../people/Allan Cooke

Sources: BMX plus!, Inside, Ride BMX US, www.expn.com, www.reflector.com, www.dcshoes.com, www.vitalbmx.com, ...
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1981 Date of birth: November 20, 1981.
Birthplace: Fullerton, CA. USA.
early years For Allan Cooke, life on a bike began at a very early age. His father, a former national motocross racer, naturally had Cooke on a bike as soon as his feet could reach the pedals. At age two, Cooke was jumping a tricycle purchased by his dad. One year later, he was joining his brother Aaron on two wheels conquering dirt jumps in their back yard in Orange County, Calif.
Jim Cooke, Allan's father, www.reflector.com, 2004: When he was two I bought him this tricycle and he was actually jumping that. I had to weld that thing up quite a few times where he broke it. He and his brother had a little track in the backyard that they would go out and do jump after jump after jump all day long. His brother pushed him a lot and I think that's why he's gotten to where he is.
Since about the time he was 15, we knew that BMX is what he really wanted to do and fortunately he was able to get sponsored then, I think that seeing the potential of what he could do with it is what helped get him through high school because we weren't going to let him go and do any of this stuff unless he was able to get through it. His mom and I have been very supportive of his accomplishments, and I think he'll tell you that we've helped him out as much as we can. It's really been a whole family deal.


Barhop on the cover of BMX Plus! september 1999.
bmx plus 09 1999 cooke barhop
2000 8th place pro street @ CFB #1, Merrit Island, FL, february 2000.

Superman seat grab on the cover of BMX Plus! march 2000.

12th place stuntman street @ BS #1, Lake Havasu, AZ, march 2000.

6th place stuntman street @ BS #2, Louisville, KY, april 2000.
Allan Cooke went faster than anyone; he hit every obstacle HAULING. Cooke did a nothing over the gap between the jump box and the sub box deal. Alan was awarded 6th for his efforts.

1st place pro dirt @ FISE, Palavas, France, april 2000.

INTERVIEW.
Interview in Ride BMX UK june 2000.

18th place pro street & 15th place pro dirt @ CFB #3, Woodward, PA, july 2000.

5th place pro street @ Gravity Games, Providence, RI, july 2000.
Fifth place went to Allan Cooke with a clicked one foot x-up back flip over the box. He rode clean and flowed the course well and ended one run with a huge flip transfer from the box, over the grind ledge, and into a wedge.

X-GAMES.
8th place pro street @ X Games, San Francisco, CA, august 2000.

INSIDE COVER.
Flip in Palavas on the cover of Inside #1 october 2000.

OFF SPECIALIZED.
Released from Specialized in december 2000.
allan cooke bmx plus 03 2000

allan cooke inside bmx
2001 12th place pro park & 11th place pro dirt @ CFB #1, Kona Skatepark, Jacksonville, february 2001.
Allan Cooke barely missed the cut on dirt with nothings and x-up flips.

22th place stuntman park @ BS #1, Anaheim, CA, march 2001.

5th place stuntman park @ BS #2, Louisville, KY, april 2001.
Allan Cooke rode faster than anyone and did a nothing and then a no-footed double seatgrab over the street spine. He also barspun to walltapped the big subwall.

13th place pro park @ CFB #2, Perris, CA, may 2001.

7th place stuntman park @ BS #3, Grand Prairie, TX, may 2001.
Allan Cooke did some good gaps down the hill ramp and also wall rode around the curved part of the subramp.

Cover and interview in Ride BMX US july 2001
Mark Losey, www.ridebmx.com: On Road Fools 7, we drove into Atlanta and as soon as we started riding Van Homan spotted a big ledge that would be a great gap-to-manual. That's not usually the kind of thing you do first trick of the session, so Van looked at it for a bit and decided to come back later. We all pedaled away, but we only made it 50 yards before Van turned around to give it a go. On his second attempt, he pulled it perfectly.

1st place pro dirt @ CFB #3, Woodward, PA, july 2001.
Allan Cooke is a bad ass. Huge superman seatgrab, barspin and x-up flips, canon balls, and a barspin catch barspin to x-up. He won.

10th place pro street @ Vans Triple Crown Series 2001 round 2, Louisville, KY, july 2001.

9th place pro park @ X Games, Philadelphia, PA, august 2001.
Alan Cooke pulled a barspin flip to no-footer and an inverted footplant on the subrail.

Allan Cooke is going to be sponsored by Specialized for bikes once again.

8th place pro dirt @ Vans Triple Crown Series 2001 round 3, Oceanside, CA, october 2001.
allan cooke ride bmx us 07 2001
2002 1st place pro dirt & 1st place pro park @ CFB #1, Merritt Island, FL, march 2002.
First place pro street went to Allan Cooke. Barspin to wall tap and big footplants on the death wall, trickery over the box and spine and huge transfers got him the win.

6th place stuntman park @ EXPN Invitational #2, Gwinnett County, GA, 2002.

