The Mountain Bike Hall of Fame (MBHOF) just announced the 2016 inductees and the official ceremony is set for October 1 in Fairfax, CA at the Marin Museum of Bicycling. This year’s five-member class is a strong one and also a bit unusual.
Nominations took place earlier in the spring and MBHOF members winnowed the list down to eight potential inductees. Members voted to determine the top four who would go on to be inducted. However, just a few days after voting closed on July 15, Jeff Archer, one of the nominees, was struck by a vehicle and killed. He was subsequently added as a fifth inductee as a way to honor Jeff and his contribution to the world of mountain biking. Having visited Jeff’s bike shop in Statesville, NC and browsing his collection of vintage mountain bikes, I personally believe he’s more than deserving to be included in the MBHOF.
Here’s the full list of the 2016 MBHOF inductees:
- Jeff Archer: Founder of the Museum of Mountain Bike Art & Technology (MOMBAT) and owner of First Flight bike shop in Statesville, NC. MOMBAT houses more than 400 vintage mountain bikes plus thousands of parts and documents chronicling the evolution of mountain biking over several decades. View the MOMBAT website to see the full collection or read about some of the highlights from my visit in 2012.
- Hank Barlow: Started Mountain Bike magazine back in 1985 as the first full color MTB mag with wide distribution.
- Matt Fritzinger: In 2001, Matt launched the NorCal High School Cycling league that’s now the model for NICA leagues all over the USA.
- Missy Giove: Missy is the 1994 World Champ DH racer with 11 World Cup wins to her name, still fourth overall for number of WC wins. She also won an X Games Gold medal in Dual Slalom in 2000.
- Roman Urbina: Roman is the only inductee from outside the USA on this year’s list, hailing from Costa Rica, where he created one of the first multi-day adventure races, La Ruta de los Conquistadores, in 1992.
Congrats to all the 2016 MTBHOF inductees!
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