Marin Rantes, the local star
I’m okay, just my ankle is a little bit bruised and almost all my body is hurting but I am alive and I still can watch my friends, how they are riding so it’s okay. It’s just one contest and there are many more during the year. Next year, it’s gonna be here again so still I am alive and I can ride, it’s good.
What happened ?I crashed on my first trick which devolved me and then I crashed again so I wasn’t able to focus anymore but it’s okay.
Are you disappointed ?Yes for sure I am because I was waiting for it all the year but you know…
What is the problem with this park for you ?I don’t know, I have something here for sure because every year I am falling down maybe once or twice so maybe this is normal for me here (laughter)
You will be 21 this year and already one of the most famous rider of Croatia. We even saw you on all the Pannonian billboards across the city and you won the « best rider of Croatia » price. Do you enter a lot of competitions around here ?In Croatia, there are not so many competitions because it is a little down now. But FISE World Series are here, so I think it will grow up because this is the UCI World Cup and everybody will do more now. Most of my friend around here are coming from Czech Republic, Hungary...
When did you start to ride ?I have started in 2008, at the end of the year and I talked to my mum and said « I wanna ride BMX » and she was a little bit like « What ? why BMX ? what are you gonna do with a small bike ? » (laughter). But now, she is with me all the time and she loves BMX how much I love it, that’s pretty good !
Where did you start to ride ?I have started in my city (Varaždin ed) because first I was riding streets so you do not need to have parks or anything. But with time, I needed more adrenaline so I have started to ride park and dirt. We had a park in Zagreb so we were riding there every weekend for like 5 years, but they closed it 2 years ago, so we have just taken the way around the world you know. This is my job now and I love it.
What do you think about the FISE venue here in Osijek ?It’s cool ! They built almost all the skatepark and new stuff, and it’s good for kids because nowadays we have everything to learn, to try transferts and everything. I’ve successed to try transferts I had never tried before and I finally made it you know. It’s hard to try somewhere else because I don’t feel safe there. Here, I’m at home and I will go back here to ride.
Do you like the park ?Of course I love it !
Would you like to come to the other stops of the FWS ?Yes of course, I would love to go to every FISE stop because it’s the World Cup, everybody is going there : I wanna be there ! I wanna show what I’ve learnt during the year and I hope I will make it. It’s pretty hard but I will find some ways ! ;-)
Well we hope so too ! What do you think about the competition, the others riders here ?There were some really good but some guys fall down like me. But everybody is okay ! The level is pretty hard ! I was riding the qualifiers like I was riding finals 1 year ago so it’s really hard. But I like it like this because you have more pressure, you need to show more stuff than usually so it’s good ! It’s good for BMX because we need to grow up every time.
Did you have some pressure about the contest is here, at home in Croatia ?Yeah, it was a little bit of pressure but not too much. When I am riding, I don’t see anything, I don’t hear anything. But sometimes you fall down and this is normal.
Do you have any idea about the winner ?Aaah ? I think about Logan Martin or maybe Irek Rizaev... I will see ! Everybody can win ;-) We will see…
You were in Montpellier for the first time, for the FISE in may and ended 12th. Did you like it ?Yeah it was really good, very nice experience, crowd was amazing ! I did not see so many people on any other contest so it was really amazing. Riding was just like… Wow ! It was really crazy, I’ve never felt that feeling inside, in Montpellier. I was really surprised !
It can maybe happen here, with this UCI stop, don’t you think ?Yeah sure, because people come here too so it’s gonna be fun and a really good contest.
Is there a lot of BMX riders in Croatia ?Yeah, there is a lot of BMX riders but we don’t have really good skateparks so most of the riders are streets riders. We hope that all cities will make something for BMX because it’s only for all the others sports like football, basketball and everything… I hope.
So you need other FISE stops in every Croatian city then ? ;-)(laughter) Yes we need this !
One last question : what are the best spots to ride here in Croatia ?Here in Osijek ! Before, it was already really good and now it’s amazing. You have all the park to be used, with many transfers, quarters, fun boxes, jump boxes and everything. And you have like a really really good park to train in.
Thank you for your time Marin, see you soon and good luck for the future.
Yeah thanks !