3rd place pro dirt & 6th place pro park @ CFB #3, Joliet IL, june 2002.
On dirt, Allan Cooke started off with a truckdriver to no footer, a tailwhip, then a crash on a nothing nofootedcancan. His second run was a nothing to one footed x-up, a tailwhip, and this time he pulled his nothing nofootedcancan. The third time he rolled in he did a truckdriver to nofooted can can, a nothing to one footed x-up type trick, and a tailwhip over the last set. His last run was a double truckdriver, nothing seat grab, 360 tabletop seat grab.
On park, Allan Cooke did some decent manuevering in the event. Nice barspins to walltaps an icepick grind out of the sub on the mini into the street course, and a big wallride transfer from the slanted wall, over the quarter, and into the wedge to wall area.

Dirt gold medal @ 2002 X-Games.

2nd place pro dirt @ Gravity Games, Cleveland Ohio, august 2002.

Video Fox Expendable 3.
2003 Allan Cooke world-record 54 foot backflip.
www.dcshoes.com, 2/19/2003: When asked what he wanted to do for his DC ad, Allan jumped at the opportunity: he wanted to do a backflip farther than anyone else had. DC BMX team manager Brian Botts set up the location at the remote Point X Camp, located east of Temecula, California. A tall, steep roll-in, with about four feet of near vert at the very top, led down to a skinny metal jump ramp, the same kind used by freestyle motocrossers. The initial gap was 45 feet wide. The landing was an incredibly steep bank ramp that funneled into a 20-foot-tall quarter pipe. Allan supervised the construction on Saturday evening, and on Sunday he went for it. He backflipped the initial distance of 45 feet, then moved the take-off ramp back five feet. He threw a single straight air to gauge the new distance, then followed it with a 50-foot backflip. Once again, the take-off ramp was moved back five feet. Allan aired it, climbed to the top of the roll-in, hopped in, and threw another backflip for a final distance of 54 feet.
Never mind backflipping 54 feet over hard desert ground and an unforgiving wood ramp—Allan’s biggest worry was the wind: I was so high up that the desert wind started to worry me, I could feel it pushing at me at the top of the roll-in, and I was worried it’d blow me off the landing. But it all worked out. This flip was really hard to calculate because you had to adjust your rotation for both the distance and the speed, I had to just trust that once I got in the air my instincts would take over and I would stick the landing.

Interview in TW BMX #77 march 2003.

Poster & Interview: Ride BMX US #84 may 2003 (flipwhip).

X-Games
Allan Cooke blew out his ACL and hurt his Meniscus.
allan cooke 54 feet backflip

allan cooke
Superman seatgrab flip,
Vans Triple Crown round 3,
Photo: Chad Kagy.
2004 08.26.2004: After months of debate, the Greenville City Council passed an ordinance last month limiting the size of sports ramps in residential areas. The vote, sparked by a 1,600 square-foot ramp belonging to Greenville BMX pro Allan Cooke in the Tuckahoe neighborhood, passed unanimously on a motion made by councilman Ray Craft. The local law limits the size of all ramps to no more than 500 square feet of riding surface and 10 feet in height. Owners of ramps exceeding that size have 12 months to comply.
2006 Interview on www.vitalbmx.com, october 2006. Allan talks about the hectic 2006 summer, and the amazing RV he drives from comp to comp.
2008 Allan Cooke got dropped by Specialized (and Boost Mobile, and Fox) in December.
2009 Allan Cooke is now riding for and working for Haro as their BMX brand manager.
Press release, may 2009: Haro Bicycles is proud to announce that they have appointed Allan Cooke to the position of BMX Brand Manager. “I am very excited about the addition of this bright young talent to our BMX group” said Joe Hawk, Haro’s Chief Operating Officer. “Allan brings a fresh new approach and a unique collection of skillsets; when combined with the talents of the current Product Development team, it will ensure that Haro maintains its edge as the leader in BMX for years to come.”
Allans’ experience in the world of BMX is broad, highlighted by over 11 years as a professional rider resulting in Gold, Silver and Bronze medals at contests such as X Games, Gravity Games and more. While sponsored by Specialized, he was exposed to the product development and marketing processes in addition to the duties and responsibilities typically handled by a Team Manager. Allan is the creator of the Local Exposure Tour, working directly with young riders at local parks and cultivating talent many of whom have gone on to become pro athletes.
In addition, Allan has hosted or appeared in several BMX-related television specials aired on the Discovery Channel, Fuel TV, ESPN and many more.
“I am very excited to be given this opportunity at Haro and to begin the transition from a full time competitor to the business side of BMX. I am confident the perspective that I bring to the job along with the skills that I will soon learn will produce a winning combination for us both,” says Cooke. “In addition to my duties at Haro, I will continue to compete this year in X-Games and Dew Tours as well as producing the Local Exposure Tour. Haro isn’t just a company full of people designing and selling bikes, it is a company full of people that are into riding bikes which means I can work hard and still ride my bike as much as possible. I wouldn’t want it to be any other way. While I know I will miss my friends in Greenville, I’m really excited about this opportunity”

Five pallets and four flipped over trash cans were used to construct this bridge to tranny mecca. Although it wasn’t wide, but all too shaky, Allan Cooke had no problem flickin’ the bars a few times one quiet Sunday for the cover of Ride BMX US august 2009. Photo by Ryan Fudger.
allan cooke ride bmx us 08 2009
2012 OFF DC.
Adam, thecomeupbmx.net, january 2012: Allan has kind of left behind the whole pro BMX thing (he left the Haro pro team a little while back too) to focus on his day job at Haro/Premium.