Belgian pro Kenny Belaey is an international competitor with an incredible amount of titles to his name; in the last ten years he has won no less than three World Championships and six Elite World Cups. This year the Monty / Redbull rider just missed out on a new rainbow jersey and had to settle instead for the title Vice World Champion. He made up for it by winning the World Cup in New Zealand however, and is currently the UCI’s number one seed.
Kenny Belaey also works extremely hard on a daily basis to give trials an ever more professional image and to bring it to an ever larger audience via his media and his shows. Alongside Danny MacAskill he is the most mediatised trials rider on the planet. Last year he produced, in conjunction with the Extreme Sports Channel, an unprecedented show that brought even more coverage to our discipline, a three-part documentary on trials and on Kenny: “Kenny Belaey’s Big Time”, produced and presented by Kenny Belaey himself. The show plunged us into the heart of the world biketrials scene after close to seven months of filming in places such as Spain, England and the US. Kenny meets some legends of the sport, including Hans «no way» Rey, Ot Pi, Dave Mirra, Jeff Lenosky, Aaron Chase and Danny Macaskill. These meetings gave Kenny the chance to go over the history and progression of the sport with some of its best known names. If you missed this incredible show, check the episodes out: Kenny Belaey’s Big Time (1/3) (In Spain, where it all began), Kenny Belaey’s Big Time (2/3) (the US and the mythical Hans "no way" Ray) and Kenny Belaey’s Big Time (3/3) (Kenny and Elite competition)!
Kenny is a bit of a globe-trotter, travelling the world to compete for the most prestigious titles that the sport has to offer and to put on his famous shows at some of the world’s biggest events. We’re beginning to wonder if trials isn’t just an excuse to travel for Kenny! Last month he was in the Middle-East with his brother Wesley to put on a series of demos at the various stages of two big bicycle races: the Tour du Qatar and the Tour d’Oman (The brothers Belaey in the Middle-East). Next, it was off to the United Arab Emirates and Dubai to represent Red Bull (Kenny Belaey in Dubai). Then, more recently, he was headed to South Africa, where he put on a series of shows for Adidas over a weekend… Kenny was bowled over by the country: “I think that I have come to one of the best countries that a trials rider could visit; South Africa. There are rocks everywhere, beautiful scenery and amazing beaches.” Seeing is believing, so have a look at these great photos, taken in Cape Town on the 29th of March by South African Redbull photographer Craig Kolesky.
Photos by: (c)Kolesky/SanDisk/Red Bull Photofiles.