Sheffield Steel' celebrates city roots at Forgemasters

Published: 28 October 2010

The world's most successful downhill mountain biker, Steve Peat, has celebrated his Sheffield heritage by strutting his stuff at Sheffield Forgemasters.

Chapeltown resident Steve Peat, nicknamed ‘Sheffield Steel' for his extraordinary strength and resilience on the bike, showed off some of his moves to Sheffield Forgemasters staff in front of some hot steel and was filmed for a video profiling some of the world's best mountain bikers.

Peat, 36, said: "I'm proud of the fact that I'm Sheffield born and bred and it was great to be able to visit one of the city's pride and joys in Sheffield Forgemasters.

"I still live in the city and I wanted to recognise the great work Sheffield Forgemasters is doing not only for Sheffield but for heavy engineering around the world. I enjoyed talking to some of the staff and finding out a bit more about what they do."

Amongst Peat's achievements is taking the title of world champion last year following a nail-biting victory in Canberra, Australia at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships, beating his team-mate Greg Minnaar by 0.05 seconds. Overall he has claimed the most victories at major competitions amongst any downhill mountain biker in history.

Away from the track, Steve works closely with young cyclist academies and promotes youth involvement in the sport. He is also part-owner of a specialist riding clothing company.

Gareth Barker, Operations Director at Sheffield Forgemasters, said: "It's fantastic that a Sheffielder such has Steve has gone on to gain such international recognition, and where better to show him ‘at home' than at Sheffield Forgemasters.

"We were delighted to welcome him and he certainly dazzled us with his talent. He even let some of us have a go on his bike!"