KELLY McGARRY
So what’s been the biggest
highlight of your career so far?
Probably getting second at
Rampage in 2013. It was my
best result at the biggest comp
in the world, it has the most hype
surrounding it, and of course the
whole viral YouTube thing was
sweet. It was a cool experience
and it felt awesome to do well
after doing sh*t there for a few
years. I was also pumped on
the public’s reaction to my run,
and winning the People’s Choice
Award meant a lot to me. It’s cool
that everyone liked what I did, my
line and what went down.
consider
“ I stillto just be one
myself
of the boys riding the
jumps ”
The crash at the 2014 Rampage
was pretty sh*t! It bummed me
out as I wanted to do well there,
but it was more about some
outside factors like pressure
from sponsors to run product
that wasn’t up to the task. When
you’ve got a 90kg dude riding
in the biggest, gnarliest freeride
comp in the world, you want to be
running the most reliable products
you’ve got. I did go pretty deep
on that jump, but to have the
wheels collapse like they did was
pretty catastrophic.
What are you more famous for?
Your hair, your canyon Backflip
at the 2013 Rampage, or your
canyon crash in the 2014
Rampage?
(Laughs) It’s gotta be a combo of
them all. I’m pretty stoked and
never dreamed of being where I
am now when I was banging nails
in Nelson.
Your 2013 Red Bull Rampage
POV run has passed 22 million
views on YouTube. That’s
insane!
Yeah, it’s pretty crazy, alright. I
never thought that would ever
happen when I hit the GoPro
button at the top of the run. It’s
amazing to see how far it’s gone:
it was on daytime TV all over the
world and friends saw it on the
news in Japan, France and Egypt.
It was definitely good for my
p. Simon Makker
And what was the lowlight?
profile and my career and it gave
people a pretty good idea of the
view from my office. I think the
reason it worked so well was the
views off each side of the ridge, a
good angle and exposure, as well
as being able to hear the stress
in my breathing and the crowd
cheering and stuff. It seemed to
put the viewer in the moment.
It’s probably fair to say you
get a lot of love from both
mainstream and MTB media.
Why do you think that is?
Yeah, I’m not really sure. Maybe
because I travel a lot and I try
and stay down-to-earth. I think
it’s important to always make the
time to talk to people and I still
consider myself to just be one of
the boys riding the jumps. People
can get on their high horse, but
that’s not good for anything.
Luckily there are very few people
like that in the sport. It’s cool to
see mountain biking getting more
mainstream love over the past few
years.
When was the last time you cut
your hair?
Ohh…I think I had an army cut
back when I was 24, about eight
years ago. I then thought ‘screw
it – I’ll grow it long’. Big hair,
big air! I’ve had a few trims as
it turns to dreads and gets a bit
manky. Sometimes you find old
bits of pizza, pasta sauce and
vomit in there from getting on the
hammers…[laughs] just kidding. I
give it a trim now and again when
it starts to annoy me.
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