrop, but now the thousandyear-old
trees have been cut
down to their stumps.
The Canadian began his
Caycuse Before & After project
with one aim: to draw attention
to the deforestation of British
Columbia’s oldest trees. “You
can’t argue with what you’re
seeing,” says Watt. “[This is]
the destruction of one of the
grandest ecosystems on Earth.”
An environmental activist
and self-proclaimed “big tree
hunter”, Watt has been
recording the activity of the
logging industry in the Caycuse
Valley for the past year, finding
old-growth trees marked to be
cut and capturing them before
and after. “I had to measure
how far away I was from each
spot, record which lens I was
using, and GPS where each tree
was,” he says. “Then, when I
20 THE RED BULLETIN

The unkindest cut:
Watt’s photo
project perfectly
illustrates the
devastation of the
old-growth forests
TJ WATT LOU BOYD
came back months later, I had a
GPS tracker showing where I’d
hiked.” The project has captured
worldwide attention. “The
photos hit home because what
you’re looking at is the loss of
trees upwards of a thousand
years old. When a forest like that
is cut down, it’s gone for ever.”
The harvesting of British
Columbia’s ancient forests is an
urgent environmental moment.
Less than 10 per cent of
Vancouver’s original old-growth
woodland is currently protected,
and an area of untouched forest
equivalent to more than 10,000
football fields is cut down each
year. A co-founder of non-profit
organisation Ancient Forest
Alliance, Watt is not only
documenting this devastation
but successfully fighting against
it. The alliance famously saved
another forest, Avatar Grove,
which was marked to be cut down
in 2010. “That area has become
an international old-growth
destination, with hundreds of
thousands of people visiting
every year,” says Watt. “The
community has shifted towards
a green economy based on bigtree
tourism. It shows that oldgrowth
forests are worth more
standing than they are on the
back of a logging truck.”
All hope is not lost for those
forests that do remain. In the
lead-up to last October’s local
election, the BC government
promised to implement a new
era of protection for the most
endangered old-growth trees.
Now the election has been
won, Watt is calling on everyone
moved by his photo series to
hold them accountable to their
pledge. “I encourage everyone
to write to and phone the
politicians in BC, regardless
of where you live. This is a
global issue and these are
some of the finest temperate
rainforests left on our planet.
Although we lost this forest,
we may be able to save many
others because of it.”
ancientforestalliance.org;
tjwatt.com
THE RED BULLETIN 21

SUNFLOWER HOUSE
Stemming
the damage
The world did a pretty good job of looking after
itself before humans came along. Now, architects
are taking lessons from Mother Earth
4
5
1 3
2
7
1. Photovoltaic (solar) cells positioned at optimal angles; 2. Rotating roof;
3. Rainwater collection and reuse; 4. Wind power harnessed;
5. Edible gardens; 6. Elevated to prevent flooding; 7. Energy storage
6
“Nothing is invented, for it is
written in nature first,” said the
great Catalan architect Antoni
Gaudí, whose Modernisme
buildings – most famously the
Basílica de la Sagrada Família
in Barcelona – sprout from
the ground like bizarre, ornate
vegetation. The natural world
has long influenced building
design, dating back at least as
far as the Ancient Greeks; now,
Sydney-based architect Koichi
Takada has taken this one step
further, creating a house that’s
not only inspired by plants
but acts and moves like one.
Built in the fields of Umbria,
Italy, Sunflower House mimics
the behaviour of its namesake,
turning its face towards the
Sun to harness its rays. Rotating
around a central ‘stem’, its solar
panels produce up to 40 per cent
more energy than the static
equivalent. Unused energy is
stored or fed to the power grid;
all rainwater is collected, too.
“It’s a house powered by the
sun, collecting more power
than you need,” says Takada
of his creation, which was
commissioned by Bloomberg
Green, the US media group’s
division focusing on climatechange
news and solutions.
“You don’t pay bills, and you
can possibly sell your extra
energy back to the city.”
In addition to its solarenergy-harnessing
capabilities,
the design employs an ancient
and eco-friendly natural airconditioning
system invented
by the Romans. The Sun heats
a chimney, causing the air
inside it to rise. This, in turn,
draws air into cool clay pipes
buried below ground, lowering
it to the temperature of the
surrounding soil.
In December last year, the
United Nations reiterated its
mission to make the world
entirely carbon-neutral by
2050. Takada believes that
Sunflower House could be
the catalyst for a larger
architectural movement that
will help achieve this aim. “This
is an opportunity to reverse
climate change by designing
greener buildings,” says
Takada. “[The principle that]
‘form follows nature’ draws
on the lessons of the natural
world, creating innovative
designs that allow people to
reconnect with nature and,
ultimately, save our planet.”
Takada’s task is not an easy
one. The construction industry
currently accounts for almost
40 per cent of the world’s CO2
emissions, a statistic that has
risen steadily over the past few
decades. But he believes that
by studying natural solutions
around us, we can reverse the
damage already done. “In the
past, houses were designed
to be static, but Sunflower
House is dynamic, placing an
emphasis on performance,”
says Takada. “Countries have
committed to carbon neutrality
by 2050. This gives us just
30 years to restore what
humankind has destroyed
over the past 200.”
koichitakada.com
KOICHI TAKADA ARCHITECTS LOU BOYD
22 THE RED BULLETIN

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Tom Evans
Escaping the
comfort zone
The ultrarunner started his sporting career for a bet,
and discovered a love of pushing his limits that has
kept him moving ever since
Words TOM WARD
Photography BEN LUMLEY
“My thought process can best be
described as ‘minimal’,” laughs Tom
Evans, describing his 2017 entry into
the six-day, 251km Marathon des
Sables, held annually in the Sahara
Desert. As well as being possibly the
toughest race on the planet, it also
happened to be Evans’ first. “I knew
it was the hardest race out there,
and I thought there was no point in
doing the easy ones,” he says. “I’d
jump straight in at the deep end.”
Though he lacked any formal
training, Evans’ self-belief carried
him to an unbelievable third place
– the fastest time run by any
European in the race’s history – and,
naturally, skyrocketed him into the
world of professional ultrarunning.
“I was always sporty,” explains the
29-year-old. “I represented England
at rugby, hockey and athletics
events while at school. Looking
back, I wasn’t necessarily the best,
but I always tried the hardest. After
school, I realised I didn’t want to
go to university, so at 18 I joined
the army. I’d always felt I had
something to prove, and in the
army an easy way to do that was
by keeping fit. The army is an
endurance-based organisation,
which suited me really well.”
After the Marathon des Sables,
Evans capped off a successful streak
by winning the 101km CCC race at
the 2018 Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc.
The following year, he left the army
to pursue running full-time, and he
hasn’t looked back. Next on his
schedule is Red Bull’s official charity
partner event the Wings for Life
World Run on May 9 – a unique
race with no finish line, in which
runners compete against a ‘catcher
car’ until it overtakes them. This
year’s participants will still compete
at the same time, but – due to
COVID-19 restrictions – they’ll run
against a virtual car, via an app.
It’ll be different from Evans’ past
experiences at the annual event,
but he’s a master of adaptability.
Currently holed up in Loughborough
with his fiancée, professional
triathlete Sophie Coldwell, he’s
keeping busy by switching snowy
trails for road running and has even
smashed the Three Peaks challenge
on a treadmill. Here’s how Evans
keeps pushing forward…
the red bulletin: You came
third in the Marathon des Sables
after entering for a bet. How?
tom evans: My friends did [the race]
in 2016 and finished in the top 300.
I thought I could do better, and over
a few beers they bet me I couldn’t. I
signed up the next morning. There’s
a lot of crossover with the military,
because you’re sleeping outside
under the stars and pushing yourself
to your limits every day. Through
running the race, I discovered this
ability to suffer for a very long time
in the heat. Two years later, I left
the army to become a full-time
professional athlete.
Ultrarunning is one of the most
punishing sports. Is it all down
to this natural ability?
No, I train very hard and I get used
to suffering. I know in any race
there will come a point when I’ll
want to stop. When I get there it’s
like, ‘Right, I knew it was going
to happen, so now’s the time to
embrace it, but also know that the
minute after you stop, it’s going
to stop hurting.’ I think I can
withstand a lot, but I want to know
how long I can actually keep feeling
uncomfortable for.
Many people struggled to find
focus during lockdown. What kept
you motivated?
It’s very easy to keep a habit once
you have it, but it’s very difficult
to start the habit in the first place.
I think people go from never
running at all to loving it. Then
there’s the other side of that: as
soon as you do stop something like
running, it’s very difficult to start
again. So, for me, it’s about keeping
as much consistency as possible.
I always set mid-term and long-term
goals – I’m very goals-based. Having
gone from boarding school to the
military, I like knowing what I’m
doing. Typically I drive to the Peak
District or Snowdon or the Lake
District, where there are phenomenal
trails, but I wasn’t able to do that
in lockdown. So I started running
from my door instead. Road running
suits me well, because it’s easier to
collect data on your run. You don’t
have to pigeonhole yourself into
a certain distance or event. I run
because I love running, and it’s a
brilliant thing to be able to do.
What’s your plan for the Wings
for Life World Run?
Because it’s a charity event, my goal
is to raise as much awareness for
spinal cord research as I possibly
can by putting in a performance that
people talk about. It’s going to be a
long, uncomfortable run, which is
my sweet spot. I think the best way
people can physically prepare is to
go on the website and play around
with speeds; look at how far you
can get [while] running at a certain
pace. Because it’s on the app, you
can challenge your friends virtually,
which keeps the competition alive.
Join this year’s Wings For Life World
Run at wingsforlifeworldrun.com/en
24 THE RED BULLETIN

“I train very
hard and
I get used to
suffering”
THE RED BULLETIN 25

Hannah Reid
Speaking truth
to power
British trio London Grammar’s ethereal pop songs have
been streamed more than a billion times, but it’s only
now that their lead singer has truly found her voice
Words STEPHANIE PHILLIPS
Photography WILL REID
was disappointing and made me feel
like, “Wow, the world has not moved
on in the way I thought it had.”
Do you think the #MeToo
movement has had a lasting effect
on the music industry?
It made people self-reflect in the
same way that Black Lives Matter
has. Even really good men I worked
with would be like, “I just didn’t
realise that women felt this way.”
It’s been the biggest step forward.
Hannah Reid, best known as the
vocalist of indie-pop trio London
Grammar, casually reveals a major
lockdown achievement as she chats
from her West London home. “One
positive is that instead of going
out on the road, we’ve carried our
creative process on,” says the
31-year-old singer, “so we’ve been
writing loads and working on
a fourth album.”
This is surprising news given that
the long-awaited third album by the
band – Reid, alongside guitarist Dan
Rothman and drummer/keyboard
player Dominic Major – only gets its
release this month. A collection of
deftly woven, Balearic-flavoured
pop tracks, Californian Soul tackles
toxic misogyny, the death of the
American Dream, and Reid’s own
personal growth. It demonstrates
a newfound confidence she says is
down to age, experience, and the
influence of a new generation of
inspirational female artists.
the red bulletin: You found
fame at quite a young age. How
has that affected you?
hannah reid: We were signed
when we were 21, and it’s definitely
changed me as a person. The music
industry is a very tough landscape.
It’s completely male-dominated, and
it was a little bit of a shock. Also,
when you experience success you’re
suddenly opened up to this world
of other people’s opinions. You can
lose your own sense of identity a bit.
But I feel like on this third album
I’ve managed to get that back. I’ve
changed a lot as a person, and there
was just a different energy in what
I was writing, and in the music. It’s
kind of upbeat for us, but the lyrics
are quite dark in places and a bit
more aggressive.
Has confidence come with age?
On the first record, I was actually
really lost and very vulnerable, like
a lot of young people are at that
age. As you get older, the things that
you experience change you, and,
yeah, I found a different kind of
confidence. Whereas on the second
record maybe I was hiding behind
a bit of a veil of poetry, [on this
record] I was just like, “I’m going
to say whatever I want to say.”
Have you consciously taken
on more of a leadership role
in the band?
In terms of dealing with the
industry, yes. If people don’t respect
me as a leader, they won’t respect
me at all. Because I’ve had such
difficulty sometimes being the only
female in the room, I was like, “If
you guys support me in that
way, I don’t think people can take
advantage of us.” It’s an industry
where you do have to have quite
strong boundaries and a thick skin.
It’s a constant battle.
You’ve mentioned that you see the
new album as a feminist record…
It’s definitely in the lyrics. I did have
quite profound experiences being
a woman in the music industry and
then realising that when I came
home from being on tour and spoke
to my girlfriends about it, they were
all having the same experiences. It
Do you find inspiration in other
female artists?
I love any art that’s made by women
and is about being empowered.
The younger generation of female
artists who are leading the way,
like Arlo Parks and Billie Eilish –
women who are quite a lot younger
than me – have helped me. You can
see it in them having control over
their careers and saying everything
they want to say.
What was it that you wanted
to say with this record that
you couldn’t before?
There are some songs where I’m
speaking about those sexual politics
or dynamics that go on between
men and women, with men still
holding that baton of power.
There’s more personal stuff that’s
just about me losing myself in that
environment and regaining a sense
of who I was. I think I just wanted
to say “Fuck you”, really.
Given your newfound
confidence, would you ever
be tempted to go solo?
There’s just a magic between us
three [in the band] that I really
cherish. No matter how the music
changes or evolves from record to
record, we’ve also evolved so much
as a trio. It’s so fascinating to be
a part of that. I do have a wish to
maybe write a really obscure,
tragic country record that probably
no one would listen to. But that’s
a long way off.
London Grammar’s album Californian
Soil is out on April 16 on Ministry Of
Sound; londongrammar.com
26 THE RED BULLETIN

