Sport: May 2008 Archives

“THERE'S NO REASON WHY NOT, I'VE GOT ARMS AND LEGS LIKE THE NEXT MAN - IT'S ALL DOWN TO WHAT'S UPSTAIRS.”
GUY MARTIN

Crowd favourites usually adhere to certain characteristics: The plucky lad who came from nothing, or the practical joker, or the enigmatic genius with a weakness for booze and women. Occasionally though, one comes along that breaks the mould. Guy Martin ticks all the right boxes - lad next door, joker, raconteur, prodigious talent. But what’s this? No scandal? No self-destruction? No. A healthy liver, no evidence of a leather-clad role-play dungeon, no gambling addiction. Just a lunatic virtuoso with skill beyond his years and unflinching courage in his convictions. 

"A Katusha Grad rocket hit a mall in Ashkelon yesterday. Fourteen people were injured. The next day when we played at the beach, two Palestinian civilians and three gunmen were killed by IDF forces in the Gaza strip.”

Keep an eye out for this documentary. Skateboarder Alex Klein is in Israel and Gaza to tell the tale of life and surfing in the Middle East. Klein and his talented film crew are living alongside locals, spending day and night by their side as they laugh, eat, drink, surf, panic and cry. 

Champions League Final day is upon us, the culmination of an entire season’s work, every cone lapped in training, every early night, every time you chose grilled chicken breast over deep-fried wings, endured hot air on your face from a Fergie rant, or concealed a snigger when Avram chalked up a masterwerk on the tactics board. This is it, one night in Moscow, red versus blue, north versus south. 

You probably know a bit about the Isle of Man TT. At least you might have heard of it. But you might not know anything about the North West 200, a road race held in Northern Ireland in the weeks leading up the TT. It’s the most popular sporting event of the year over there, with some 150,000 people from all over the world in attendance. Traditionally it’s been considered a support race, a warm up if you like; but in reality, where the TT has become a kind of festival of biking, the NW has retained its purity. It’s racing. Nothing more, nothing less...