Profile of an Irish Sponsored Snowboarder

Static M.e.

Coming back from Val D'isere on Tuesday, I happened to pick up a few Snowboarding Magazines to pass the 5 hour wait in Geneva Airport. After I quickly flicked through the pictures in a couple of them, (Turns out I can't speak French) I opened Snowboard UK and lo and behold the first article was about the Profile of an Irish Sponsored Snowboarder!

Maybe it was naive of me to think so, but I never expected to see any Irish Snowboarder featured. I know we love the white stuff but its not like we have snow capped peaks in our back garden and can quickly run off to the slopes at the weekend. For most of us, if we get two weeks out of the year on the mountain we are more than happy. Like I said, I was naive.

Once I got back, I contacted Aidan the site admin from the Irish Snowboarding site mentioned and asked him for permission to publish the article here as well, he kindly agreed. I just think its impressive, you don't see or hear of very many sponsored Irish Snowboarders\Skiers so the ones we do have I think we should promote as much as we can! Anyway here it is;

Profile of an Irish Sponsored Snowboarder
By: Aidan
For those of you who haven't seen this months snowboard uk mag, it has a feature on one of Ireland's leading snowboarders; Tim Russell. Snowboard UK have allowed me to copy their article and details of their Q&A session are laid out below. Tim who will be making an appearance at the upcoming Irish snowboarding & Ski championships in livigno 2008 no doubt will be one of the main contenders for the first ever title of Irish Freestyle Champion. [More on this to come]

QUICK FIRE Q's

Home Town? Maghera, County Derry
Home Resort? Morzine
Favourite Film? Kundun
Favourite Band? Nut Bros
Love or Lust? Lust
Beer or Spirits? Beer
Old School or New School? Old School
Home or Away? Away
One thing snowboarding could do without? Negative people who are too busy being grumpy to sit back and have fun shredding.
Kickers or Powder? Powder
Secret of success? Smooth long transitions
Tuning Technique? Open wrapper, blunt edges as needed and break in the flex you want for the board

MAIN QUESTIONS

Why snowboarding? It looked fun when I saw a load of local french shred dogs on homemade boards thrashing by me in the late 80s. I didn't see a twin tipped board for years after that. I was bored of zipping around on skis, and snowboarding was so much better and opened up a whole new way of using the mountain.

What do you get up to in the summers? Work or NZ? Board Test, Iceland Park Project and work in TSA Glasgow. Maybe NZ and Oz this summer or do some trips.

If you could put together your dream riding crew, who is in it? Muller, Friedl, David Vincent, Fredi K, Joshua Hemminger, Austin, Henry Jackson, Tom Burt, Tom Penny, Brushie, Wayne Taylor

Do you feel influenced by current trends and fashions in snowboarding? Of course, but all the new trends just build on the ones that have gone before.

When something gives you the fear in snowboarding, how do you deal with it? Think about how much I actually want to do it and how pissed off I will be later if I don't do it. Level my head, visualise the trick and go for it before you think some more.

If you could only ride one resort for the rest of your days, where and why? Snaefellsjokull Glacier, Iceland. Its a magical place.

If snowboarding was no longer an option, what would you do for a living? Would probably move to Canada and do computer graphic design stuff. But that's boring so let's say Oz and surf.

What would you have written on your tombstone? Walk on air against your better judgement. Seamus Heaney, Nobel Lecture December 7th 1995

Why is snowboarding so fun? You share fun times with friends and learn something new every time you do it no matter how sh*t the day is.

If you could teach one person to ride, who would it be? My Dad. Come on Dad... get your Irish ass on a board!

You've worked as a park shaper - how does this help your riding? It helps me read terrain so much better, which is helpful for spotting lines, but it also makes me critique every park I ride. It's satisfying riding your own sculpted creations no matter how small they are.

Being a sponsored Irish snowboarder makes you a bit of a stand-out, why aren't there more Irish riders in the spotlight? There was a good hard core crew of Irish skate/snow dogs in the early 90s. They are still around ripping quietly. I knew from early on I needed to get out of Ireland to follow the sport further. Love Ireland but like snow more. My ticket to ride was summer camps. First as a camper at Kommunity 98/99/00 then working as a shaper at SPC 01/02 and IPP 02/03/04/05/06. Getting hooked up with SP bindings while working at SPC kicked things off for me.

How do you think the first Irish snowboarding championships will affect this? There are going to be a load of good riders coming out of the woodwork who have quietly been doing seasons and ruling. Hopefully they get their asses over to Livigno (8th - 15th March). Irishsnowboarder.com for info.

Describe your riding style in one word: Fun

Any shout outs? Mum and Dad for helping me so much through life, my friend and sister Katy. Sam, Miles and Dave at Noble Custom. Jez and Matt at TSA. Team Leprechaun. All my friends out there who I ride with and those who don't ride but I wish did.


VITAL STATISTICS?

Age: 25
Weight: 14 stone
Height: 6ft 4
Stance: +21 -18
Width: wide as then pulled back a wee bit
Forward Lean: a little bit
Snowboard: Endeavor High Five 59 and Live 63
Boots: SP Venture
Bindings: SP Danny Kass
Clothing: NFA
Sponsors: Endeavor, SP, NFA, Forcefield Body Armour, Demon

jimdev

The man himself.