“I’ve had
difficulty being
the only
female in the
room”
THE RED BULLETIN 27

Jill Wheatley
Moving
mountains
When the Canadian suffered a severe traumatic brain
injury in 2014, what spelt an end to life as she knew it
also marked the start of a new adventure
Words RACHAEL SIGEE
Photography VINAYAK JAYA MALLA
Jill Wheatley doesn’t like the word
‘accident’. Instead, she describes the
moment her life was altered for ever
as “when serendipity changed my
trail”. It was 2014, and she was
teaching sports science at a school
just outside Munich when, during
a lesson, she was hit on the head by
a baseball. Her skull fractured, her
brain suffered swelling and bleeding,
and damage to her optic nerves left
her with just 30-per-cent vision – her
right eye would never open again.
In an instant, Wheatley, still in her
early thirties, was transformed from
an independent “adventurous spirit”
to the survivor of a traumatic brain
injury (TBI), which also triggered
a rare eating disorder that saw her
weight plummet dangerously.
It would be more than two years
before Ontario-born Wheatley left
hospital to find that her life – her job,
home, and German residency – no
longer existed. Before “serendipity”
intervened, Wheatley had spent
every minute outdoors, so, despite
her injuries and with nothing more
to lose, she set off to ice-climb, ski
and mountain-run her way around
the world’s most spectacular
massifs, from the Eiger Ultra Trail
in the Alps to Nepal’s Annapurna.
She has documented her journey
in a blog, Mountains of My Mind.
Last November, after months of
lockdown in Kathmandu, Wheatley
was about to climb the iconic Ama
Dablam when she learned that her
father had unexpectedly passed
away. “I honestly feel like my life
experience prepared me for it, and I
was more accepting of relinquishing
control,” she says. “There was nothing
I could do. There was a strange
sensation my dad was with me, that
he could see. It gave me strength.”
She climbed on and made it to
the summit…
the red bulletin: What was it
about mountains that called to you?
jill wheatley: I’ve always been
drawn to mountains and the
outdoors. I felt like no matter what
mountain, it couldn’t challenge me
the way those 26 months in hospital
did. Once, when I was really sick in
Colorado, a doctor came to introduce
himself. I was pulling my tubes out
and doing everything a patient
shouldn’t do. He said, “I understand
you like mountains. These are your
lifelines. If you’re on an expedition,
you’re on a team. We are your team
who’ll help get you to your Everest.”
Two years ago, the first time I saw
Everest, his words came back to me.
No one climbs a mountain alone.
How much of a challenge is travel
on your global expeditions?
In Canada and the US, there’s an
assumption that every adult can
drive. Why am I not running more in
the Canadian Rockies? Because it’s
really hard to access if you’re visually
impaired. It’s not like in Switzerland
where you can hop on a train and it
takes you door to door. That was
disheartening at first. However, I
think the places I choose now reflect
that. I learned that Chamonix, for
example, is great because I can base
myself somewhere, and if I’m there
a month I can do 30 different trails.
Other than your loss of vision,
how does your TBI affect you?
You can see the scars from my
physical falls, but you don’t see the
cognitive function. I have no depth
perception, so I fall; I pour my water
and miss the cup. Not every day,
but often. Balance, coordination,
concentration – all of those things
needed training. Sometimes I need
to remind myself that it is a lot. Still,
in my mind I’m not being gracious to
myself, I want no excuses. However,
it doesn’t matter what pace I go.
That’s not what’s important. I’m here
when I wasn’t expected to survive,
and look at what I’ve chosen to do.
What now helps you deal with
difficult moments?
Impermanence. I was introduced to
Vipassana, a type of meditation that
starts with 10 days of silence. The
root of it is basically that everything
is constantly changing. I allowed
myself to think deeper into that,
shift my perspective, and recognise
that actually I’m a very good example
of impermanence. I don’t even like
the word ‘recovery’, because to me
that means going back to something,
and I don’t want to go back to the
person I was before. I feel like the
lessons I’ve learned from my TBI are
more than I ever would without it.
The power of perspective is the most
significant lesson; that shift from
what I’ve lost to what I’ve gained.
Adversity doesn’t look the same to
everyone. It might not be a TBI or
vision loss, but every human can
connect to adversity, to vulnerability,
to being open and authentic.
How does it feel to have reached
a summit?
Honestly, I feel gratitude. I get
goosebumps every time I talk about
it. I look at a picture of me on a
summit, and in the other half of my
brain I’m lying in a hospital bed in
Colorado hoping that I don’t wake
up. I’m so thankful that these people
didn’t give up on me. On top of
a summit, it’s me standing there,
but it’s so many other people who
have got me there.
mountainsofmymind.com
28 THE RED BULLETIN

“Adversity
doesn’t look
the same to
everyone”
THE RED BULLETIN 29

MAKING
MOVES
Almost half a century
after breaking
burst onto the streets
of the Bronx, meet
the UK B-Boys and
B-Girls helping
reinvent, reinvigorate
and reimagine their
scene for a new era
Words RUTH McLEOD and
TRACY KAWALIK
Photography GAVIN BOND

B-Girl Vanessa
The 29-year-old Portuguese-born
breaker won the 2019 Red Bull
BC One Cypher UK final with
a victory over Leeds’ RaWGina.
As well as competing, she’s
committed to teaching and
promoting up-and-coming B-Girls
31

Breaking
The world of competitive
breaking usually involves spot-lit, sweat-drenched
battles in packed-out venues for hyped-up crowds.
But on a Sunday evening in early March, thanks
to lockdown, B-Girl Vanessa Marina is performing
to the world via her mobile phone, in a small hired
studio in Hackney Wick, east London.
The Portuguese-born 29-year-old is competing
live against Argentina-based B-Girl Carito for a
place in the final in Texas, and, despite the unusually
subdued backdrop, her energy is characteristically
high. Vanessa’s feet shift rhythmically and instinctively
as she moves fluidly between freezes, footwork and
spins to a salsa-infused hip-hop soundtrack, seemingly
propelled as much by her self-confidence as by her
athletic ability, honed through hours of practice.
“When we dance, it shows our personality,” she
says. “It shows character. Someone shy can become
their true self. Breaking is a language everyone
around the world can understand, and a battle is
a conversation. The person who goes first asks a
question; the person who battles next gives the
answer. No two movements will ever be the same.”
It’s this marriage of artistic interpretation and
gymnastic skill that makes breakdancing – or
breaking, as it’s known in the scene – a unique
proposition. Part art, part sport, breaking was
conceived on the streets of New York in the 1970s,
but has since spread around the world. More
recently, its growing popularity has resulted in its
– controversial for some – inclusion in the 2024
Paris Olympics. An unlikely alliance of objectors
has arisen following news of breaking’s Games
debut, comprising both traditional sportspeople
sceptical of its credentials, and old-school breaking
purists afraid that mainstream exposure might
dilute the culture. But, for a fresh generation of
UK breakers keen to push the boundaries of their
scene, it’s just the latest step in a journey that was
already well underway. These B-Boys and B-Girls
are athletes, artists, activists and adventurers,
using their art form to express themselves to an
ever-expanding audience.
“It’s great to have new platforms and
opportunities,” says Vanessa, who, at 18, moved
from Lisbon to London to pursue a breaking career
and has since helped to evolve the UK B-Girl scene.
“The breaking scene is now thriving in London and
across the UK. Scenes have to evolve; nothing stands
still. As these new opportunities are born, we must
embrace them and what they can do for the culture
and our future. If we stand still, the scene will die”
Though it was born in the Bronx, where breaking
battles and cyphers – freestyle battles fought in
the centre of a circle of B-Boys and B-Girls – were
used for everything from self-expression to settling
scores and unifying neighbourhoods, breaking
has decades-old roots in the UK, too. Over the
course of UK breaking history, London has been
home to prestigious battles such as the UK B-Boy
AJ the
Cypher Cat
Breaking is in the
blood of this 19-yearold
– his father and
uncles were part of
the scene back in
the ’80s. AJ – real
name Aijion Brown
– reached last year’s
BC One Cypher UK
semi-finals and now
he has his eye on the
chance to represent
Team GB at the 2024
Paris Olympics
32 THE RED BULLETIN

“As soon as I won
my first battle,
aged eight, I told
my dad that one
day I’d compete
at BC One”
AJ the Cypher Cat

Breaking
B-Girl Nat
Natasha Lee’s
passion for breaking
has taken her around
the world, but her
B-Girl career was
almost cut short
after she suffered
a spinal injury.
Thanks to sheer
perseverance and
dedicated training,
however, the Hong
Kong-born breaker
has bounced back
stronger than ever
“I started breaking
with a class at King’s
College. “I thought,
‘Why not push myself
to do something I’ve
never done before?’”
B-Girl Nat
Championships, which not only made newspaper
headlines and sold out Brixton Academy numerous
times but helped keep the national scene alive.
Small breaking hubs have long existed across the
country, from Swindon to Aberdeen, and current
Red Bull BC One Cypher UK champions RaWGina
and Kid Karam are from Leeds and Derby
respectively. In an internet age when it’s as easy
for a B-Girl from Taunton to throw up her hardest
moves online for the world to see as for a B-Boy
in rural Kazakhstan, top breakers are not only indemand
internationally for battles, performances
and judging panels, but have the chance to pass on
their skills to a new generation hungry to learn.
“The UK scene is still a bit chaotic; it’s going
through a transitional phase right now,” says
25-year-old Bristol B-Boy and contemporary artist
Izaak Brandt. “But it’s the least divided it ever has
been. Some of the older generations in the UK have
a fixed idea of what breaking should be – that it
should be raw and people shouldn’t get on, that it
should be extremely exclusive – but I think younger
generations feel a longing to connect and get on
with other members of their generation. And,
thanks to the internet, there’s been more dialogue
between them, which has created more unity. We’re
starting to see people coming together.”
When dedicating yourself to a scene that
demands practice time, often leads to injury
and offers little financial reward, passion
and resilience are key. Izaak got into B-Boying at
the age of 11 after seeing Sunni Brummitt, also 11,
perform at an event in Bristol. “I immediately
wanted to get involved,” says Izaak. “Breaking lives
within the realm of [both] sport and art. It’s a real
intersection between both worlds and merges them
perfectly, harmoniously. That appealed to me. Sunni
has been one of my closest friends ever since.”
Izaak and Sunni perfectly embody each end of
the spectrum of possibilities within breaking: Izaak’s
wild artistic experimentation at one end and the
fierce athleticism of Sunni – famed for his impossiblelooking
headspins and explosive creativity in battle
– at the other. With multiple world championship
performances to his name, a contract as a Red Bull
BC One All Star, and a reputation as one of the best
B-Boys the UK has produced, Sunni is a poster boy
for British breaking and has helped to put it back on
the world map. “I had very few [UK breakers] to look
up to,” says Sunni, who began breaking alongside
climbing and playing football as a child in south-west
England. “So, when I did my come-up, anything going
good for me was a bonus. We’ve got a big underdog
situation in the UK that we’ve kind of adopted and
accepted and embraced. I might have got us some
recognition, but we still have a long way to go.”
Breakers such as Sunni aren’t wary of their sport
being professionalised in the push for progress on
the global competitive stage. In common with many
other elite breakers, the 26-year-old already trains
like a top-tier gymnast – six hours per day, five days
per week – and is quick to dismiss those reluctant to
see breaking grow in mainstream popularity. “There
are people who are 40 and used to be B-Boys and
that’s what makes them cool and ‘hip hop’,” says
Sunni, who’s in the process of moving back to Bristol
after a stint living in Holland. “If they see B-Boys
competing in tights on the telly, they’re not going to
feel so cool. But that’s not the point of it; when they
were those kids breaking on the street, if someone
had said, ‘Do you want a dance studio, a nutritionist,
a sports therapist?’, you know they’d all have said
yeah. They were out there because of necessity, not
a personal choice. People get that confused.”
But in this uniquely artistic sport, where there’s
no universal regulation or regimentation, what may
need to change in the shift towards the mainstream
is how battles are judged. Currently, breakers attempt
to wow crowds and win over judges with their own
unique style, whether that’s about power moves
(explosive manoeuvres such as headspins, flips and
gravity-defying athletics) or top rock – upright
footwork that requires a mixture of coordination,
flexibility, rhythm, and out-of-this-world musicality.
Winners and losers are decided by a panel of judges
who weigh up elements from tricks to character
and creativity to decide who becomes the champion
– and right now there’s no template for this.
“This is why we’re right in the middle between an
art form and a professional sport,” says Sunni, who
before the pandemic would be battling, performing
and judging in a different country every week, to the
thunderous applause of fans in packed-out arenas.
“It’s subjective. What you look for as a judge depends
on the event and where you are. When I go to China,
they teach breaking in dance schools where 500
pupils might be taught by one tutor and do the exact
same rounds, with the same vocabulary, so you have
to judge that in a certain way. Then you go to France
and the scene seems to be split into either full-onstyle
character cats or the no personality tricks and
power breakers [one who focuses on power moves].
So it’s about being educated to know what to judge
on, rather than having a standard set of criteria.”
For most breakers, competitions represent the
quickest route to recognition. Presently, the pinnacle
of battle success in the global breaking scene is
THE RED BULLETIN 35

Izaak Brandt
A multidisciplinary
artist as well as a
breaker, Izaak has
given up battling and
instead represents
and promotes the
sport through various
creative mediums.
The 25-year-old
hopes increased
exposure will help
make the breaking
scene more inclusive
and open-minded

Break Breaking dance
“It’s a fantastic time
right now; I believe
entering the
mainstream will only
enrich breaking”
Izaak Brandt
37

