Dirt

New Zealander Wyn Masters was born in New Plymouth, New Zealand and was racing mountain bikes by the age of 11. He was sent away to boarding school at 12, but bunked off classes to hone his skills on the tracks of Taranaki’s Mangamahoe Forest, and was soon winning downhill races, including the under-17 and under-19 categories at the New Zealand national championships.

After impressing as a junior alongside his friend Sam Blenkinsop, Wyn struggled for funding as he looked to take his career to the next level by racing regularly in Europe, but he didn’t let that stop him, and he showed his passion for the sport by working as a miner in Australia for two years, a move which allowed him to participate in his first full season on the World Cup downhill circuit in 2008.

For the next four years he was a regular fixture at all the world’s top races. However, his progress was hampered by a serious injury in 2011 which cut short his involvement in that season, and another injury in 2012, when he broke his scaphoid while preparing for the European season in Nelson.

A rider of his undoubted skills was never going to down for long, and he came back strongly in 2013, now riding for German trade team Team Bulls, finishing 42nd overall in the World Cup downhill series. Highlight of the year was an eighth-placed finish in the Air DH competition at Crankworx Les 2 Alpes.