Learning to ski jump with Eddie the Eagle in Courchevel for Ski 4 Cancer-Meet the Winners!

Presenting the winners of our “Jump with Eddie – Jump 4 Cancer”. A chance to learn to Ski jump with Eddie the Eagle, Alp Leisure Ltd, the Ski resort of Courchevel, Club des Sports Courchevel and Ski 4 Cancer. These are their thoughts about why they entertained the idea of jumping with Eddie, How they are going to raise funds and awareness of Ski 4 Cancer and how they reacted when they heard they had won and were really going to learn to ski jump.

Andrew Marshall

Why would you like to learn to ski jump with Eddie the Eagle and how did you feel when you heard you were going to be actually jumping

I have seen the jump many times and always wondered “what sort of person would throw themselves down that”. Well now I can find out. I am both very excited and nervous all at that same time.

How will you help Ski 4 Cancer?

We are planning quite a campaign of fundraising here in North Wales so any materials or images along the way would be great.

https://www.facebook.com/andrew.marshall.3910829?fref=ts

Max Willcocks

Why would you like to learn to ski jump with Eddie the Eagle?

Eddie’s situation was extremely unique and without doubt one of the great triumphswithin British winter sports in the 80’s. His decision to part take in a sport that in reality was completely obscure in the UK prior to his involvement was incredibly courageous and admirable. You simply do not succeed as an athlete without passion and in Eddie’s case he made more than a few hurdles to overcome, all of which he surpassed simply through his will to progress. As an athlete these are qualities that are worthy of praise and recognition over and above simple performance statistics. I simply love to ski and run mountain ridgeswhen the snow subsides. Running for me has opened up a world of imagination and creates a sense of freedom… a sense of ‘flying’ if you will. I’d love to take this one step further and push the limits of what i feel i know is possible.

How will you help Ski 4 Cancer?

I have previously put on a cross country ski trip to Greenland with Chemmy Alcott to raise funds for Ski 4 Cancer and in early Jan i am ski touring 90 resorts in 18 days in Austria again in support of S4C. I have also created a S4C ski goggle with a goggle company where some of the funds from the sale of these goggles goes back to S4C- these are really cool. I think it’s fair to say I’m committed.

How did you feel when you found out you would actually jumping?

I was always the kid that would do thing first, jumping off things, climbing up things… speed testing fresh backcountry kickers!! Now that i know I’m going ski jumping I’m pretty nervous and just hope that the fearless kid is still in me somewhere. More importantly though i just can’t wait for the whole experience and the actual ski jumping only makes up for a small part of embracing a new sport and community.

Social media:
Facebook: Max Willcocks Twitter: @maxwillcocks Instagram: MaxWilko

Alexandra Stubbs

Why would you like to learn to ski jump with Eddie the Eagle?

Who doesn’t love Eddie, but guess not everyone’s old enough to remember his illustrious Olympic bid. I’m turning 50 in January the week of this event, my Austrian grandfather was a ski jumper and I starting skiing age 3 before my family moved to the UK. What better way to celebrate a milestone birthday?!

How will you help Ski 4 Cancer?

Pestering friends and family, lots of Facebook activity, getting lots of 50-something publicity

How did you feel when you found out you would actually jumping?

I still can’t quite believe I’m going to launch myself into my fifties from a ski jump. I’m thrilled to have been chosen, it’s a brilliant and bonkers adventure for a great cause and who wouldn’t want to ski with Eddie? I’ve no idea how I’ll take to it, just hoping that I’ve inherited my Austrian grandfather’s ski jumping genes and stay the right way up.

https://www.facebook.com/alexandra.stubbs.96?fref=ts

Donald Banks

Why would you like to learn to ski jump with Eddie the Eagle?

I started skiing for the first time in august last year, with the goal to become the world’s first Super G and Downhill Skier of British Jamaican Nationality. Growing up as a brit in the UK, Eddie was a legend and inspiration for me. He showed me that anyone can do anything they want. I want his experience and some time with him to give me a boost and take me to the next level and want to show the world he is a talent to be learned from. My name is Donald Banks, Page 38 features me in this magazine. http://issuu.com/verbierlife/docs/verbierlife59_apr15_low-res I want to race for the next 4 years and think sometime with Eddie can help me not just to compete but win. Super G and downhill requires big massive….amounts of confidence amongst other things. I am also working to raise awareness of the GB snow sports Paralympic team and how adaptive snow sports can be used for rehabilitation. My girlfriend Charlotte Elmore is a professional snow boarder who the BBC featured (last shown on BBC one early September this year) recently in a documentary called Me and My New Brain (google) Together we would like to act as a voice for cancer too and will use our platform to raise awareness of this! So, Hope you give me a chance Eddie! I really want to do this. Currently live in Verbier Switzerland as am hoping to start training soon! Peace and thanks

How will you help Ski 4 Cancer?

I would use my Social media presence as an amateur Super G and Downhill Skier, My partner was recently featured in a BBC documentary called Me and New Brain and we set up a social enterprise called GBOT2018 to support using adaptive snow sports as a form of rehabilitation, so we would use that as a platform to raise awareness, and we are currently involved in helping to expand the GB para snow sports team so are pretty confident we can do something with them in aid of Ski 4 cancer, and we would also do something here in Verbier like an event involving the ski schools!, There are many things we could do!

How did you feel when you found out you would actually jumping?

It feels amazing to actually know now, that I’m going to get the chance to train and Ski jump with the legend ‘Eddie the Eagle’ and the equally legendary organisation “Ski 4 Cancer” Courchevel is a world class resort, and after getting collected by a chauffeur on Monday in Geneva courtesy of Alp leisure who helped organize this amazing experience, I look forward to what we can do as a team to raise awareness for cancer through doing edge of your seat Ski Jumps for the first time and make everyone proud in time for the start of the Ski Jumping games, especially one of the charities key patrons, Eddie the eagle!

https://www.facebook.com/DonaldLeonardoBanks?fref=ts

https://twitter.com/dbankski

Mark Black

Mark Black

Why would you like to learn to ski jump with Eddie the Eagle?

Growing up in the 1980s there are two news events that I remember most, The Falklands War and the spectacle of Eddie the Eagle jumping in Calgary. I have been contemplating a ski jump for a while after my children had a go and being a bit competitive I would like to jump further than them. To be honest I had only really imagined a few jumps to tick the box, however after a little encouragement from others combined with the fact that it’s an opportunity to raise some serious money for Ski 4 Cancer (which will also make the difference when the brain is saying no). I am in good shape having done Ironman Wales for the last three years (most recently just 2 weeks ago), I am also an experienced telemark skier so hopefully have a reasonable chance of landing safely, and if not strong enough physically and mentally to get up and have another go.

How will you help Ski 4 Cancer?

Clearly sponsorship is the best method to raise funds in the short term, with a challenge of this nature I would not be afraid to do what it takes to raise necessary funds. Running my own business based in Suffolk I have plenty of personal and business contacts that would provide a starting point, combined with a well organised online presence to top this up. I would also seek to learn more about the charity (which has an already excellent website) to raise its profile both now and in the future.

How did you feel when you found out you would actually jumping?

When I heard that my name had been picked out for the ski jump training I decided to check YouTube to focus my thoughts, but after choosing a video which showed clip after clip of spectacular failures I wondered why I had not checked before putting my name forward. However things have improved a bit now and I’m mentally prepared to start training.

https://www.facebook.com/mark.black.505523?fref=ts