Breaking
B-Boy Sunni
The poster boy of
British breaking,
Sunni Brummitt
moved from Malaysia
to the UK as a child
and began breaking at
the age of 10, joining
his first crew, Toy
Soldiers, soon after.
In 2019, 14 years and
many battle victories
later, he became the
first UK breaker to
make the Red Bull
BC One All Stars team
seminal international event Red Bull BC One,
which began back in 2004. Annual national
qualifiers feed through to the highly anticipated
world final, which Sunni has reached three times
and has been held everywhere from Tokyo and
Mumbai to this year’s upcoming event in Gdansk,
Poland. The final, which sees the best 16 B-Boys and
B-Girls go head-to-head, is watched live or online by
most of the world’s breaking population, helping to
inspire the next generation of breakers to aim high.
“If you’re going to train, you should train to win
everything,” says 19-year-old Wolverhampton
breaker Aijion Brown, aka AJ the Cypher Cat – a
name inspired by his love of battling. “As soon as
I won my first battle, aged eight, I told my dad that
one day I’d compete at BC One.” AJ’s education
came from his B-Boy father Pablo’s DVDs, and also
from his dad’s cousins – both were keen breakers
during the UK’s first wave, back in the 80s. As a way
of paying his respects, AJ offers free breaking classes
during the college/school summer holidays. “The
breaking scene in Wolverhampton is literally me and
a couple of others!” he laughs. “Though there’s more
of a family vibe in the UK, it’s also competitive. I train
even harder, because I’m in two generations; I’m in
Sunni’s generation as the youngest, and there’s also a
whole generation under me, trying to take me out.”
In 2019, AJ was selected to compete at BC One
for the first time as a wildcard and managed to reach
the semi-finals. “Now I want multiple BC One titles,”
he says. “I’ve always loved to battle. When I can beat
Sunni, I’ll know I’m at the top in the UK. Then I can
focus on reaching the worldwide level of breaking.”
Though battling is the most visible side of the
breaking scene, for most it’s the physical embodiment
of something that runs deeper. “When I dance, I feel
proud,” says Sunni. “My goal with my dance isn’t
validation; it’s that I’m good enough so that it can be
my ticket to whatever I want, whether that’s work,
respect, or being able to really express myself
properly. I get worried about B-Boys when they go
on a winning streak but then lose and disappear.
For me, [competitive] breaking is like playing chess:
when I lose a game, I get pissed off, but it’s like,
‘Let’s start another match.’ Battling ain’t that deep
– it’s the nature of the game. If you can learn how
to lose, you actually win so much more.”
In contrast to his battle-ready childhood friend,
artist Izaak is taking breaking in a different direction,
pushing to change preconceptions about the scene
in unexpected settings. “My decision not to pursue
the battle direction was a lack of interest,” he says.
“After being heavily involved in the battle scene for
a few years, I realised my creative energy could be
used more effectively in other areas. I’ve taken
breaking into other mediums: drawing, conceptual
performance, animation, publications, painting,
fashion, choreography, and now sculpture. It’s an
ongoing exploration for me. There need to be way
more touchpoints for people to connect with breaking,
and I believe that’s one of my jobs – to proliferate
“Suffering losses is
the nature of the game.
If you can learn how
to lose, you actually win
so much more”
B-Boy Sunni
breaking into spaces people may have not seen it
before, so that it’s not just battling that’s visible.
It’s a fantastic time right now; I believe entering the
mainstream will only enrich the culture. It’s important
to have people of all genders, sexualities and walks
of life in the discourse of breaking so it can be a
more open-minded place. But it’s a long process.”
One area that has been slow to change in
breaking, both in the UK and worldwide, is
gender equality. Women are still a distinct
minority in what can be a hyper-masculine scene.
“As a woman in breaking, you have to work twice
as hard for half the recognition,” says Vanessa.
“We are making progress, but, because it’s a maledominated
scene, girls are doubtful they’ll be
heard, so they don’t vocalise their opinions. That
needs to change. I’ve experienced unfair situations
like guys being given a good floor on the main
stage while our B-Girl battle was on a rusty floor,
or when we got paid less than the guys, or they
didn’t want to pay us at all. I couldn’t be quiet –
it caused a revolution in me.”
Vanessa is now part of B-Girl Sessions, a womanonly
group seeking to promote female breakers and
give them a place to come together. She also hosts
workout sessions for B-Girls around the world,
who Vanessa says have often learned breaking from
men rather than focusing on the specific abilities of
their own bodies. “I’m trying to give the girls more
of a voice,” she says. “The women in this scene are
here because they have something to say. I have
something to say. B-Girls continue to be so strong
in this scene, because it’s a marathon for us, not
a sprint. But it is changing. BC One was the biggest
platform to include girls four years ago, and I’ve
seen the changes made since then. Suddenly, girls
saw it was possible to reach this stage and be seen,
be heard. And the call for gender parity at the 2024
Olympics could have even bigger consequences.”
London B-Girl Roxane Hackwood, aka Zana, who
has been competing internationally since 2010, has
witnessed firsthand the evolution of the B-Girl scene
in the UK. “When I first started, B-Girls all dressed
the same and pretty much moved the same,” she
says, “whereas now you get girls who dance supergirly
or are total powerheads etc. There’s so much
scope within it. Initially, I hid my background in
capoeira so it didn’t look like I was taking an easy
THE RED BULLETIN 39

“When I first started,
B-Girls all dressed
the same and pretty
much moved the
same. Now, there’s
so much scope”
B-Girl Zana
40 THE RED BULLETIN

Breaking
route. And I’ve always preferred power moves, but
I was influenced away from them by coaches and
other breakers who told me they would take too
long to master. Now, there’s so much inspiration to
draw upon to help you find your own voice, so I can
integrate capoeira into my dance, and the flavour
of it is coming through. Power will come next. I’ve
learned to double down on the things I like.”
B-Girl Zana
London breaker Roxane Hackwood has more
than a decade of international competition
experience. Her distinctive style, which
incorporates elements of the Brazilian
martial art capoeira, won her a place in the
final eight at last year’s BC One Cypher UK
Classes such as those offered by Sunni, AJ
and Vanessa are bringing new breakers into
the fold who might otherwise have missed
the opportunity. “Most breakers you meet started
out in the scene, but I started with a class at King’s
College of all places!” says London-based, Hong
Kong-born Natasha Lee, aka B-Girl Nat. “I thought,
‘Why not push myself to do something I’ve never
done before?’” After getting hooked on breaking,
the adventure-hungry 29-year-old travelled to
Taiwan and linked up with B-Boys and B-Girls there,
then journeyed on to Australia to do the same. But
just as her skills were catching up with her passion,
a devastating spinal injury almost stopped her in
her tracks. Doctors told her to forget breaking and
move on, but, after some recovery time, Nat
redoubled her focus on training and came back to
the UK stronger and with a newfound fire. Last year
she made her UK cypher debut, and she’s now
training with UK breaking pioneer and coach DJ
Renegade, who has helped set up Breaking GB,
an IOC-approved training collective, to support
those who are determined to get to the Olympics.
That the UK scene is at this point today is testament
to these breakers’ ability to evolve.
“It’s important to respect the founders and the
work that’s come before us, because we’re building
upon that,” says Zana. “But, with breaking, the
idea should be that each new generation brings a
different flavour to it. If that’s bringing new music,
new styles, a new platform, we have to let it evolve.
It has to happen in order for [up-and-coming
breakers] to feel engaged and form an attachment
to it – the new generation doesn’t have a connection
to Kool Herc or Grandmaster Flash any more.”
Back in Hackney Wick, Vanessa has completed
the last of her three final rounds and watches her
phone screen as she catches her breath, awaiting
the judges’ decisions. All three vote in her favour.
She beams at the camera. “It was totally different
to battle online,” she says. “Also, I’d gone one year
without battling while I just worked on my
breaking, so it was a good comeback. Each round
I won just made me more sure of my skills, and by
the time I came to the final I knew there was no
other option but to win! It’s thanks to the motto
I had when not battling last year: ‘You have to be
ready so you don’t have to get ready.’”
Sounds like good advice for a scene on the verge
of its big break.
Watch the B-Girls and B-Boys in battle on the Red Bull
BC One YouTube channel; youtube.com
THE RED BULLETIN 41

HIDDEN
DEPTHS
Exploring narrow,
unmapped underwater
caves deep in the
Mexican jungle is
fraught with danger.
But, for two of the
world’s most intrepid
cave divers, what
they discover in
these unexplored
passageways can be
truly life-changing
Words KLAUS THYMANN
and RUTH McLEOD
Photography KLAUS THYMANN

Thymann enters the water of the cave –
coloured yellow near the surface by
tannic acid from recent rainfall – with
his camera, watching closely for any
sign that the underwater housing is
leaking. A video light illuminates the
path ahead, along with a light on his
helmet, which he calls his ‘third hand’
43

Cave exploration
Klaus Thymann is 300m inside an
underwater cave in Mexico, 10m below
dense jungle, navigating a constricted
passageway that’s barely bigger than he
is – around 60cm from floor to ceiling.
The Danish-born photographer and cave
diver is shooting what are likely to be
prehistoric human bones, so he has had
to adopt a plank position with his arms
outstretched, using his lungs to control
his level in the water; if any part of him
touches any surface, he could destroy
these artefacts by disturbing silt that
could also leave him with zero visibility.
Under this intense pressure, Thymann
– who estimates he has spent several
hundred hours in caves like these during
his career – is the most stressed he’s ever
been on a dive. But he knows that if he’s
unable to stay calm, he’ll get through
his supply of air too quickly and there’s
a high chance he could drown.
This is cave diving at its most extreme.
Cave exploration is a better description,
since most of the routes Thymann and his
diving partner Alessandro Reato survey
have not yet been mapped, making the
pair the first humans in modern history
to lay eyes on whatever awaits them
around the next dark corner. “Your body
screams panic in these situations,” says
Thymann. “You are underwater, in
darkness, in a confined space, so stress
levels are high. But your survival depends
on your being calm. You have to develop
the skills to subdue that intuitive fear.”
Squeezing expertly through spaces
small enough to make most wince, these
underwater explorers are willing to go
where most can’t or won’t, carrying with
them all the equipment they need to
avert disaster if something goes wrong
– and things often do. “It’s not really a
question of if, but when, something will
go wrong, meaning you just have to be
prepared for it,” says Thymann. “There
is no dive buddy. I frequently squeeze
through gaps so small I have to tilt my
head sideways, and in that position
another diver can’t get to you.
“When it comes to kit, we have at
least two of almost everything. Two is
one, one is none, as we say. Packing and
preparation are done with military
precision, as even a little thing can be
what saves the day. I don’t like risks. I work
methodically and don’t deviate from my
protocol – that’s how I justify doing this.
I plan, I prepare, and then of course I’ve
had extensive professional training and
Top left: you can’t see it from the
air, but beneath the dense jungle
there’s access to the underwater
caves. Above: they may be filled
with air, but the dive tanks weigh
more than 10kg each, meaning
they’re ferried to site one by one
44 THE RED BULLETIN

Locating the cave
“We start out with our porter
Jesus walking in front of the 4x4,
chopping at vegetation with his
machete, but at some point the
road and jungle merge, so we get
out and walk. Alex’s Italian arms
get excited as he talks, disturbing a
hornets’ nest. We run, but still get
stung. We’re heading for the GPS
coordinates that mark the position
of a cenote – our access point
to the underwater river system.
We find cenotes from our Mayan
contacts; from seeing on a map
where the water should go; from
diving and seeing light above; and
from others who have told Alex
they’ve found a hole in the jungle.”
THE RED BULLETIN 45

Time travel
“I’ve been cave diving for
less than 10 years, but I’ve
dived all my life. I remember
freediving as a kid, going down
with a net to catch octopus
in the Mediterranean. I like the
challenge of cave diving;
I like doing things that are
complicated and haven’t been
done before. Once I enter
the rabbit hole, I just want to
go further into it. Diving
the underwater rivers feels
like entering a time capsule;
time doesn’t exist, as there
are no outside factors to
disturb you – no daylight, no
noise, just the sound of your
breathing. As we swim through
the water, we enter an
ancient time, experiencing
what no one has for hundreds
and thousands of years.
However, diving is also very
much about time – you have
to keep track of it to survive
and know your limitations.”
46 THE RED BULLETIN

Cave exploration
“Exploration
cave-diving isn’t
for everyone
– it takes
claustrophobia
to a new level”
have built up experience. It helps that my
personality is uber-rational, so I generally
solve issues well under pressure – be that
on a mountain, inside a glacier, deep
underwater, or on the edge of a volcano.”
During a varied career as a journalist,
photographer and explorer, London-based
Thymann, 46, has trekked new routes to
explore the glaciers of Uganda and Congo;
was the first person to scuba-dive the
world’s clearest lake, New Zealand’s Blue
Lake; and has led expeditions to mountains
on six continents, all with the aim of
furthering knowledge and awareness of the
climate crisis. And this mission, he says,
is similarly important: “It’s an expedition
with a purpose, and that’s what I find
interesting. I need that purpose. All of the
peaks have been summited, so now you
get things being done in multiples – the
Three Peaks Challenge or whatever – an
artificial goal in order to set a new record.
I have a lot of respect for people who are
able to do it, but there is no benefit to the
world in the 100th person standing on top
of a mountain. I’m trying to come back
with something that benefits science and
helps us make informed choices about
how we behave on this planet.”
It was in Mexico – Reato’s current home
– that Thymann first met the Italian cave
diver and former army cartographer,
through friends, in 2016. The pair soon
realised they shared a love of mapping
and heading off the beaten track; Reato
had explored more than 70km of the
country’s caves. “I have a similar appetite
to Alex in terms of going places where
others don’t,” says Thymann. “Even most
people who enjoy cave diving won’t crawl
down a piece of rope into a hole in the
jungle they can barely squeeze through
after walking for miles through dense
jungle. But we like the parts that are still
really wild, and to get to that frontier you
must engage with nature differently.
Exploration cave-diving certainly isn’t for
everyone – our sort of cave diving takes
claustrophobia to a new level. With Alex,
I feel that I’ve found a partner in crime.”
So, when Reato contacted Thymann
last year to tell him about his discovery
of this ancient skeleton, the Dane was
all in. “In this case, if it wasn’t the bones
and the fascinating insights into the past
they might give us, it could be for an
environmental purpose, like trying to
map underground rivers to help protect
them,” says Thymann. “The caves here in
Mexico are unique; they’re the world’s
largest underground system and we need
to preserve them – for the habitat, for
the reef, for what it provides, and just
because it’s a huge archaeological site.”
Using calculations based on historic
water levels, they know the bones could
Above left: Thymann – providing
the only light in the pitch-black
cave – follows the navigational line.
The scenery changes constantly:
“Two kicks of your fins and you’re
somewhere that looks totally
different.” Right: Reato readies his
mask for diving
THE RED BULLETIN 47

Cave exploration
Thymann squeezes through a
tight gap, disturbing silt that
affects visibility. In spaces
this small, he has to crawl.
Opposite: Reato leads the
dive deep into the cave. “The
only thing we leave behind is
bubbles,” says Thymann

Lining the route
“Exploration of the
underwater caves on the
Yucatán only began in the
1980s. Back then, mostly
American cave-divers would
use single-engine aircraft
to fly over the jungle, trying
to spot cenotes from the
air, and would throw
something down to mark the
spot. Then they’d walk
through the jungle to find the
marker. Nowadays we have
drones and GPS, but no
technology has been created
that can overcome the
complexity of mapping
underwater. The main
method of navigation is still
the same: a continuous
line of nylon string from the
open water all the way to
wherever we’re going in the
cave. When caves are
explored, the line is left
underwater with arrows
pointing towards the exit at
any intersection. Every
cave diver knows how to
navigate in total blindness
by holding onto the line
and feeling the arrows.”
49

