John Parkin is a talented mountain biker who has competed with success in events such as the Dragon Downhill series in Abercarn, Wales, the Naked Racing 661 Mini Downhill in the Forest of Dean, and the Northern Downhill Championships in the Kielder Forest. However, together with his brother Rob, he has become most well-known in recent years for being a filmmaker, using his on-the-bike experience to produce some of the best images around.
As the driving forces behind DirtTV, the Parkins have built up a loyal following by producing incredibly popular race weekend videos from races in the World Cup downhill series. As a photographer, John also regularly works with dirtmountainbike.com, with recent subjects including new Yeti signing Hannah Barnes.
At the start of 2013, organisers of the Enduro World Series announced that they had signed an agreement to broadcast the inaugural event exclusively on DirtTV – the Parkins would produce and broadcast online two videos showcasing each event in the series in the lead-up and during the race, plus a feature-length highlights show in the week following each race.
Going into 2014, the Parkins continue to use some of the most up-to-date filming equipment around to provide compulsive coverage of all the top mountain bike events, as well as continuing to enter races themselves. There is also work in the pipeline on non-bike-related feature films and commercials.