Anytime you’ve turned the TV on to watch the London Marathon, Tour of Britain, a triathlon, or any Ironman race in the world, chances are, it was filmed by MediaMotos.
Set-up by Ystrad Mynach born Jason Jenkins in 2009, MediaMotos now has motorbikes all across the globe, ready and waiting to film some of the most famous races on the planet.
An avid cyclist himself during the 1980s, Jason started marshalling races locally before a photographer joined him on the back of his motorbike to take a few snaps.
Before he knew it, Jason was headhunted by some of the most well-known organisations in the world. Speaking to Caerphilly Observer about the company’s rise to the top, he said: “There wasn’t really anybody else doing it.
“I just had the one bike at first. When I made the investment to get a second I had bit of grief off my wife as there was no room in the house.”
It didn’t take long for Jason to outgrow his living room, so in 2009 he bought a workshop in Ystrad Mynach, and began filming races all across Europe from the back of a motorbike.
He continued: “Things soon got really busy. I was able to quit my day job in 2012 having worked in banks and manufacturing.
“We’re incredibly humbled now that we never need to pick-up the phone. I’ll get at least one call a day from the BBC, Sky, ITV, or whoever, asking us to cover an event somewhere in the world whether it be cycling, running, or a triathlon.”
After a couple of successful years, Jason travelled stateside to California in 2015, keen to understand how America operated.
To his shock, there was no one company dominating the scene: “It was the case of ‘someone knew a guy who could do it’. We set-up soon after and now have bases in California and New York with plans for more.”
In the years since, Jason explained how consistency has been key to MediaMotos’ success – the same faces and dependability breeds trust, he explained.
“It’s obviously an extremely challenging job to either ride the bike during a race or be the person on the back with a camera.
“We go to the same races each year and everyone knows everyone. Most cycling races, for example, we even know all the riders and have a laugh and a joke when the camera’s aren’t rolling.
“Safety is paramount and the clients involved know that we take that very seriously.”
There has been the odd mishap over the years explained Jason, usually to do with a fallen sign or wrong direction given by a steward, but he explained how he has “complete trust” in his “brilliant team”.
“I probably spend about six months a year just keeping everything rolling and the client happy. We always joke that I’m the man who makes sure everyone is in the same t-shirt. I’m a bit of a brand guy.”
Despite the fun of travelling around the world, it is tough logistically for MediaMotos, who have found life more difficult since Brexit.
“When we ship our bikes abroad for races that’s one thing because they’re sent via freight, but getting across Europe has become a lot of paperwork and red tape.
“We transport all of the bikes in the back of our trucks and these days it costs a lot more, which obviously increases the price for the client too.”
Although there are challenges, Jason and his team still remain constantly busy, capturing some of the most iconic moments at all sorts of races around the world.
“It can be so difficult filming sometimes. A cycling race for example will be a constant battle between being too close to the cyclist so that you annoy them, or too far away that you annoy the director.
“We must get four job applications here a week and accept about one a month. I say to them to get more experience riding a bike with someone on the back first.”
With so many factors to consider, the planning stage of a race is as meticulous as the day itself according to Jason: “We probably find out six months in advance that we’ll have a race on a certain weekend, then at about a month out we get the details and go through them step-by-step.
“We’ll use Google Maps and various other trackers to work out each stage of the race and see where we need to be and when the pace might increase or slow down. It’s a case of practice, practice, practice.
“Again, that all comes with experience and knowledge of the industry. We’ll speak to people on the ground who might say to watch out for a certain rider who might not be at the front for example.
“When we’re actually riding, we’ll have the commentator in our helmet so if he mentions someone’s shoes for example we can slowly pan down to them.”
When speaking to Caerphilly Observer, Jason and the crew were preparing for an Ironman-style event in London.
“We get around two weeks off in December but generally we don’t stop all year. It’s a bit of a problem to be honest as we used to set aside winter to clean and prepare for the new season.
“Now with bookings in Dubai, Australia, America, etc; it never ends.”
As well as filming sports races, Jason also said MediaMotos has branched out into TV series and documentaries, having helped with shows such as Midsomer Murders.
Asked if he ever saw the business getting this big all those years ago, Jason joked: “I’d love to be able to sit here and tell you it was all some masterplan, but its just been through the hard work of everyone.
“I love what we do and it’s really good fun.”
Jason was able to have something of a homecoming at last year’s Tour of Britain, which finished in Caerphilly town in front of thousands of fans who lined the streets to watch.
“I knew the announcer who mentioned me and the company as we were driving through. That was nice as my family were all there and obviously I’m from the area.
“We all gave a bit of a wave and a cheer. It was a good day.”
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