Cave exploration
“There’s a sense
of awe about the
find… it makes
you humble”
be more than 9,000 years old, which
would make them some of the oldest ever
discovered in the country. And the race
was on to document the find and collect
a sample for analysis, guaranteeing the
bones official protection from looters
who plunder sites such as these.
“We knew we had to keep the exact
location of the bones to ourselves,” says
Thymann. “What has happened in the
past is there’s been an archaeological
find, but then you can’t surround it in
barbed wire, and when people have come
back it’s gone. To me, it’s such a weird
thing. I don’t understand it. Even though
it’s probably a very small minority doing
the looting, they pose a disproportionately
big risk. It happens all over the world;
there’s a black market for artefacts. So we
knew we had to be careful – and quick.”
Thymann doesn’t drink at all for at
least a week before a dive. He exercises
every day and sticks to a healthy diet –
extra pounds do nothing for your ability
to inch through cramped spaces. “For
weeks, I prepared from my base in Europe.
For an expedition, I bring more than
100 items. I keep things in working order,
but I still test it all before heading out.
Alex sent me a sketch of the area with
the bones and we discussed approaches.
We have defined roles: Alex leads the
exploration, and I document it and
create the material the archaeologists
and scientists need.”
When Thymann arrived in Tulum to
meet Reato and head into the jungle, he
was – as always – prepared for anything.
But, no matter how many times he
ventures into the depths of the Yucatán
underwater caves, it never becomes
routine. “Before heading into the cave,
I felt a mixture of extreme excitement
but also disbelief,” Thymann says. “I was
thinking, ‘These are prehistoric human
bones and this is insanely special.’ There
is awe around it. It makes you humble
in a way. You’re just looking at a tiny
piece of a very big puzzle. And that’s
a very healthy way of looking at things
sometimes. It reminds you that your
little life is not so significant.”
klausthymann.com; filoarrianadive.com
Kit list
Preparation is key,
and a mission of this
kind requires 44kg
of vital equipment
1. Two independent
tanks with a regulator
and pressure
gauge attached
2. Fins. Thymann
uses normal fins,
which are slightly
longer and heavier
than cave fins and
help counterbalance
the weight of his
camera
3. Wetsuit. He has
a 5mm suit, hood,
3mm vest, and boots
4. Secondary dive
light (first back-up),
which is attached
to his helmet with
a bungee cord
5. Helmet, which
is customised
to hold lights
6. BCD (buoyancy
control device) with
two bladders – the
second is a back-up
7. Primary light,
attached to a
battery with a cable
8. Video lights
9. Line markers,
used for navigation.
Thymann’s are
bespoke, circular
‘cookie’-shaped
markers, so on wellused
lines he can
feel which are his
10. Third light
(second back-up)
11. Dive pouch,
which holds tools
and spare parts, reels
and a spare mask
for deeper dives
12. Camera housing
with dome and
handle
13. Underwater
flashes
14. Dive mask
15. Bottom timer,
which displays depth
and time (back-up
to dive computer)
16. Housing for
a small compact
camera (mainly
back-up)
17. Surface marker,
which can be inflated
at the surface entry
point with a line
attached or, once
submerged, float
camera housing to
the surface quickly
in case of an issue
18. Primary reel
19. Dive computer
20. Wrist slate, used
for navigation
21. Bigger slate and
pencil (with wrist
strap), used for
advanced notes
50 THE RED BULLETIN

5
6 7
4
8
2
3
9
12
13
10 11
17
14
15
16
1
18
19
20
21
Fully equipped
“When cave diving, everything’s
complicated. Communication
underwater is complicated,
because you can’t talk, so you
use sign language. But then, a lot
of time in caves you can’t see,
either, so you communicate with
light signals. Then, if we’re doing
something that involves a fairly
complex task, we use a slate that
we can write on with a pencil.
Cave diving in itself is taxing; the
basics you have to monitor are
time, depth, gas consumption,
and navigation. Then adding
something else complex,
like doing photogrammetry
[surveying and mapping] or
photography underwater, is
extremely difficult. I have
to know where every piece of
kit is, by feel, so I can reach
it in zero visibility if I need to,
and know how to instantly
unclip and untangle it. For
instance, my pencil has a
bungee cord that sits around
my wrist like a bracelet. If I’m
writing, that’s a tool I might
need for the recalculation of
gases, and for navigation too,
so that pencil is insanely
important. But then I do have
a spare pencil in my pouch.
And I carry a knife to sharpen
it underwater if I need to.”
THE RED BULLETIN 51

Slow and steady
“Having swum hundreds of
metres into the cave, I’m in
an appendix part of the cave,
hovering above prehistoric
bones. The space is so tight
there’s less than an elbow’s
length between the dome on
my underwater-camera
housing and skull parts
including loose teeth that
lie beneath the fine-grained
silt. Any wrong move will
disturb this archaeological
site and cause damage. It’ll
also cause a silt cloud to rise,
creating zero visibility, which
is a really bad scenario.
There’s so little room I can’t
even swim, so I’m planking,
stretching out my body, arms
and legs. I’m being positioned
by Alex, who’s holding me by
the ankles and manoeuvring
me around. To navigate, I
signal using my hands – index
finger forward and Alex slowly
pushes me forward. As I try
to remain zen in this cavediving
yoga position, Alex
hits the top of my leg. We’ve
rehearsed this and I know
what to do. I release a tiny
bit of air from my lungs
and descend about 5cm,
just enough to avoid a lowhanging
part of the cave roof.
Every small movement here
is a feat in itself. We move
a few centimetres at a time,
across an imaginary grid,
to document everything.
I check my pressure gauges
constantly to ensure I’m not
using too much air and that
I can still get out of here. The
whole operation takes 70
minutes. I shoot about 500
images of the area where the
skull is, which will be put into
a photogrammetry model so
scientists can navigate the
cave on a computer screen.”

Cave exploration
Bubbles created by the divers
accumulate and merge at the roof
of the cave. Here, it’s essential
they don’t come into contact with
the porous cast rock that
surrounds them; even a small
impact will cause damage
53

Cave exploration
Reato lays down a
fresh navigational line
from his exploration
reel in this unexplored
cave and ties it off to
a stalagmite
Off the chart
“Mapping is a big part of what
I do. Whether it’s mapping
glaciers or new trekking routes
in Uganda, I try to map out new
terrain, both in a conceptual
and very straightforwardly
practical manner, and these
underground river systems
are one of the only places on
the planet that haven’t been
mapped. That makes it very
exciting. There are many risks –
the equipment can fail, the cave
can collapse, you can have a
heart attack underwater, or get
lost in a cloud of silt – but the
reality is that most deaths while
cave diving happen due to
navigational errors. Cave diving
follows a tried-and-tested
method of having a string to
follow out, but the caves are
not simple one-lane roads –
they’re more like distorted
spider webs. One wrong turn
can lead you further away
from the open water, and at
some point you run out of air.”

Thymann uses UV
light to assess damage
to the bones. Below:
close to an intact
jawbone lies a molar
with good potential
for DNA extraction
Body of evidence
“There are a lot of indications
that this is a prehistoric
skeleton. For now, that’s
based on the historic water
levels and the current water
depth. By combining the two
measurements, you can see
what’s realistic. The depth of
the site is 10m, which means
that the last time the caves
were dry in this area was
between 8,000 and 10,000
thousand years ago. And it’s
totally unreasonable to think
somebody could have died
and floated into these caves
against the current. So it
makes these bones potentially
some of the oldest human
remains to be found in Mexico.
But that will depend on the
exact date. The water-level
calculations indicate the
youngest the bones should
be, but of course there’s
nothing to say these bones
couldn’t have been here for
a significant period before
the water level rose. For now,
having completed this
part of the mission, we head
out and surface. It’s a
success, and we have all the
material we need to file
permits with the Mexican
authorities that allow us to
take a sample for analysis.
The DNA can reveal
fascinating insights into our
ancestors, and underline the
huge archaeological value
of these river systems.”
THE RED BULLETIN 55

TAKING
THE LEAP
How the women of
RED BULL FORMATION
transformed freeride
mountain biking for ever
Words JEN SEE
PARIS GORE

Rocks off: Hannah
Bergemann drops
into the top of
her line at the firstever
Formation in
October 2019
57

Formation
Trailblazers: Micayla Gatto (right) takes a break to compare notes with Vaea Verbeeck
The sun had just begun to rise near Virgin,
Utah, when American rider Hannah
Bergemann began to climb. Shouldering
her 16kg downhill bike, Bergemann
walked steadily up a narrow desert
ridgeline. When she reached the top, she
looked down the line that she and her
dig crew had patiently carved out of the
red desert sand, peeling back layers of
prehistoric stone. If Bergemann felt any
nerves, she didn’t show them.
She began to ride. With precision,
Bergemann followed the narrow track
unwinding along the canyon wall as the
landscape blurred beneath her wheels.
She hit her first jump, flying over the
gap. The ground dropped into wide-open
air beneath her. Then came a series of
ledges, a staircase made for giants,
formed out of rock layers, none of them
laid straight. A steep chute sent her
hurtling downwards until, at last,
Bergemann arrived at a final jump. She
soared over the gap cleanly, her bike’s
suspension compressing under the force
of the landing.
Bergemann had come to Virgin for
Red Bull Formation, a freeride camp for
women. The groundbreaking October
2019 event brought together six of the
world’s best freeride mountain bikers and
gave them the opportunity to ride in the
storied Utah terrain, made famous by
the almost exclusively male bike event
Red Bull Rampage, a notoriously testing
invitation-only contest that’s now one of
the biggest on the global calendar.
After five days in the desert, no longer
could anyone say that women lacked
the skills to ride Utah’s intense and
unforgiving terrain. These riders had
transformed the landscape of women’s
KATIE LOZANCICH, PARIS GORE
58 THE RED BULLETIN

After three dig days,
the women had
created three very
different lines
In the swing: Vero Sandler digs her line
in the desert sun of Virgin, Utah

Track star: Sandler shows
her classic style as she
charges down the mountain

Formation
mountain biking; they had created the
foundations for women’s freeride to fly.
“It gave me confidence to start from
a blank slate on the mountain and make
it into something rideable that pushed my
limits,” says Bergemann. “There hasn’t
been a lot of space for women to pursue
freeride – I feel like this is the start.”
Formation’s roots go back to 2017,
when Rebecca Rusch travelled to
Rampage as a guest. A decorated
endurance mountain biker, Rusch had
never seen the iconic event in person.
She stood in awe of the riding skills on
display, but couldn’t help wondering
why no women were competing. She
began to ask questions. “I was the pot
stirrer,” she says.
Rusch learned that Rampage had
never specifically excluded women, but
This was the riders’
first chance
to collaborate to
push the boundaries
of their sport
none had ever qualified. “I felt like I had
to be the one to push. I was not a freeride
athlete, so it wasn’t like I was out for
myself,” she says. “I had no skin in the
game; it was just the right thing to do.”
With that push, the conversation about
where women fit into the Rampage
picture began in earnest. “There were
some hard conversations,” Rusch recalls.
The next year, a crew of Red Bull athletes,
female gravity riders and Rampage
veterans gathered around a table to
discuss the idea of a women’s event in
Virgin. Should women be added to
Rampage? Should there be a separate
event? No one knew exactly what equality
and inclusion for women looked like in
the context of Rampage.
“I think people just could not picture
what it would look like for a woman to
ride [Rampage],” recalls Katie Holden,
a now-retired American downhill pro
who was at the table that night. “It’s just
this dude environment. It’s hardcore
and it’s gnarly.”
Holden had her own history with
Rampage. Like many female riders,
Holden had started her career as a racer,
but it had never felt like the right fit.
When the offer to partner with women’s
cycling brand Liv came along in 2013, she
jumped at the chance to do something
new. She became a brand ambassador
and built a portfolio of travel, filming,
clinic events, and freeriding. Holden’s
new role also opened the way to chase
her dream of qualifying for Rampage.
“There wasn’t a path to Rampage for
women, because it had never been done
before,” she says. “I just tried to spend
a lot of time out there and be a sponge
and learn as much as I possibly could.”
After spending several years digging
at Rampage and riding the terrain in
Virgin, Holden put all her chips on the
table. Together with a videographer
and photographer, Holden went to the
desert to make a movie she hoped would
score her an invite to Rampage. “I put
everything into it,” she says. Her attempt
ended quickly, though, when she crashed
and tore her calf muscle. Two years of
injuries followed, while the level of riding
at Rampage rose exponentially. “It was
really emotional,” she says. “I realised
that dream wasn’t going to come true.”
Even as Rusch began asking questions,
Holden still felt the sting of regret. “I had
wanted to be the girl who made Rampage,”
she says. At the same time, she had begun
PARIS GORE
Route-one cycling: British World Cup rider Tahnée Seagrave takes the path of least resistance
THE RED BULLETIN 61

