Background

I started skiing in 1976 when I was about 5 and cable bindings were still in. We had advanced to plastic boots by this time though. I became known not so much for my skiing but for being accident prone following a number of on and off slope incidents.

I started racing at an early age in the 70’s and was in the race training group of John and Alice Rapple. During much of the 80’s we were brought up to speed on the latest techniques once a year by Hillend based Alan McGregor and the legendary Hans Kuwall. Our skiing education for the rest of the year consisted of watching videos of Alan Mc Gregor and Ski Sunday. I won most of the age category races from under 10 up. I raced on the dry slope circuit throughout the UK for several years and was part of the very first expeditions from the club via SAI to train and race on snow in the early 90’s.

Achievements

My racing career was mostly on dry slopes till the mid 90’s. One of the highlights from that time was winning the team dual slalom at the Welsh Championships in Llandudno 1990 was probably the first significant win by the Irish on the dry slope racing circuit.

Coaching Experience

Since 1993 my focus has been on coaching the Minis,  with the exception of the ‘99-‘00 season that I spent instructing in Lake Tahoe, California. While there I also coached young skiers every Saturday called the ‘Hot Shots’ as well as working as a coach to the local race team.

Coaching highlights include coaching Irish Children teams at Borrufa in Andorra and the Junior team at the European Youth Olympics at Lake Bled, Slovenia

Favourite Skier

Marc Girardelli who is the only skier to win across all 5 disciplines in one season including combined. He has also won the most overall World Cup titles with 5.  At the moment I’m enjoying the spectacular form of Marcel Hircher and Ted Ligety. I think Pinterault and Kristoffersen will really shake things up next season?