Flying gladiators are returning to Prague. And with them the business that will go through this year
For the twentieth time, elite world freestyle motocross riders will fly over the heads of Czech spectators. It is supposed to be a pompous jubilee year and the evening that Marek Rejman, one of the founding fathers of this adrenaline sport in our country, has been waiting for for almost three years.
The celebration of the rounds of the event called FMX Gladiator Games, the oldest freestyle motocross show in Europe, was originally supposed to take place as early as 2020. However, due to the covid, the parade of bikers, who with their acrobatic tricks bring those present in amazement, moved at the last minute. “It’s sad,” Marek Rejman said in an interview with Forbes last November.
At the same time, he did not yet know that the next wave of the pandemic would postpone the event with a generous production, which sold out the Prague O2 arena again, a few days before it took place. The place of the traditional autumn thus appears for the first time in the middle of spring, at a time when social events are only crowded after a long forced break.
That is why Rejman assumes that the gala evening, which is held over ten million crowns every year, will end in the red this time after many years. Nevertheless, the joy of the return of “flying gladiators” to the Czech Republic will not be spoiled.
“We have been doing this for twenty years, we have experienced the financial crisis after 2008, which has affected the joy of everyday life, we have survived and we will survive this time as well. Because we want to do it, it’s our heart’s business, our lifestyle, ”says Rejman now.
“For us, it was never primarily about making money, so it never occurred to us not to take the action if at least a little possible. People have had tickets at home for over two years, we have a duty to catch up. Losing credit if we didn’t organize the event would be worse than losing money, “notes the promoter, who in the past also organized competitions in ski and acrobatic skiing or is suitable for organizing Prague concerts of music performers such as Rihanna, 50 Cent or Pussycat Dolls.
In a few days, a 50-year-old businessman, including a former baseball representative and a man who brought television rights to the American MLB baseball league to the Czech Republic, was close to motorcycles from a young age. In the 1990s, he distributed to us goods from the American brand No Fear, which produces motocross clothing, thanks to which in 1997 he got to sponsor the then motocross racer Petr Kuchař.
They toured most of the races together. He was like that two years later, when a rider, whom no one in the industry calls himself other than “Kuchta”, one of the starts failed miserably, which the then multiple national champion in supercross did not like. “So I told him: get out of racing, learn to do tricks and I’ll do a freestyle motocross event with us,” recalls Rejman.
A few months later, she fulfilled her part of the agreement. He first built a ramp so that “Kuchta” could train, and in September 2000 he organized the first ever freestyle motocross event in our region in the Rondo hall in Brno. Prague lost this championship because it was currently plagued by extensive protests over the International Monetary Fund meeting.
“Freestyle motocross in the Czech Republic is Mark’s work. He set the form for this sport. He determined what it should look like to talk about freestyle all over the world, “says Petr Kuchař, a pioneer of domestic” flying on motorcycles “.
The inaugural FMX Gladiator Games in 2000 attracted several global riders, including Spaniard Edgar Torronteras. But also a minimum of fans. The seven-thousand-meter arena was barely a quarter full, which meant one thing – a big delay. A small event agency led by Rejman expected a loss, but the resulting ax of 1.9 million crowns still pleasantly surprised her.
“My problem is that I’m going after everything,” Rejman looks back at the initial results. “This one has a quality, but in addition to terrible problems, it also brings huge successes. By moving around in the industry, I believed that it would come back to us, and everyone can get a picture of where our FMX scene has moved thanks to Gladiator Games and Peter Kuchař, ”he claims.
Despite the spectator failure, however, a sports party full of adrenaline and burnt tires attracted attention. For the coming years, we managed to find strong partners and Rejman and Kuchař gradually began to form the foundations of domestic freestyle motocross.
They built a respected, lucrative event and at the same time educated a generation of riders, among the best business on the planet, some of whom managed to turn their successful study into an interesting one. Such as Libor Podmol, historically the best Czech freestyle motocrosser.
“Marek is a fair guy with a heart in the right place. If it weren’t for him and Kuchta, I probably wouldn’t have started with FMX either, “says the former world champion and winner of the prestigious American X Games, who received a state award from President Miloš Zeman in 2019.
According to the organizers, this year’s jubilee 20th FMX Gladiator Games will be a spectacular celebration of freestyle motocross and a look back over the past two decades.
The biggest stars of the world and domestic scene should take part. In addition to Edgar Torroteras and Libor Podmol, the German Luc Ackermann, the Italian David Rinaldo and Petr Pilát, who entered the Guinness Book of Records at the age of fourteen, jumped back on the motorcycle during the sixth Gladiator Games.
“It’s a great feeling to see in retrospect that we have achieved something, they have been pioneers who have inspired others. I’m a little afraid that our children will never experience such a feeling again, their enthusiasm for similar things is no longer so, “says Marek Rejman, a father of five. “It was just twenty wonderful years in our lives that something was left behind, and I believe that more will come,” he adds.