A DAREDEVIL biker who had to postpone a death-defying stunt due to the pandemic is finally set to “put his life in danger to save somebody else’s” when he becomes one of the few people allowed to attempt a world-famous feat.
Paul Malin will take on The Ken Fox Troupe Wall of Death by riding his motorcycle around the inside of a 32ft wide 16ft high cylindrical wall while spectators look down from above.
The Rugby man will take on the challenge in the hope of raising £10,000 for charities including Prostate Cancer UK – a cause which has been close to his heart since he recovered from the disease in 2018.
He had hoped to perform the feat at last year’s Rugby BikeFest (RBF) before it was cancelled – but has been invited to do it at this year’s Coventry MotoFest instead.
He told The Observer: “Anybody can jump out of a plane. I wanted to do something different, and it’s more of a challenge.
“There is much more risk to this. It could get quite serious – if it goes wrong, it’ll go wrong big style. It will hurt!
“But I’m looking forward to it, and I’m quite confident I can do it.”
Paul had got to the stage where he was up on the Wall of Death before the pandemic postponed his plans.
Paul, who has been involved in motorsport since he was five years old, says he feels privileged to have the rare chance to ride the wall – having ‘never done anything this stupid before!’
“They hardly ever train anyone to do it,” he said, “and I’ve never heard of anyone ever doing it for charity. I don’t know how I got away with it.”
He had already begun four months of training with some of the best stuntpeople in the business when the pandemic put the kibosh on his plans.
Paul, vice-chairman of the RBF committee, said: “The cancelation of last year’s RBF was terrible – my plans were going so well.
“I had been training hard with the guys and had got to the stage where I was up on the wall – maybe a little wobbly, but I got that far – and then lockdown came along and stopped everything, including all my training.
“If all goes to plan, I aim to start retraining when things all reopen up again.
“I will then be on the Wall as much as possible. I’ve done the hard bit – I now know what to expect and what the pitfalls are. I just need Wall time to get my confidence up.”
While ‘gutted’ that he can’t ride the Wall in his hometown, he is still looking forward to the challenge.
He said: “At the time RBF did not have a date fixed, and the guys from Coventry MotoFest asked if I was prepared to do it over there as they had the Wall already pencilled in, so of course I had to agree.
“Hopefully all the people who were originally going to watch in Rugby will come over to Coventry to support me.”
The Ken Fox Troupe Wall of Death will be a star attraction at this year’s Coventry MotoFest.
Paul will also raise money for Warwickshire and Solihull Blood Bikes, Pawprints, and Positive Bones – but Prostate Cancer UK is the cause which means the most to him.
He wants to put something back into the system which saved his life, and has even invited the surgeon who removed his tumour to the event as guest of honour – “so if something goes wrong at least he can operate on me!”
He says he wants to help spread awareness of the disease. “I hadn’t got a clue there was anything wrong with me,” he said. “I just went for a routine blood test.
“If I can put my life in danger to save somebody else’s, then that means a great deal.”
Paul will ride the Ken Fox Troupe Wall of Death during the Motorcycle Weekend of the Coventry MotoFest, July 24-25. Visit www.coventrymotofest.com for more information.
Visit https://tinyurl.com/2a642ndj to sponsor Paul.
This year’s Rugby BikeFest has been rescheduled for Sunday September 26. Visit https://rugbyfirst.org/rugby-bikefest-2021 for more information or to get involved.
