“I was still mourning my dad’s death, it was hard to differentiate between the two feelings of loss and anger. I was so fucking furious. I can understand desperate people who turn to crime as a means to survive, but I can’t understand planned violent crime, where people are beat, tied up and worse.” Greg tells me, displaying a rare glimpse of anger. “I remember a few years back the Odyssey guys were here. We were at a pub in Durban. We heard a smash of glass. My friend Colin ran outside to find a guy reaching into the car to steal a bag. We ended up chasing him down and beating the guy up pretty badly… I remember Walter [Peiringer] being horrified. Before that moment I never thought of harming someone who was stealing from you as a problem. I’d grown up always fearing that someone close to me could be hurt, hijacked, shot or killed. You’re always so scared that if you catch someone it’s easy to become enraged. Seeing Walter’s reaction made me think about it more, it made me think about how poor and desperate people turn to crime just to survive.” Greg says uncomfortably. Before my visit to South Africa I had often heard a stereotype that all South Africans were racist (that view being ironically racist in itself). Needless to say but this is a view I found to be entirely false of Greg and all South Africans I met during my seven weeks in the country. “The end of apartheid didn’t change the fact the country is rife with poverty. This year we’re celebrating 20 years of freedom from apartheid. But the problem and divide between rich and poor, GREG ILLINGWORTH
black and white, is so great that it’s going to take more than 20 years to fix. Apartheid set the country back so far, to try to bring it up to a first world or European status is a massive leap. But I’m optimistic.” Under the backdrop of a newly democratic South Africa Greg first started riding. “My brother got me into racing. At the national races I met dirt jump guys, they looked punk as hell to me. They had dreadlocks, spiky hair, chain wallets, baggy jeans and wore Slayer or Misfits shirts. I was just a little race kid but they were so rad to me. I started riding with them. Eventually I would spend my weekends with those older guys, Jimmy Reynolds and Tyrone Bradley in particular, we’d ride all day, party all night and on Sunday evening they would drop me at home ready for school on Monday.” Under the wing of the older riders Greg came to meet another group of individuals who were to also have a lasting impact on him and his future. “Joe Rich, Nate Wessel, Garrett Byrnes and Ruben Alcantara came to South Africa while on their T1 world trip. Seeing those guys ride in person blew my mind. I’d seen them in videos and magazines. Seeing riding like that right in front of me changed my life. “We took the T1 guys to a local bowl that had a 9ft deep end. Back then everyone was scared to air that thing. Joe and Garrett were airing 11 or 12ft out of it within minutes. I couldn’t understand how they were going so high, how they weren’t scared. They were keen to help us learn. From watching them ride and listening to their advice I started to go higher. By the end of the day I was going 5ft. Getting 59