Formation
“A lot of people
didn’t believe
in Formation
until Formation
came to be”
Katie Holden
to come to terms with what had gone
wrong for her. In retrospect, she could see
that although she came close to reaching
the heights required to compete at
Rampage, she didn’t have the perfect
skill set to do it. And she saw that her
approach had isolated her in crucial ways.
So, when the chance came to design
a women’s event in Virgin, Holden was all
in. Here was a way to put her experience
to work and build a space for women to
succeed. “I don’t like to say that I failed,
because I don’t really believe in failure,
but my experience was a stepping-stone
for Formation,” she says. On a drive to her
mother’s house on Whidbey Island from
her home in Bellingham, Washington,
Holden pulled over to sketch the outlines
of a women’s freeride camp. By the time
she arrived, she knew: Formation was on.
When New Zealander Vinny
Armstrong stepped off the
plane in Las Vegas, she’d never
seen the desert. “It feels like
a different planet,” she says. Known for
her stylish airs, at the time Armstrong
stood at a crossroads in her career.
“I was really tossing up whether I was
going to keep trying to be a World Cup
racer or do a freeride career,” she says.
The six riders invited to Formation
came from diverse corners of the
mountain biking world, but most shared
a background in World Cup downhill
racing. As Holden considered riders, she
felt the experience of learning World Cup
tracks and dealing with the pressures of
racing would help them navigate the
steep challenges posed by riding in Virgin.
Holden also felt the need to prove that
women could handle riding the area’s
unforgiving terrain. She wanted to set
them up for success. “A lot of people
didn’t believe in Formation before
Formation came to be,” she says. “So I felt
like we had to make it perfect in order for
people to jump on the train.”
The sandstone walls of the canyons
around Virgin are marked with tracks and
jump lines that riders have built over
time. During its 12-year history, Rampage
has used several sites in the area, and the
remnants of many features remain. “It
was exciting just to see all that in front of
my eyes,” says Veronique Sandler, a New
Zealand-born rider now based in south
Wales, who focuses on filming. She
recognised a number of the jumps from
seeing them in Instagram clips posted by
Utah-based riders such as Jaxson Riddle
and Ethan Nell.
British World Cup racer Tahnée
Seagrave and Canadian riders Micayla
Gatto and Vaea Verbeeck completed the
group of six, and, on the first day, the
women headed to one of the original
Rampage sites to acclimatise to the
terrain. “Just getting used to the exposure,
there are times when your brain goes,
‘No, that’s not even something I’m going
to try,’” says Verbeeck, who won the
overall title at the Crankworx series in
2019. Riding in the desert, some of them
for the first time, the group tested the
traction and braking points as they began
to uncover the desert’s secrets. “It takes
a bit to get used to it, because you still
get heaps of grip, even while sliding and
drifting everywhere,” says Armstrong.
“It’s just so sick.”
The first day also let the women
reconnect. All six riders knew one another
from past events, but typically they spent
their time competing against each other.
From the start, Holden envisioned
Formation as a collaborative effort to
raise the level of the sport. The women
embraced the concept. “We were legit
standing next to each other, discussing
everything together, brainstorming
together, trying to make it work together
– for each other,” says Verbeeck.
The next day, the women and their
crews headed to the 2015 Rampage site
and began digging the lines they planned
to ride. An often under-appreciated
element of Rampage is the skill required
to dig tracks and features into the walls
of the canyons. “One of the hardest parts
is seeing raw terrain and being able to
visualise how to turn it into something
you want to ride,” says Bergemann.
Both Bergemann and Sandler spend
hours digging at home, but working in
the desert was different. “I do a lot of
digging, but it’s so different out there,”
says Sandler. “[New Zealand rider]
Casey Brown was injured, unfortunately,
but she’s done digging at Rampage
before and she had tons of tips for us.”
Joining the six riders – and underlining
the fact that the desire to push women’s
freeride transcends not only bike
specialisms but sports – came supporters
including freeride fans Michelle Parker,
a big-mountain skier, and Puerto Rican
motocross racer Tarah Gieger.
After three dig days, the women
had created three very different lines.
Bergemann and Gatto went big with
exposed, high-consequence features.
Bergemann and her dig team built a long,
steep track with multiple drops and gap
jumps. With help from Rusch, Parker and
Gieger, Gatto sculpted a fast chute down
the narrow spine of a ridgeline. Her line
included two blind step downs.
KATIE LOZANCICH
62 THE RED BULLETIN

Dream team: the athletes, dig crews, organisers and mentors whose combined efforts made Formation a reality celebrate the breakthrough event
Across the canyon face, Sandler,
Verbeeck, Armstrong and Seagrave
collaborated on a flowing track they
dubbed the ‘party line’. These riders
sought space to show their style and
throw a few tricks into the mix. “At first,
it was like, ‘This looks crazy!’” says
Verbeeck. “But by the time we rode it
we didn’t know how easy it would feel.”
Their line included a series of drops,
an arcing berm (a narrow raised shelf),
and a jump line at the end.
“Every line showed each rider’s
personality, and that’s what I really
love about freeride,” says Brown, who
competed in Proving Grounds, a Rampage
qualifying event, in 2019 and attended
Formation in a supporting role, due to
a broken collarbone. “It’s an art form
rather than just a race.”
As the first of two riding days began,
Bergemann set an early standard. Her line
was done; she was ready. “I was super
stoked and eager to get on my bike after
several days of digging and thinking
about riding,” she says. As the other
women prepped in the parking lot,
Bergemann soared over the gap of her
final jump. Seeing Bergemann ride,
California native Parker, who was present
to mentor the riders, recalls thinking,
“Oh, it’s so on now.”
For Holden, the moment felt like
validation. “It gives me chills just thinking
“I was frickin’
blown away by the
talent and the skill
of these women”
Rebecca Rusch
THE RED BULLETIN 63

In five days,
the women had
transformed
the landscape
of women’s
mountain biking
Gatto blaster: the Canadian dug a
challenging line at Formation with a
fast chute down the narrow spine of
a ridgeline, and two blind step downs

Formation
MICHELLE PARKER, KATIE LOZANCICH
about it,” she says. “It was the first riding
day and there was so much tension. All
of a sudden, we all saw Hannah grease
the gnarliest line. It really set the tone
for the whole thing.”
But learning to ride the steep terrain
had its challenges. Like her peers at
Formation, Gatto had raced World Cup
downhill. In 2014, a severe concussion
put her racing career on hold, and she
redirected her energy to filming,
bikepacking and hitting big jumps in her
spare time. “I was just feeling like I want
to ride big chutes and big ridgelines,”
she says. “It was always this pipe dream
to go and see Rampage and ride out
there.” Formation offered a chance to
chase that dream.
Gatto built a vertigo-inspiring line
with steep drop-offs on either side. It
included a heavy double drop. Making
the first drop meant sending her bike
flying off the edge of the cliff line. As she
committed to the drop, Gatto could not
see the landing, which sat far below her
with its edges falling away into a steep
canyon. If she missed her narrow landing
patch, she would plummet into the
canyon below. “It’s just so scary, that fear
of crashing, because if you crash, you’re
done,” Gatto says. She ended up skipping
the first big drop.
Across the canyon face, Armstrong
wrestled with a similar dilemma. As she
rolled up to one of the drops on the party
line, all she could see was sky. “I couldn’t
see the landing until my front wheel was
nearly in the air,” she says. After almost
missing the landing spot on her first run,
Armstrong began setting out small rocks
to guide her, like the lights on a runaway.
Each evening at Formation, the riders
and support crew gathered for a series of
round-table discussions. One night, they
talked about fear. “I learned a lot about
how the other girls deal with fear and the
processes they go through,” says Sandler.
The sessions proved intense. As she has
thought about future editions of the
event, Holden has wondered how she
might preserve this knowledge sharing
while giving the riders more downtime.
The insights into managing fear have
had lasting value. “All these emotions we
feel [when] pushing boundaries, we’re
all doing similar things,” says Gatto, who
found inspiration in Parker. When she
prepares to ski a big line in Alaska, Parker
channels the confident voice in her head.
“I named my confident person Chad,”
says Gatto. “Every time I went to try
something, I could hear the girls yelling,
‘Go Chad!’” Since Formation, Gatto has
continued to hone the mental side of
her game. She wants to ensure that next
time she’s ready to hit every big drop.
All six riders knew
each other, but
they typically just
competed against
each other
One vision: 2019 Crankworx winner Verbeeck (right) hailed the team spirit at Formation
For women’s freeride, Formation was just
a beginning. “I’m super excited to go back,
because we know we can definitely trust
the terrain more and go a bit harder,”
says Verbeeck. Both Parker and Rusch are
eager to repeat their roles as diggers and
mentors, too, while Holden is already
jotting ideas in her notebooks as she
drives around Bellingham.
“I was frickin’ blown away by the talent
and the skill of these women,” says Rusch.
“Seeing it up close was really inspiring for
me. I want to go back so much.”
The riders all say they’re ready for
more chances to lift their freeride
progression. Brown, for example, values
the pressure that competitive events put
on her to hit new features, but she’d love
to see more events that share Formation’s
non-competitive nature. “I think a lot of
women [give up] the sport because they
feel that the only places to participate at a
higher level are contests and not everyone
is made for that,” says Brown. She’s
hoping to see more space for women at
freeride events such as the Fest Series.
Already Formation has changed the
career trajectories of some of the women.
“Even in the past year, the industry has
invested in women in a way they haven’t
before,” says Holden. Shortly after,
Formation, Bergemann and Sandler
received invitations to travel to India with
action-sports filmmakers Teton Gravity
Research and ride in their high-profile
project Accomplice. Bergemann now has
sponsorship support from Red Bull and
Transition Bikes to chase her freeride
dream. Armstrong says new doors have
swung open for her, too, and she’s shifted
her focus from racing to freeride.
After the COVID gap year, planning is
underway for Formation 2021 to happen
later this year. Though she may tinker
with the details, Holden expects the event
to look similar to the 2019 edition, with
a mix of digging, riding, and round-table
discussions. She remains committed to
keeping Formation non-competitive.
Holden has found a deep satisfaction
in bringing her own experience with
Rampage full circle and showing the
world just what women riders can do.
“I just have this full-body high from
knowing that women can ride there,
and that people believe and know
women can ride there now,” says Holden.
“To see a collective of women look good
out there – once people could see that,
it just changed everything.”
redbull.com
THE RED BULLETIN 65

TIME TO
SHINE
East London rapper
GHETTS has been
putting in the work
for almost two
decades, and now
finally it’s paying
off. Here, he talks
about fighting
conformity, the
power of self-belief,
and how ditching
his ego was the key
to success
Words WILL LAVIN
Photography ADAMA JALLOH

Future’s bright: Ghetts’
moving third album,
Conflict of Interest, is
an early contender for
‘Best of 2021’ lists
67

Ghetts
Playing the long game isn’t for everyone. But, for Ghetts,
patience and determination have been key components of
a career built to last. Our first taste of the British rapper’s
raw, whip-smart wordplay and magnetic charm came in 2005,
when – under the name Ghetto – he guested on the track
Typical Me by Kano, a fellow member of east London collective
NASTY Crew. That 42-second introduction signalled the
arrival of a grime heavyweight in the making – even if it was
to be a slow and steady ascent to prominence.
Born in Plaistow, east London, Ghetts – real name Justin
Clarke – began taking his career as a rapper seriously soon
after being released from prison for a series of minor car-crime
offences in 2003. His debut mixtape, 2000 & Life, was released
at the tail end of 2005, followed two years later by his second,
the acclaimed Ghetto Gospel. Packed with big ideas and diverse
subject matter, conceptually the mixtape was ahead of its time
in the grime world and highlighted the depth and range of the
then 22-year-old artist. Known as the MC’s MC, for years Ghetts
stood by and watched as a number of his grime contemporaries
broke into the mainstream and were lauded as the leaders of
the new and exciting cultural uprising he was helping to create.
But finally the agile wordsmith is enjoying his own moment
in the sun. Ghetts has been nominated for awards – including
a place on the Best Contemporary Song shortlist at the Ivor
Novellos for Black Rose, a rousing celebration of the strength
and beauty of Black men and women – and has worked with
artists such as Ed Sheeran, Stormzy and Emeli Sandé; he can
also count the likes of Drake and Kanye West as fans. Then,
earlier this year, he scored a first UK top five hit with his
critically acclaimed third album, Conflict of Interest.
Although this path has been longer for Ghetts than for
others, he says that the journey has taught him lessons on
what true success means. According to the now 36-year-old,
humbling himself and choosing to be thankful has contributed
to him making the best music of his entire career and, in turn,
is the reason why he’s now earning the acclaim he so
desperately hungered for.
the red bulletin: Compared with
many other artists, your success
has been a long time coming…
ghetts: It really has. And it’s been a bit
overwhelming, if I’m honest. For a long
time, I felt like my back was against the
wall when it came to making music and
putting it out, like I had to constantly
prove so many people wrong. Whereas
recently it’s been the opposite; I’m now
at a place where I’m having to prove
people right – but that’s not a bad thing.
Why do you think people are
connecting with you more now than
they did before?
I think my songwriting is the best it’s
ever been. I’m at a point where I feel
like I’m becoming more of a wellrounded
artist. As a lyricist, you can
sometimes go overboard and just rap
a bunch of bars, but you’ve got to know
when to put your foot on the brake
and when to take it off. That was
something I had to teach myself. I don’t
think I would be having the success
I am now if I hadn’t got rid of my ego.
Was that hard to do?
At times, yeah. But there’s no room for
ego when you’re trying to be great. I can
definitely say I find it easier to do within
music than in real life. When you’re
having an argument with your partner
and you swear you’re in the right, it’s
harder to say, “You know what, babe?
I’m in the wrong.” But it shouldn’t be
that way. Removing your ego from both
work settings and reality settings is really
important – at least for me.
What made you want to get rid of it?
I started to see things that I don’t like
about other people creeping into myself.
There was a time when I was super
68 THE RED BULLETIN

“I don’t think I’d be having the success I am
now if I hadn’t got rid of my ego. There’s no room
for ego when you’re trying to be great”
THE RED BULLETIN 69

Dropping knowledge:
Ghetts’ redemptive life
and career experiences
make him a powerful
role model for kids
growing up today
“I’d tell my
younger self you
gotta be grateful
for every step
you take”

