The Hunter River Times

BY ALEX TIGANI

Singleton’s Jayden Martin could not help but smile when looking back on his 2022 season.

Martin continued to put his town on the map as the winner of the senior mini-bull riding buckle to cap off his first year in the Australian PBR junior academy.

He revealed he was thrilled to capture the buckle in the same year that fellow local Cody Heffernan captured his second Australian PBR title.

“The whole year I was chasing it, it was what I wanted,” Jayden Martin told The Hunter River Times.

“It makes me feel way better to share it in the same year as Cody because I have looked up to him for ages.

“He has taught me heaps and to win it in the same year is amazing and he said ‘good buckle’.”

Martin, who turned 14 last month, celebrated victories before crowds gathered in Rockhampton, Tamworth, Bloomsbury, Cabooiture and Quirrindi last year.

He already hopes to go back-to-back with the PBR under-15 junior academy, which is sponsored by Can-Am and Ariat, from the Scone PBR Invitational on February 4.

Though Martin is no stranger to the venue, it will mark his first PBR event held in the Upper Hunter after sacrificing last year’s Scone PBR Invitational to celebrate the 18th birthday of his brother Oscar.

As for his advice for the next generation of junior riders?

“Don’t be scared, you have to push yourself,” he concluded.

“If you safety up you won’t ride as well.”