NATHAN WATSON
Riding since he was three-years-old, the Brit MX hero is a demon in the dunes
‘No phone signal and there were bears out there’
Whether it’s Agincourt or Trafalgar, the World Cup or the Six Nations, we love getting one over on our cross-Channel cousins, the French. So anyone who beats our friendly rivals at their own game is deserving of legend status - and that’s what Nathan Watson did when he became the only Brit to ever win the Le Touquet beach race and become French sand racing champion in the process.
But the all-conquering Englishman is not only a dab hand in the dunes, he’s also got MX speed and Hard Enduro bravery, too. At the age of 27, Watson has proved himself to be one of the most versatile professional offroad riders, not only in the UK but across the globe. The Nottingham lad has competed at the highest level, in an array of different disciplines, including MXGP, Hard Enduro, beach racing and World Enduro.
Mixing it with the best, and often coming out on the podium, he’s gathered an eclectic collection of trophies including the 2015 Weston Beach Race, a bronze medal in the Motocross of Nations, and in 2019 he won the French beach racing series, also known as the
Championnat de France des Sables.
Growing up in the Midlands, Watson’s childhood was spent surrounded by dirt bikes. “We never missed school, but every weekend the whole family were riding,” he says in his typical cheery manner. His father – Robert Meek, a motorcycling legend in his own right – is a five-time Weston Beach Race winner, his elder brother Ryan is a keen amateur who designs MX graphics while Nathan’s younger brother, Ben, is a professional MXGP rider for Kawasaki, and the pair regularly train together. Although racing was clearly in his blood, it wasn’t until he was in his late teens that he really started to take his hobby seriously.
In 2014 Watson won the MX Nationals. With a growing reputation he was signed up to race in MXGP, the pinnacle of motocross, for Husqvarna the following year. He then moved on to Enduro with KTM, but come 2018 he was catapulted, rather unwillingly (due to contractual reasons) into the world of Hard Enduro (aka WESS). “I really didn’t enjoy it, it was like trials on a dirtbike - the passion just wasn’t there for me,” he admits.
Riding Hard Enduro at the top level was an absolute baptism of fire, and his toughest moment came at the notoriously gruelling five-day race in Romania, known – rather aptly - as Romaniacs. “The first day of Romaniacs in 2018 was crazy, I’ll never forget it,” he states with a knowing grin. “Anyone who’s done it knows it’s horrendous. You’re getting on your
bike at six in the morning, going into the wilderness, on your own all day. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into really, I was quite naïve. I slid off the side of a mountain, it was so steep that it wasn’t possible to ride down it, I was just sliding down it.
ïAt one point I got stuck in a ravine, I really started to panic, because there was no phone signal and people were saying that there were bears in the woods. So I had to ghost ride it out, gassed it as far as I could go and then when I started to fall off I chucked it and got it over this ledge out of the ravine. I carried on my journey, then I got to a vertical cliff where I was looking down and I could see other riders. I thought ‘I’m gonna survive this, I can see civilisationï’ The only way down was off this cliff, so I just had to let the bike go, and I just watched it flipping downïï
Watson eventually made it back to his team, but only after his bike was winched out of a tree following the fall from the cliff. ïI got back to the paddock at half nine in the evening, then I had to do that for another three days. That was a crazy experienceïï
Despite Hard Enduro being a leap into the unknown he still managed to bag a win at the RedBull Knockout, a beach race on the shores of the Hague, ï etherlands, and ultimately finished third overall. ï ot bad for a lad who admits he was ‘straight in at the deep endï’
Watson now has his sights set firmly on the Enduro GP for 2022 where he’ll be riding his Honda CRFï50ï for the Honda RedMoto World Enduro Team in the E2 class. The competition is fierce and for the last few years has been dominated by two fellow British riders Steve Holcombe and Brad Freeman, though there’s one rider he’s keen to stay in front ofï ïJosep Garcia, he’s a superfast rider and he’s in the same class as me, he was E2 champion last year. He’s definitely the man to beat, it won’t be easy but I’ll give it my best shot.ï