Ghetts
ungrateful. I couldn’t see all the
opportunities and blessings I had. I was
looking at everyone else’s life and
couldn’t see what was going on in my
own. I was always thinking that what
I had wasn’t enough.
When you were released from prison
in 2003, having served time as a
juvenile, what was it that prevented
you from going back?
It was the support I had from my
family while I was in there; it acts as
a deterrent. Some of the worst things
we do in our lives happen because we
feel like no one cares. It’s an
overwhelming feeling. A lot of people
commit suicide because they feel like
nobody gives a shit. So when you feel
like somebody cares, it can act as a
deterrent and it can really help you
through some of the hardest times in
your life. That’s why in the video for
Proud Family [released as a single last
December] I included the scene when
young Justin leaves prison and is
greeted by his mum. There’s a lot of
layered thinking in it.
On that same track, you rap: “I’ve
been who I see all these youngers
becoming.” Knowing what you know
now, what advice would you give
your younger self?
I’d point out the opportunities. I’d tell
myself you gotta be grateful for every
step you take, whether big or small.
Every bit of progression is amazing and
should be celebrated. I’d tell myself to
be thankful and to look at how far
I’ve come. I want [today’s young people]
to know that although I might not have
ever been in as deep as them, I still
understand what it is they’re going
through. I know to them I sound like
the OG who’s lecturing them about
staying on the straight and narrow, but
I’ve seen enough to know that 99.9 per
cent of the time the street life only ends
one of two ways: death or jail.
Would you say your days in prison
were some of your darkest?
They weren’t great, but they weren’t my
darkest. My darkest days were when
“We’re all
humans, and on
a day-to-day
basis most of us
are conflicted”
I made [2008 mixtape] Freedom of
Speech. I really wasn’t in a good place
when I put that project together.
In what way?
It was around that same time I was
struggling to see my blessings and it was
beginning to bleed into my music. If you
listen to Ghetto Gospel, which came out
[the year] before, I stepped out of my
comfort zone and created something
with a lot of depth in it. But the feedback
I was getting at the time wasn’t what I
wanted to hear. So I decided to conform
to the underground with Freedom of
Speech. I felt like people would
understand that better.
That’s unusual. It’s not often you
hear about artists conforming to
the underground…
Way more people conform to an
underground sound than they do a
mainstream one, trust me. It’s because
they’re scared to be who they really
are outside of what they’re perceived to
be, especially if it’s working for them.
It can’t have been easy putting the
demands of the listener ahead of
your own creative needs…
It wasn’t. It made me feel really
conflicted, and that’s what eventually
led to the title of my [latest] album,
Conflict of Interest. I got halfway through
making it and realised I was a very
conflicted human being. I had a real
self-aware moment where I decided
I couldn’t risk not including all the
qualities that make me who I am. I
wasn’t going to present just one side of
myself. We’re all humans, and on a dayto-day
basis most of us are conflicted.
I just so happen to be capturing some
of these moments on record, so it’s my
job to make the public understand it,
even if sometimes it sounds like we’re
contradicting ourselves.
Have there been times where you’ve
felt pressure to conform to the
mainstream, too, as you’ve watched
your peers experience huge success?
Yeah, I used to have that feeling all the
time. These days, everyone’s screaming
culture, culture, culture. But I remember
very clearly a time when it was less about
culture and more about looking for that
hit, something made specifically to be
played on radio or at a festival. One of
my old managers used to say stuff like
that to me. Like, “We need to get in the
studio with this person or that person.”
But I never went through with it. I didn’t
feel like I needed to.
Where did you get that self-belief?
Every step I take seems impossible to the
people around me, but because I’ve made
so many of them already I know the next
step’s a real possibility. I prayed for the
person I am today. I was in a prison cell,
telling the inmates that the person I am
now was who I was gonna be. Very few
people believed me. I was telling the
governor that I’d never be coming back
to jail, but he hears that every day. It
doesn’t mean anything to him – they’re
just words. So I look at every step like that
very first one. Everything is possible to me.
Have you had to make sacrifices to
get where you are now? If so, what has
been the biggest?
My time. I never have enough of it to do
other things. I spoke to someone recently
who I hadn’t seen in a while and I was
really apologetic about it. He was like,
“Nah, it’s fine. I understand that you’ve
been busy.” I thought to myself, “That’s
not really an excuse, because tomorrow’s
never promised.” Time is moving so
fast, and because I’m so focused on one
area I keep sacrificing it. I’m always
questioning whether or not my career
is important enough for me to continue
sacrificing my time.
And is it?
That’s hard to answer. I know what I
want in life. I know what I want for my
kids, and what I’ve got to do to achieve
it. But at the same time it’s breaking
bonds that could be made stronger. It’s
a tricky one, but I’m gonna continue to
work on it and work on myself.
Ghetts will be touring the UK this
November. For tickets, go to ghetts.co.uk
THE RED BULLETIN 71

VENTURE
Enhance, equip, and experience your best life
JAKE HOLLAND CALUM MUSKETT
PARA-ALPINISM
Mont Blanc,
France-Italy border
73

VENTURE
Travel
“The route down
would normally be
arduous and risky,
crossing glaciers and
rock walls, but I’m not
making the descent
on foot – I’m flying it”
Calum Muskett, climber
and mountain guide
Snow crunches underfoot as
I make the final few steps
along the narrow snow ridge
leading to the summit of
Mont Blanc, the highest peak
in western Europe. Cloud shrouds the
French side of the mountain as a chill
breeze freezes my eyelashes. It’s 7am
on September 1, 2019, and the region’s
regular summer paragliding ban has just
been lifted. A wave of nausea hits me
as I unpack my bag – I feel physically
beaten by the effort to reach the summit.
More than 3,500m below me lies the
Chamonix Valley. From here, the route
down Mont Blanc would normally be
long, arduous and risky, crossing glaciers
and rock walls, but I won’t be making the
descent on foot – I’m going to fly it.
I’ve been climbing mountains ever
since 2006, when I served an
apprenticeship on the crags and cliffs
of my native North Wales. These days,
as a professional climber and mountain
guide, I follow the seasons, dividing
my time between the mountains of
Snowdonia and the Giffre Valley in the
French Alps. Two years ago, I learned
to paraglide, which opened up new
horizons for me. An ascent of Mont Blanc
would normally take three days and
involve two cable cars and a train ride;
now I can leave Chamonix in the early
hours, climb the mountain, and be back
down for a second breakfast.
There’s something liberating about
flying – there’s that release of pressure
from committing a launch where you
have to get everything just right, feet
dangling improbably over the abyss as
you cheat evolution and soar with the
birds. After 10 minutes of untangling
frost-covered lines and laying out my
canopy, I’m away, swooping down to
Rock steady: on the crux pitch of Incroyable
Italy in the cool morning air, thankful
that I don’t have to walk any further,
and ready for my morning cappuccino
pick-me-up in the café that sits next
to the landing field.
Para-alpinism, as it is known in
France, is becoming an increasingly
popular pastime. As the name
suggests, this is a combination of
paragliding and alpine mountaineering,
and the European Alps – with their
limited flight restrictions and excellent
infrastructure – are particularly well
geared towards the pursuit. The
concept isn’t new – pioneers such
as the Frenchman Jean-Marc Boivin
were launching off many of the
world’s highest summits some four
74 THE RED BULLETIN

VENTURE
Travel
Where
to go
Location:
Chamonix Valley
Nearest airport:
Geneva
Transport:
Six cable car
systems
Altitude:
More than
4,000m, with
11 main summits
in the Mont
Blanc massif
Seasonal info:
The massif is
restricted in July
and August
France
Italy
JAKE HOLLAND CALUM MUSKETT
Peak time: Muskett ascends a snow ridge to reach the Eccles bivouac hut in the early morning
Super fly guy: the Welshman commits to launch his paraglider at 4,000m
decades ago. This early era of the
sport culminated in Boivin’s successful
flight off Everest in 1988; since then,
the technology of – and interest in –
paragliding has shifted towards crosscountry
flying, where the performance
of wings has been orientated towards
improving the glide ratio and lift of
canopies. The current cross-country
world record stands at a straight
distance of 564km, set by three Brazilian
pilots in 2016, while the highest flight
ever recorded was established that same
year by Frenchman Antoine Girard, who
soared above Broad Peak in Pakistan
at an astonishing 8,157m.
The early pioneers of para-alpinism
would shoulder huge packs weighing in
excess of 12kg (that’s without factoring
in any of the mountaineering equipment
required), making climb-and-fly missions
impractical, to say the least. Recent
improvements in technology have
provided new canopy types consisting
of just a single ‘mono-skin’ layer rather
than the conventional double layering
system with air cells. These new wings
weigh as little as 1kg, pack into a midsized
stuff sack, and have an ultra-light
sit-harness. This step-change in
technology has given the sport a new
lease of life. But fast and light paraalpinism
is just one strand of the sport;
the real appeal for me is what you can
achieve when you introduce technical
climbing, where conventional descents
by abseiling and down-climbing can be
both lengthy and dangerous.
It’s September 2020 and, together
with my friends Paul and Jake, I’m back
THE RED BULLETIN 75

VENTURE
Travel
Soar point: (above) Muskett flies above the heavily crevassed Glacier du Brouillard;
(below) approaching the landing field in the Val Veny, Italy
on Mont Blanc. We’re attempting a
second ascent of the mountain’s hardest
rock climb – a route known as Incroyable,
on the Pilier Rouge du Brouillard, an
imposing granite monolith that starts at
4,000m. The sun is out and the weather
is baking hot. Snow melting on the
slopes above and below us expose a
vertiginous red rock face, which we
manoeuvre up using our fingertips. After
a successful day’s climbing, we make it
to the tiny tin shack of the Eccles refuge
and a viable take-off on a hanging
section of glacier near the hut.
The position is awe-inspiring, and the
ever-steepening convex snow slope is
perfect for a take-off – or it would be if
the entire slope wasn’t still frozen. Paul
and Jake are standing on a hacked-out
snow ledge 30m to my side. It will be
Paul’s first flight under the command of
Jake on an ultra-light single-skin tandem
wing. What a place for a first flight.
“Para-alpinism
is becoming an
increasingly
popular pastime”
Wearing crampons to give myself
purchase on the snow, I make my
committing run to launch the glider.
The light fabric quickly and easily rises
above my head, and as the leading edge
touches the sun a warm valley breeze
inflates the canopy and gently lifts me
off my feet. Looking back, I see Jake and
Paul safely take off with whoops of joy
as they settle beneath their wing.
It’s shared experiences like these
that make para-alpinism such an
incredible sport. The descent was once
the boring part of the day, but now it’s
something to look forward to. As we
touch down in the valley, conveniently
close to that café, it’s time to plan our
next adventure.
Calum Muskett is a professional climber,
mountain guide, and ambassador for
Rab, Scarpa and Petzl. He provides
bespoke mountaineering and ski courses
at muskettmountaineering.co.uk
JAKE HOLLAND CALUM MUSKETT
76 THE RED BULLETIN

PROMOTION
Canyon’s Torque:ON
takes the eMTB to the
next level. Below:
changing its lightweight
battery is a breeze
ROO FOWLER
T
he electric mountain bike
has opened up a world of
possibilities for riders who
want to push themselves
and their machine to the
limit. However, the constantly
evolving technology has come
with caveats – battery life has
been the biggest drawback,
restricting range and time spent
on the trails – while designs have
generally stuck to the safer end
of the spectrum. Until now, that is.
Canyon is a pioneer of eMTB
design, and the Torque:ON is the
latest in its extensive off-road
range to get the ‘ON’ treatment.
Based on the big mountain model
of the same name, the result is a
gravity-hungry rig that will gobble
up the hardest bike-park lines or
backcountry trails, run after run.
Powering the Torque:ON is
Shimano’s latest EP8 motor. The
unit’s 500 peak watts and 85Nm
of torque act as your own personal
uplift. Press the toptube-integrated
:ON button, select a support
mode (Eco, Trail or Boost) on the
handlebar-mounted switch and
get ready for 25kph of fun.
Gone are the days of slapping
a battery where there’s room, and
Canyon has designed the entire
frame’s geometry around a
lightweight 504Wh downtubeintegrated
pack. Its positioning
keeps the centre of gravity low
and adds stability over rocky or
root-strewn sections of trail. If
you do manage to burn through
its 100km range in one session,
swapping it for another is a cinch.
Plus, with a discounted second
battery on offer with every
purchase, having back-up in your
daypack just got more affordable.
Of course, all this power means
little if the package it’s housed in
isn’t up to scratch. Fortunately,
Canyon knows a thing or two
about constructing bombproof
bikes. The frame is made from
a super-durable alloy that can
withstand huge drops and rough
landings, while features such as
oversized bearings and integrated
chainring protection mean that
your investment will ride like
new, season after season.
Finished with 180mm of front
suspension, 175mm of fade-free
rear suspension, and playful
27.5in wheels, this freeridefriendly
eMTB is as happy in
the air as it is blasting its way
down tight, technical tracks.
eMTB just got extreme.
For more info on the Torque:ON
range, head to canyon.com
NOW WE’RE
TORQUING
How Canyon’s latest range puts
the extreme in eMTB

“I
was 13 the first time
I did a wall ride,” says
Kriss Kyle. “I was
scared – you’re going
so fast you hope your tyres grip,
or it’ll hurt. But it gripped,
whipped me round and spat me
out. I’m still chasing that feeling.”
The trick has become one of his
signature moves, as seen in the
film Kriss Kyle’s Kaleidoscope
(2015). In his new movie, Out of
Season, the 29-year-old BMX
ace enters the Welsh woodlands
to perform the manoeuvre on a
far heavier vehicle – a mountain
bike. “This has been four years
in the making,” he says. “I’ve
always wanted to build a curved
wall ride in the woods.” Here’s
how Kyle, ramp builder George
Eccleston and the film’s director
Matty Lambert achieved this…
The vision
“I’m always thinking, ‘What’s
next?’” says Kyle. “I thought
I’d like to do a 270° [wall ride],
where I’m going into the wall
then sweeping under it on the
way out without hitting my
head. As long as I can picture it
in my head, I know I can do it.”
The plan
“Kriss often just has a rough
idea in his head and we try to
find a spot that works,” says
Eccleston. “We picked a point
amid these three trees to get
the lateral side-to-side stiffness.
We needed trees on a slope that
allowed [the wall] to be 1.5m
off the ground at the entry
point, but 2m on the other side
so he could exit beneath it.”
The build
“The shape was pre-cut in the
workshop, then assembled on
site in two days,” says Eccleston.
“We used plywood rings made
from birch – it’s flexible yet
durable, so we use it on indoor
skate builds – and larch slats
to provide strength and grip.”
The test
“I was nervous as I wouldn’t get
to go on it before it was built,”
says Kyle, “so it was a case of
stepping into the unknown.”
Eccleston says they were
VENTURE
How to...
CREATE
Land a wall ride
Bike supremo Kriss Kyle reveals the art of creating this incredible move
270°
Degrees of perfection
“The upper circle is 4.2m in diameter, but the lower
circle is only 4m as it has a backward lean of 5°,”
says Eccleston. “That means if it’s wet on the shoot
Kriss can hit the wall slower with more control and grip.
If it was vertical, he’d slide straight down it.”
Gripping stuff: BMX
ace Kriss Kyle does
the rounds on his wall
in the Welsh woods
prepared to make alterations
on set: “On the first few goes,
we had to watch for wobbles
when Kriss hit it at a certain
point. Where that happened,
we added extra timber braces.”
The moment
“We had two angles to film: one
from behind, showing Kriss
going into the wall ride, then
a drone moving down from the
tree canopy,” says Lambert.
“You want to see him from
a riding perspective – to see
how hard it is – but it should
also look beautiful. It’s quite
awkward entering the curved
wall, and the viewer can see
how thin the gap is. As he hits
the wall, he kind of disappears.”
Watch Out of Season from
April 15 at redbull.com
EISA BAKOS HOWARD CALVERT CHRISTINA LOCK
78 THE RED BULLETIN

