UK Downhill Racer Katy Curd is Back Between the Tape

Most readers of this will already know Katy, but if not, then let’s fill you in: Katy’s story has been a long one, with a racing career already spanning an impressive 12 years. Throughout these years, she’s scooped up a number of accolades that’s made her the household name she is today. 3 time British 4X Champion, 2010 Downhill National Series Champion, 2012 European 4X Champion, 2013 4x Pro Tour winner and 7 World Cup Podiums…to name a few.



However, as is life in this day and age of racing, there's more pressure on riders to not just bring results, but something that separates them from the rest of the field. Podiums are great, but how can you relate to a rider without any personable interaction? Katy brings another side to riding than just pointing down the hill and breaking records, and that's why we're excited to have her on board. She's been a fully-qualified CTC mountain bike instructor for over four years with a dedicated collection of riders in the Forest of Dean area relying on her to bolster and help improve their on-the-bike skills.


What about life outside of racing though? Well, from spending a day at her local trails, it's easy to see why the mountain biking world has taken such a shine to this young, all-encompassing rider. You can't walk (or ride) more than 50 feet without someone asking how she's doing, which is greeted with not just a smile and quick reply, but a genuine conversation that isn't at all forced. Quite a rarity at this level.


Of course, when your hobby turns into your job and your hobby is mountain biking, everything starts to fall into place quite nicely – more so than any other profession for that matter. You don't see an accountant surrounding themselves with excel spreadsheets or examining financial records on their time off, but with a pro-athlete, heck, even an amateur enthusiast, it's completely logical to surround yourself with more of what you love to do. In Katy's life, this even extends into her choice of companion on the trails; Bruce.


Bruce is yet another great addition to the Katy Curd persona. You'll catch a glimpse of him terrorising all the new arrivals at the Pedalabikeaway car park in the Forest of Dean as soon as you pull in, or curled up inside Sprung Suspension with Jake, her partner. From what we've seen, he's (Bruce, not Jake) the exact representation of turning on and off a lightbulb.

Between the copious amounts of laughter, getting chased by the dog, her ensuring we didn't go OTB and trying to bribe Jake into tuning our suspension, we did manage to get a bit of filming done in FOD with KC.

So, onto her bike(s). Katy has a variety of sponsors to keep her rig running smooth and buttery, but most notably on her S-Works Enduro, Ohlins suspension takes the reigns - which helps because her partner, Jake, actually owns Sprung Suspension at FOD. Talk about having the plushest suspension on the racing scene. That's dream worthy.




Concussion. It's hard to talk such a sensitive point without the knowledge of what concussion can do to you, and I'm sure if you know of Katy, you'll know her career hasn't been all clear sailing. Battling a complex and long-term brain injury following a series of crashes, Katy took two years out of pro-racing to focus on getting back to full health. We've never experienced concussion to the same extent as Katy, but we feel the video below gives a greater insight into how she's dealt with it over the past two years:


We'll be spending more and more time with Katy in the future, creating exclusive content and following her return to the racing scene. Got any ideas for future video projects? Drop us a comment.

Words, photos and video: Andrew Richardson

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