For that split second of time it looked as though time itself had frozen, as the bicycle just hung in the air, then with all eyes upon him he threw the bike into a 360 tailspin and landed to rousing applause from the crowds. This 39 year old Englishman, Simon Tabron has the spectators at Noida right where he wanted them. Tabron, along with other extreme sports professionals were keeping spectators on the edge of their seat with death defying skateboard stunts, freestyle motocross and inline skating. With the skaters and boarders making use of a C shaped vert ramp to show their skills and the motocross riders making use of sloped blocks along a cement road to perform their stunts, it was quite a show.
Breathtaking Stunts
First to take to the imposing 14ft ramp was Eito Yasukoto, world champion three times over. This Japanese star performed an amazing 1080 California Roll, flying a full 3ft above the arena, completing two full rotations before landing safely to rapturous applause. Performing a handstand at the top edge of the vert stand was American extreme sports star Andy McDonald, who along with gold medal winner of the 2012 X Games Sandro Dias, five times skating world champion Tkeshi Yasukoto, and Tarbron, the winner of eight Bicycle medals in the X Games made for an incredible line up at this extreme sports spectacular.
A First for India
This was the first time that these amazing extreme sports professionals had performed in India, and it was hoped that the hype and excitement of the event, along with the skills on display would encourage the Indian youngsters to get more active and try new sports. It was hoped that if the interest in these exciting extreme sports grew that they would be able to come back to the country and work in a professional capacity at training camps, to enable the young enthusiasts to develop their extreme sports skills, so that at some point there would be an Indian Extreme Sports professional joining the ranks of the elite.
Although there are currently very few facilities in India for extreme sports it is hoped that tours such as this one will improve the future outlook for extreme sports in the country. Only time will tell but if the success of last weekend’s events are anything to go by, the future looks good.