VENTURE
Equipment
Charge ahead
Gone are the days of electric mountain bikes being labelled
as cheating, lazy, or even dull. With professional riders
such as Matt Jones and Tahnée Seagrave already jumping
on board, it’s time to join the e-revolution...
MARIN’s slogan, etched
into the rims, is ‘Made for
fun’. Thanks to the motor,
it’s enjoyable going uphill,
but with a full suspension
this bike is clearly built for
maximum pleasure
on a fast descent.
The trail tamer: Marin Alpine Trail E2
Mountain biking was born in the hills of Marin County, California, in the late 1970s and early ’80s.
Among its innovators was Marin Bikes, which, for 35 years, has put its prototypes through their paces
on those original tough and gnarly trails. So, when the company claims the Alpine Trail E2 is its “most
capable eMTB to date”, that’s no small boast. Based on the non-electric Alpine Trail model, the E2
adds extra zip to a much-loved all-mountain platform with a 250W Shimano STEPS EP8 motor, which
flattens steep climbs at the flick of a button. A removable protective plate over the frame-integrated
battery adds peace of mind should you end up in the rough stuff. marinbikes.com
80 THE RED BULLETIN

VENTURE
Equipment
TIM KENT
Rider #1: The modest mountain man
Not everyone wants to look like a circus tent on two wheels.
This is off-road gear for the unassuming rider who wants to
stay low-key while trusting that his kit can deliver
Left to right, from top: LEATT MTB 2.0 water-resistant and windproof
jacket with magnetic hood system for fixing to a helmet, leatt.com;
MET HELMETS Bluegrass Rogue Core MIPS helmet, met-helmets.com;
DAKINE Sentinel bike gloves, dakine.com; GUSSET S2 pedals, made
from precision-engineered 6061 alloy, gussetcomponents.com;
ARCADE BELTS Midnighter adventure belt, arcadebelts.com; STANCE
Athletic Crew Staple socks, stance.com, GIRO Roust Long-sleeve
MTB jersey, giro.co.uk; LEATT 2.0 Flat shoes, leatt.com; TSG Trailz
shorts, ridetsg.com; OSPREY Savu 2 two-litre biking lumbar pack,
ospreyeurope.com; ENDURA Singletrack Lite Knee Pads II,
endurasport.com; EXPOSURE LIGHTS Flex eMTB light with an output
of up to 3,300 lumens, and RedEye-E light, exposurelights.com
THE RED BULLETIN 81

VENTURE
Equipment
Rider #2: The woodland warrior
For the female trail rider wanting to blend into the backcountry
but still stand out for her skills, here’s a full set of kit that’s all
about function and less about frills
Left to right, from top: SPECIALIZED Ambush Comp helmet with ANGI
crash sensor, specialized.com; ENDURA Hummvee Lite Icon gloves,
endurasport.com; LEZYNE Tool Insert Kit multitool, ride.lezyne.com;
ADIDAS Five Ten Freerider Primeblue 2021 MTB shoes, adidas.co.uk;
SIXSIXONE Radia goggles, sixsixone.com; DMR BIKES Pedal spanner,
dmrbikes.com; SPECIALIZED Techno MTB Tall socks, specialized.com;
CHROME Storm Salute Commute jacket, chromeindustries.com;
SIXSIXONE DBO elbow pads, sixsixone.com; DAKINE Drafter 14L Bike
Hydration backpack, dakine.com; SPECIALIZED Andorra Air Longsleeve
jersey, specialized.com; SCOTT SPORTS Trail Contessa Sign
Women’s shorts with padding, scott-sports.com; DMR BIKES V11
pedals, dmrbikes.com; SIXSIXONE DBO knee pads, sixsixone.com
82 THE RED BULLETIN

VENTURE
Equipment
The slender steed:
Specialized S-Works
Turbo Levo SL
One common – and misinformed –
belief about eMTBs is that they’re
on the chunky side. Your honour,
the defence submits the Turbo
Levo SL… Despite packing a motor
and battery into its trim physique,
it weighs just 17.35kg – lighter
than some of the portlier
pedal-powered mountain bikes.
The US manufacturer’s focus
was on creating an e-bike that
handles exactly like a regular one
rather than a bulky, battery-assisted
stereotype. It achieves this by
combining a ridiculously
light-yet-strong carbon-fibre frame
with some of the slickest
components, engineering a
responsive and reactive ride that
will have you forgetting it’s carrying
a motor at all. It might not be
the most powerful e-ride around,
but that’s also not what it’s all
about. This bike will make you feel
like you’re having a good day – that
feeling that comes when the
climbs are a breeze and you have the
energy to do an extra lap of your
regular loop – every time you saddle
up. specialized.com
To get the most out of
this eMTB, download
SPECIALIZED’s Mission
Control smartphone app,
which allows you to tune
the power levels, log rides
with Strava, and keep an
eye on how much battery
life is left. Better still,
input the distance you’ll
be covering and the app
will adjust your power
usage throughout your
journey to ensure you
have enough juice in the
battery to get home.
TIM KENT
The Turbo Levo SL is lighter than some of
the portlier pedal-powered mountain bikes
THE RED BULLETIN 83

VENTURE
Equipment
The downhill demon:
Canyon Torque:ON
An electric mountain bike is a serious investment,
so, understandably, the thought of throwing it –
and you – down a cliff face could prompt you to
search for tamer trails. The Torque:ON eliminates
these concerns courtesy of a bombproof build.
This bike has passed the same strength and
impact tests as Canyon’s UCI Downhill World
Cup-winning rigs – the first of the German bike
brand’s eMTBs to do so – meaning it will pick
itself up and dust itself down, hit after hit, even
if you struggle to. But being built like a tank
doesn’t mean it has to handle like one. The
Torque:ON has been designed with agility at its
core. Canyon has managed this by integrating
a smaller, switchable battery, saving weight
without sacrificing any of the fun. Whether you’re
tearing down technical descents, stomping juicy
jump lines, or even when flying through the air,
it feels amazingly weighted. canyon.com
The Torque:ON has
passed the same
rigorous tests
as Canyon’s UCI
Downhill World
Cup-winning rigs
Boasting 85Nm of power,
the Torque:ON is aptly
named, but just as much
attention has gone into
making it a joy to handle.
The lighter 504Wh battery
improves its centre of
gravity, and smaller 27.5in
wheels make it more
reactive on those tight
trails. Deep front and rear
suspension gives plenty of
traction, and its gravityfocused
frame geometry
has been designed with
fast descents in mind.
84 THE RED BULLETIN

VENTURE
Equipment
TIM KENT
Rider #3: The technicolour trail-rider
For the female rider who isn’t shy about showing off, don’t
be afraid to dial up the brightness. And if you’re dialling up
the difficulty too, go for the full-face helmet option
Left to right, from top: CINELLI Slime socks, designed by Ana Benaroya,
cinelli.it; POC Kortal Race MIPS helmet, pocsports.com; ENDURA
MT500 Thermal Long-sleeve Jersey II top, endurasport.com;
SIXSIXONE Raji gloves, sixsixone.com; 100% Trajecta full-face helmet
and Accuri2 moto/MTB goggles, 100percent.com; NUKEPROOF Neutron
EVO (Electron EVO) flat pedals, nukeproof.com; MONS ROYALE Stratos
Shift bra and Redwood Enduro VT high V-neck tee, monsroyale.com;
SCOTT SPORTS Soldier 2 elbow guards, scott-sports.com; LEZYNE
Pocket Drive HV compact high-volume bike hand pump, ride.lezyne.
com; NUKEPROOF Nirvana shorts, nukeproof.com; LEATT 3.0 Flat
shoes, leatt.com; ARCADE BELTS Ranger adventure belt, arcadebelts.
com; SCOTT SPORTS Grenade EVO Zip knee guards, scott-sports.com
THE RED BULLETIN 85

VENTURE
Equipment
Rider #4: The firestarter
Go bright or go home. A fiery colour scheme for the advanced
male rider cruising bike parks or the toughest alpine trails
Left to right, from top: ENDURA MT500 Full-face helmet, endurasport.
com; DAKINE Agent O/O Bike knee pads, dakine.com; MONS ROYALE
Tarn Freeride Long-sleeve Wind Jersey top, monsroyale.com; HT
COMPONENTS PA03A pedals, ht-components.com; POC Kortal Race
MIPS helmet, pocsports.com; GIRO HRC+ Merino wool cycling
socks, giro.com; BELL Descender MTB goggles, bellbikehelmets.
co.uk; ZÉFAL Z Hydro XC hydration backpack, zefal.com; LEATT
MTB 3.0 shorts, leatt.com; DRAGON Ridge X sunglasses,
dragonalliance.com; LEZYNE Micro Floor Drive Digital HVG
portable pump and Tubeless tyre repair kit, ride.lezyne.com;
ARCADE BELTS Ranger adventure belt, arcadebelts.co.uk;
ENDURA Hummvee Lite Icon gloves, endurasport.com; RIDE
CONCEPTS Men’s Powerline shoes, rideconcepts.com
86 THE RED BULLETIN

VENTURE
Equipment
The souped-up steal:
GT Force GT-E Current
Founded in 1979, GT Bicycles cut its teeth in the pioneering days
of BMX, but the brand has come a long way since the era of
mullet haircuts, foam crossbar pads and mag wheels, and its
current mountain-bike range is renowned for balancing
top-of-the-line tech with pocket-friendly prices. The GT-E Current
is the “performance-enhancing” version of its all-mountain,
full-suspension Force rides, with the race-ready aluminium frame
ever-so-slightly beefed up to seamlessly incorporate the
battery and Shimano STEPS motor. Strategically mixing high-end
components – made by the likes of SunTour and X-Fusion –
with own-branded parts means you get a ride that doesn’t cost
the earth, but can grow with you and your newfound passion
for pinning pumptracks and shredding singletrack. This is
a no-nonsense introduction to the world of e-mountain biking.
gtbicycles.com
EFI – or ‘electronic fun
injection’ – is the
technical term that
GT has coined for this
electric-powered addition
to its full-suspension line
of mountain bikes. As
Belgian downhill enduro
pro, GT ambassador and
Red Bull athlete Martin
Maes likes to refer to it,
this bike’s 29in wheels,
150mm of suspension
travel and aggressive race
geometry make it a very
personal chair lift.
TIM KENT
The GT-E Current doesn’t cost
the earth, but can grow with your
passion for pumptracks
THE RED BULLETIN 87

Energetic by nature. Your Energy Bikes.
fazua.com

VENTURE
Fitness
Before becoming the
leading expert on
astronaut health and
fitness at the German
Aerospace Center in Cologne
in 2009, Professor Jörn
Rittweger conducted research
into a seemingly unconnected
subject. “Bed-rest studies,”
says the scientist. “Subjects
lay in bed for 60 days or
longer and we’d test training,
nutrition and electrical
stimulation. It simulates a lot
of what happens to astronauts
in space, and ultimately it led
to me getting this job.”
Going into space is
extremely hazardous to health.
With no protective atmosphere
or magnetic field, exposure to
radiation is increased. “On the
ISS, [radiation is] 300 times
higher than on Earth. On the
Moon, it’s 600 times higher.”
But the biggest factor – one
that relates most closely to
the professor’s bed studies
– is gravity, or the lack of it.
“Gravity is perhaps the
strongest environmental
stimulus since the start of
our evolutionary journey.
Our bodies have developed
mechanisms to ensure our
brains receive enough blood
when we’re upright.”
In zero gravity, however, up
and down don’t exist. “Within
hours, astronauts discharge
about a litre of urine to get rid
of the blood they’re no longer
storing in their legs,” Rittweger
says. “Low gravity also knocks
the ear’s balance system off,
causing nausea. It takes days
for the body to suppress this
‘space adaptation syndrome’;
astronauts learn to keep their
head still and not turn quickly.”
As the head of the centre’s
muscle and bone metabolism
department, Rittweger’s
prime focus is clear. “Of the
almost 500 muscles in our
body, almost half support
standing, walking or running,
and muscles only grow and
develop strength when they
meet resistance,” he explains.
With the lack of gravity on the
ISS, astronauts aren’t pulled
to the ground; there’s no
HONE
Striving for a celestial body
How does an astronaut maintain an out-of-this-world physique? Here’s the rocket science…
resistance, and muscle
atrophy sets in.” The human
body, he says, renews around
one to two per cent of its
muscle mass per day, but in
space (or long periods of bed
rest) it’s shed rather than
gained. And the same happens
to your bones: “Leg bones
lose about one per cent of
their mass per month.”
The solution isn’t simply
sending astronauts into orbit
bulked up. “We channel
calcium through our kidneys.
If an astronaut increases bone
mass before a trip, they’ll lose
more [calcium], which can lead
to kidney stones. You don’t
want that to happen in space.”
There’s also the effect on
metabolism: astronauts have
higher rates of adult-onset
diabetes, meaning an increase
in their blood sugar. Blood-fat
levels increase, too, and there
is a danger of atherosclerosis
Above: Professor Jörn
Rittweger of the German
Aerospace Center; top:
European Space Agency
astronaut Samantha
Cristoforetti in training
“Nowadays,
astronauts return
to Earth in much
better shape”
[plaque build-up on artery
walls that can cause blood
clots, strokes or heart failure].”
These changes may not
cause immediate problems
while the astronaut is in
space, but they become a real
issue once back on Earth.
“There are doctors for that,”
says Rittweger, “but it would
make Mars missions tricky.
They could last up to two-anda-half
years, and medical care
is hard to come by on Mars.”
This is why Rittweger and
his team have created a
comprehensive workout that
can be done in space.
The right stuff
“It’s not easy to recreate the
important stimulus for our
three largest muscle groups
– the back extensors, glutes
and leg muscles – which
account for a third of our body
mass,” says Rittweger. This
THE RED BULLETIN 89

