Major bicycle distributor donates Christmas card fund to aid Martyn Ashton’s rehabilitation

A major bicycle and gear distributor has donated the costs of this yea’s Christmas cards to helping Martyn Ashton’s rehabilitation after he was paralysed during a trials show earlier this year.

Cycling Sports Group (CSG) does not sponsor Martyn, whose latest stunt video Road Bike Party 2 was completed when he enlisted a couple of good friends - Chris Akrigg and Danny MacAskill - to help with stunt duties - but decided to help him out in the spirit of Christmas.

Road Bike Party 2 has racked up more than seven million views since its launch earlier this month.

Martyn was introduced to a new audience last year through his first Road Bike Party video, but suffered “life changing” spinal injuries when he fell while attempting a stunt during a trials demo at the Moto GP at Silverstone.

Ashton, aged 38, was taking part in the Animal WD40 Action Sports Tour when he fell backwards from a bar 3metres from the ground, which he hit “with significant force,” suffering sever spinal damage and dislocation of his T9 and T10 vertebrae, positioned around the centre of the back.

Martyn’s personal friends at CSG, along with those who had been inspired by his riding, decided to make a donation to help the significant costs involved with his rehabilitation.

CSG UK Marketing Manager and friend to Martyn, Clive Gosling  said: “Martyn is an inspiration to me as a very gifted athlete but also as one of the most genuine and generous individuals I have ever had the pleasure to meet. 

“He would do anything for anyone and now he needs a little help in return for the decades of entertainment and millions of YouTube views he has brought to the world.

“We have written to our dealers wishing them a Happy Christmas and hope they can see the benefit of the donation as Martyn’s videos reach and inspire millions of non-cyclists”.

Martyn is currently wheelchair-bound and unable to make his living from live shows and video shoots. The money raised will help him with home adaptions, medical equipment and the associated costs of ongoing care.

On December 19th Martyn tweeted: “After 4 months in Hospital Wards I'm finally heading home for a Christmas Break.”

Today he added: “We are doing okay.”

Several CSG employees also donated personally to Martyn via PayPal and anyone wishing to make donations as a ‘gift’ via that network can do so by specifying his email address, martynashton [at] me.com, when making the payment.