Spectrum: Honor where honor is due – Centurion founder Wolfgang Renner was inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame on August 1st. In Fairfax, California, all those who have had a decisive influence on the development of mountain biking and mountain biking are honored. An honor that has now also been bestowed on Swabia.
Wolfgang Renner was born in Stuttgart in 1947. Even as a child, the Swabian's life was inextricably linked to the bicycle. After artistic cycling, he switched to cross-country sport, where he won the German championship between 1970 and 1973. But the now 69-year-old was not only very active on his bike, but also off the slopes. In 1981 he built the first BMX track in Baden-Württemberg in Magstadt. A time when there were almost no mountain bikes in Germany. With the Centurion Country, Wolfgang Renner brought the first German MTB onto the market in 1982.
Wolfgang Renner - A life for the mountain bike
The Swabian initiated some of the first mountain bike races in the Alps as early as 1985 and 1986. The Centurion founder laid the foundation for the Alpine Crossing movement in 1989 with the first Alpine Crossing, which he contested together with Andi Heckmair - on Centurion mountain bikes, of course . In 1990, Wolfgang Renner spontaneously organized an unofficial championship - the reason for this was the hesitant attitude of the BDR to organize a German MTB championship. His work as a journalist and 3D photographer was also of immense importance for the development of mountain biking. With his adventure travels in the 1980s and 1990s he established the mountain bike as an important tool for adventure.
With his induction into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame, Wolfgang Renner's achievements are now duly honored. “It is a great pleasure and affirmation to be honored in the motherland of MTB. I was lucky enough to be born early, when there were still so many white spots on the map that could be discovered by mountain bike,” says Wolfgang Renner himself.