VENTURE
Fitness
has led much experimentation.
“In the 1970s, the Russians
relied on chest expanders;
their elasticity generates
resistance. Endurance sports
were also popular that decade
– that’s why we still see the
exercise bike and treadmill on
the space station. But cycling
in space isn’t straightforward
– there isn’t the force to keep
you in the saddle, and it takes
practice to control your upperbody
inertia. Astronauts have
to be locked to the pedals.
It’s more for variety than
muscle gain and will probably
be culled soon.”
Practicality isn’t the only
downside to endurance
training. “You also need
shockproofing. It would be
a disaster if the vibrations
damaged the space station.
You can’t just drill a lug into
the ISS wall, attach a rubber
band, and start practising
jumps.” As such, spring-based
or even robotic dampers are
used. “But experts agree that
we should now rely on
resistance training instead.”
These days, gym junkies on
the ISS mainly use a system
known as ARED (Advanced
Resistive Exercise Device),
which uses vacuum tubes and
flywheel cables to simulate
free-weight exercises such as
squats and deadlifts. “Two
hours a day, six days a week,
as a rule,” says Rittweger.
“In the past, fitness was the
first thing to bite the dust if
time was short. Russian and
American doctors have
gushed about how astronauts
now return to Earth in much
better shape.”
Exercising in space is also
crucial for mental wellbeing:
“Physical exertion generates
messenger substances in
your muscles such as
interleukin-6 or BDNF [brainderived
neurotrophic factor].
The former sets the energy
“Using an exercise
bike in space isn’t
straightforward”
To fitness and beyond
Isolation and cabin fever are standard for an
astronaut, but a recent problem for many of us
on Earth. These three exercises from European
Space Agency fitness expert Nora Petersen will
help you stay fit when space is an issue…
The rolling cucumber
Target areas: core and body control
Lie face down, legs and arms stretched out, with
only your belly touching the floor. Roll onto your
back, then onto your belly again, with your limbs
outstretched. Adjust reps according to fitness.
Squats with weights
Target areas: legs and core/back
Place a barbell on your shoulders and bend your
knees, keeping your back straight, knees behind
your heels, and maintaining body tension. Adjust
the weight and reps to your fitness level.
Rowing leant forward
Target areas: back and shoulders
Lift the dumbbell, keeping your back straight as
if doing a dead lift. Raise it to your chest while in
a forward-leaning position. Keep your elbows
close to your body. As with the squats, adjust
the weight and reps to your level of fitness.
balance between the liver and
fatty tissue, and we need the
latter for the brain. Isolation
and a lack of movement
change its internal structures
responsible for learning and
behaviour. That can lead to
listlessness, irritation, and
lapses in concentration.
Sport on the space station
can reduce stress. Ernest
Shackleton was aware of this.”
Rittweger’s reference to
the legendary Arctic explorer,
much like his studies into
bed rest, are highly pertinent
to space travel. “Polar
expeditions are some of the
most challenging mankind
has ever undertaken, and
most have gone wrong,” he
explains. “Shackleton brought
back all of his expedition
members alive. We know from
his accounts that even in the
harshest conditions they
went out for an hour’s exercise
each day. That’s probably
what saved them.”
One giant leap
The professor’s team are
always looking for ways of
improving astronaut fitness,
and the latest involves
jumping. “It exercises the
entire extensor and flexor
chain in the back and legs.
We attach the astronaut to a
slide that allows freedom of
movement but prevents them
whacking against the wall. If
all goes to plan, we’ll try it
on parabolic flights here on
Earth in about two years, and
on the space station soon
after.” Crucially, it needs to be
enjoyable: “Imagine being on
a flight to Mars and having to
find the motivation to work
out every morning.”
But no matter how
astronaut fitness systems
evolve, there’s one side
effect that is unlikely to be
eradicated. “Sweat,” says
Rittweger. “It’s more
unpleasant than on Earth
because it doesn’t roll down
your body. And there’s no
post-workout shower, either.
You have to clean yourself
with Wet Wipes.”
ESA/NASA FLORIAN STURM TOM MACKINGER
90 THE RED BULLETIN

10 ISSUES
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The next issue is out on Tuesday 11 May with London Evening Standard.
Also available across the UK at airports, universities, and selected supermarkets and retail stores.
Read more at theredbulletin.com
JAANUS REE / RED BULL CONTENT POOL

VENTURE
Gaming
PLAY
Game
your
career
Playing video games
for a living isn’t something
a careers advisor would
recommend. For that
advice, you need a proven
esports superstar
Right now, students across
the world are studying for a
big test, but not the kind you’d
expect. Red Bull Campus
Clutch is a global esports
tournament for universityaged
players competing in
VALORANT, a tactical teambased
first-person shooter.
Before it had even launched
last year, the first livestreamed
playtest broke the
record for the most hours
of a single game watched in
a day (34 million, with 1.7
million concurrent spectators
at one point). It has grown
into one of the biggest
esports, drawing star players
from rival games such as
Fortnite and Overwatch.
Campus Clutch
competitors might not be
in the same league, but the
winning teams from each
country will play off in May’s
world final for a prize of
€20,000 and a state-of-theart
gaming hub for their
campus. It might also
kickstart a lucrative career
they hadn’t previously studied
for – pro esports athlete.
Jacob ‘pyth’ Mourujärvi
(pictured, right) could teach
them a thing or two. The
27-year-old Swede, part
of the elite G2 Esports team,
is one of the world’s best
VALORANT players, but nine
years ago he was studying IT
at school. “I had no career
ideas, but I enjoyed working
with computers,” he says.
He was playing the newly
released Counter-Strike: Global
Offensive at the time when
some fellow players asked him
to join a team. “Now I work
with computers every day.”
Here are some valuable
lessons pyth learned on his
unorthodox career path…
Focus your passion
When he left education at 18,
Mourujärvi was playing CS:GO
for 15 hours a day. “Sleeping
at 8am, waking at 5pm and
“There are
no shortcuts
– you have
to build your
way up”
Sharp shooters: VALORANT
characters Phoenix (left) and Jett
grinding again,” he recalls.
“But when I knew there could
be a career in it, I changed my
routine and began thinking
like a pro. I also stopped shittalking.
I’ve been a nice guy
for 14 years now.”
Play to your strengths
Pyth is a master of ‘clutch’ play
– the ability to turn a game
around in the final seconds –
which he proved this February
when G2 won the first Red Bull
Home Grounds competition,
and earlier in his career when
he singlehandedly defeated
rivals Ninjas in Pyjamas in a
2014 four-against-one CS:GO
match. Two years later, he
was playing for them. “Prove
yourself and people will see
you,” he says. “But there are
no shortcuts – you have to
build your way up. And have
fun or you’ll get nowhere.”
Exit your comfort zone
In 2015, pyth explored
uncharted territory, helping
to build new Canadian CS:GO
team Luminosity Gaming.
“I was teamless and wanted
to prove myself,” he says.
“I learned a lot. Before, I was
just shooting and focused
on good stats; I didn’t talk
a lot. But I became a better
team player, more open and
honest.” This successful move
inspired another one when
he left CS:GO. “I was caught
in a bad cycle with teams
I didn’t believe in. I thought,
‘I’m going to gamble at being
one of VALORANT’s best
players.’ It was a challenge
and it was awesome.”
Avoid toxicity
“The people who hate on you
are the loudest,” says pyth.
“Playing CS:GO, I was abused
on Twitter and got death
threats mid-game. I practised
some focusing exercises, but
then forgot to do them.” He
turned to training software to
shut out stress – “I’d practise
shooting ranges in [training
program] AimLab, with music
on to get good vibes” – but
the answer lay in a change
of scene. “VALORANT has
one of the most supportive
fanbases,” he says, adding
that good workmates are also
vital. “In G2, we’re friends in
and out of the game.”
Look ahead
At 27, Mourujärvi is an esports
veteran. But he’s confident
that when his competitive
time is up, his career won’t be.
“I still want to work in esports,
maybe as a coach. A lot of
players just practise their aim
every day, but they need to
understand teamwork and
strategy. You can’t just have
the same players in the team.
It’s like how [Premier League
football team] Liverpool
became better when they
bought [defender] Virgil
van Dijk. He’s not an official
captain, but he brought
leadership and confidence
that fed into the team. That’s
a good quality to have.”
VALORANT is on Microsoft
Windows; playvalorant.com.
Check out the latest Red Bull
Campus Clutch heats at
redbull.com. Follow pyth at
twitch.tv/pyth
YUNG ELDR JOE ELLISON
92 THE RED BULLETIN

VENTURE
Gaming
Cover your tracks:
you can also buy
a silicon skin
(pictured far left)
to protect your
Pocket Operator
TEENAGE ENGINEERING TOM GUISE
COMPOSE
Beat it up
Don’t be fooled by the
toy-like looks – this mini synth
packs a Dragon Punch
Modular synthesisers – electronic
musical instruments that can be linked
to sample, create and manipulate
sounds – have been around since the
1950s, when they were as big as a
fridge. Street Fighter II, released in
1991, was the first fighting video game
to sport ‘combos’ – strings of combat
moves. Teenage Engineering is a brain
trust of Swedish engineers who make
cool, retro-styled music gear, and this
is their love letter to all of the above.
Their Pocket Operator synths are a
masterclass in stripped-down design:
a circuit board with a flipstand, two
AAA batteries, and a pair of 3.5mm
jacks on the back. On the front is a grid
of buttons, two knobs and a mic to
create 16 sequences of 16 sounds to
record a 256-step tune or perform an
impressive live set. Each device has its
own sound – rhythm, robot, office –
represented by vintage Nintendo-style
graphics on the LCD display. Connect
them together and you have a digital
orchestra. And now you can add SFII’s
classic ‘Shoryuken’ samples to that
knockout combo. teenage.engineering
THE RED BULLETIN 93

VENTURE
Calendar
21
April onwards
THE HUNDRED
As spectator events return, it’s set
to be a glorious summer, and with
the new normal comes new sports.
Kicking off on July 21, this 100-ball
pro cricket series serves up 68 men
and women’s matches across a whole
month, with the biggest names
taking to the crease, including Ben
Stokes (below) captaining Leeds’
Northern Superchargers. Priority
tickets went on sale on April 7, with
general sales starting April 21.
Birmingham, Cardiff, Leeds, London,
Manchester, Nottingham and
Southampton; thehundred.com
31
July
RED BULL ILLUME 2021
“If you want to be a better photographer, stand in front of more interesting stuff,”
veteran Nat Geo lensman Jim Richardson once said. Wise words, as anyone who has
contributed to global photography contest Red Bull Illume can attest. This biennial
showcase attracts some of the most incredible action-sports and adventure moments
captured on film (59,551 images were entered in 2019) then takes them on a world tour
(pictured: the 2020 tour stop in Vancouver). Now, 2021’s Image Quest has begun. The
submission deadline is July 31, with winners announced in November. redbullillume.com
13
April onwards
ONE AT A TIME
When it comes to slopestyle MTB,
Brett Rheeder is perhaps the
greatest there is. The 28-year-old
Canadian has four slopestyle world
titles, an X-Games gold medal and
seven Crankworx victories, but in
2018 he faced one of his toughestever
seasons, struggling with a longterm
knee injury. Spectators often
only see the performance on the
day, but this film, following Rheeder
through that tumultuous year, is a
candid look at the pains an athlete
endures for their craft. redbull.com
94 THE RED BULLETIN

VENTURE
Calendar
13
April onwards
NATURAL SELECTION:
JACKSON HOLE
13
April to late June
THE LUNA DRIVE-IN
If there’s one good thing to emerge
from social distancing, it’s the
revival of the drive-in cinema. But
banish throwback images of Grease
from your mind; The Luna Cinema
delivers state-of-the-art outdoor
screens, in-car digital sound and
click-and-collect food-and-drink
service. Among the films being
shown are Wonder Woman 1984 –
one of the first chances to see it on
a big screen since its December
release – Pixar’s Onward, Joker
and, of course, Grease. Venues
across the UK; thelunacinema.com
Travis Rice dreams big. The 38-yearold
snowboarder burst onto the
competitive scene at the age of 18,
with no sponsor, by dropping a
gargantuan backside rodeo over a
36m gap at a place called Mammoth
Mountain. But his biggest dream was
to launch the ultimate backcountry
freestyle competition in his hometown.
This February, Jackson Hole, Wyoming,
saw 24 of the best snowboarders
battle across 16 acres of mountain –
and, of course, Mother Nature served
up large, tipping 1.2m of deep powder
on day two. Check out the weekend’s
mightiest moments. redbull.com
MASON MASHON/RED BULL CONTENT POOL, THE HUNDRED, DEAN BLOTTO GRAY/
RED BULL CONTENT POOL, MARCOS FERRO/RED BULL CONTENT POOL
13
April to late May
THE MERMAID’S
TONGUE
Pre-lockdown, you had escape
rooms, immersive theatre, and
murder mysteries. Now, the latest
must-have group experience is
the online sleuthing show: a blend
of live performance, interactive
role-play, team puzzle-solving
and taut thriller, played through
your computer. Having launched
last October with an initial sell-out
three-week run, the show has now
extended bookings until at least
late May. themermaidstongue.com
13
April onwards
RED BULL BATTALA DE LOS GALLOS 2020
It’s helpful, though not essential, to understand Spanish to gain the most enjoyment
from this contest – for a start, you’d already know that the name means ‘Battle of the
Roosters’. The world’s biggest freestyle rap competition draws thousands of spectators
from across Latin America to witness the crema de crema of Spanish-speaking MCs
spitting rhymes. At least, it would most years. For 2020, an audience-free, greenscreen
arena was built in the Dominican Republic, so contestants battle amid virtual
deserts and mountains. The backdrops are fake, but the lyrics are real. redbull.com
THE RED BULLETIN 95

GLOBAL TEAM
THE RED
BULLETIN
WORLDWIDE
The Red
Bulletin is
published in six
countries. This is the
cover of our French
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features the stunning
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For more stories
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96 THE RED BULLETIN

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F R E E A S S E S S M E N T

Action highlight
Done and dusted
After his 14th victory in the world’s most legendary rally raid, French driver Stéphane
Peterhansel (pictured here during stage three this January) could officially change
his name to ‘Mr Dakar’. But then, it’s probably not worth the passport hassle, what
with all the international travel he has to do. Africa, South America, Saudi Arabia...
the 55-year-old has conquered them all at Dakar. See him in action at redbull.com
The next
issue of
THE RED BULLETIN
is out on
May 11
MARCELO MARAGNI/RED BULL CONTENT POOL
98 THE RED BULLETIN