Dan Wakeham…GB and Olympic Snowboarder

"Being successful in the competitions is about delivering the tricks at the required time as this what you are judged on, some days I am just there in the zone and it all comes together"..Dan Wakeham is in fact the only British Male to date to qualify and compete in the Olympics at Snowboarding for Great Britain

Dan Wakeham…GB and Olympic Snowboarder

How things have developed?

Dan hails from Plymouth, a coastal town in the South West of England. He started his career as a snowboarder as a result of a few lessons on the John Nike artificial ski slope on the outskirts of the Plymouth. He was hooked and his natural ability was supplemented by considerable experience of surfing and skateboarding. He progressed quickly and began working there as an instructor from the age of 16. He also started to compete on the dry slope circuit.

Dan left school at 17 and spent 6 months in Flaine working in a snowboard park where he got free accommodation in exchange for his hard work. He returned home and realised he needed to earn some money to fund his training and competing. Dan began working at a factory during the summer and saved hard. His next winter season was spent at Breckenridge, Colorado. Although he did not initially have any work lined up he got landed an obscure job next with work as a sleigh driver. The job involved all aspects including mucking out, setting up and driving customers around. He says that this was a great job and paid well primarily as Americans tip well.

He returned to the UK and started the process again of working and saving. This time the jobs including working for Wrigley’s at their chewing gum factory, working for an ice cream factory and also with computers. He raised enough cash to head out, this time to Whistler, Canada. He spent the season working for a cleaning company. Again there were perks as typically the Americans would stock the fridges with beer and food, so it was rich pickings and he was able to live on a tight budget. He then started working as a carpenter’s mate, which was second nature as his dad is also a carpenter. One of the main benefits of this job was that he got to take a car home.

Then came the crunch time he decided that he wasn’t getting enough time for snowboarding and made a bold and brave decision. Dan Told us “I decided that to progress I needed more time on the slopes, so I got a credit card, backed myself and decided to charge it to the card! I began to do more competitions and road trips where we created video clips and images which all helped to raise my profile on the circuit and in magazines”. Although he was improving rapidly he was also increasing his debt and by now had an overdraft and over three grand on his credit card. He prepared a CV of his competitions and exposure and circulated it to various companies. Nike ACG agreed to sponsor him and contribute towards his travel costs which was a massive break through.

Through hard work and perseverance Dan began to further his success and became the 2005 overall Europa cup champion, the first British person in both ski and snowboard to receive this title.

This secured him a spot on the world cup team where he competed in the world cup series with an aim of qualifying for the Olympic games. By the time it got to the Olympics in Turin in February 2006 he was a more established competitor on the world snowboarding scene and had met the quota for Olympic qualification. In Turin he came 26th overall out of 45 competitors, in his view a semi respectable position. He is in fact the only British Male to date to qualify and compete in the Olympics at Snowboarding for Great Britain. To get to this level has largely been self funded although he is now due some funding from TASS (The Talented Athletes Scholarship Scheme). As Dan says “ to have to largely pay your own way to represent your country really sucks”.

Quick Fire Round

First Car - “1 Litre Vauxhall Nova with big Sub Woofer in the Boot”
Favourite Film – “The Business with Danny Dyer”
Fav TV – “Not really I am not big on TV”
No. 1 Superhero - “James Bond, he’s a superhero really”
Best Tunes – “I have a varied selection on my iPod including Drum and Bass, House music and Instrumentals. I have been listening to Just Jack a lot recently. I listen to music whilst boarding even in competitions and find that this really helps me.”

Other sportsmen and women who inspire you?

Dan told us that he rates Shaun White who has achieved great things in both the skate world and in Snowboarding. He achieved success at the Olympics and also won the X games gold in both snowboard and skateboard. There is of course very similar skills that run through most board sports and consequently he is also inspired by Danny Way, the skateboarder. He is famous amongst other things for jumping the Great Wall of China. Dan said “ What impresses me most is that he is also pushing the boundaries of board sports to new levels”.

Tell us about your training?

For Dan his main training focus is on being out there riding the slopes. He does a little bit of gym based training but does not see this as a big part of his schedule. He has had support from Sport UK in bath to help create a more structured training programme.

Dan says “ There is not as much emphasis with snowboarding on out and out fitness although it is still important. What is more important in your mental preparation and focus. In the half pipe competition you need to remain relaxed and feel the rhythm of the tricks and moves that you are trying to deliver. This gets more difficult if you make a mistake or get jittery. Being successful in the competitions is about delivering the tricks at the required time as this what you are judged on, some days I am just there in the zone and it all comes together”.

Who would you like to thank?

• Nike ACG clothing and Head snowboards are his biggest sponsors, they provide him with funding, and this is of course related to his success in competitions and because of the media exposure he receives.
• Grenade provide gloves, thirtytwo boots
• and Von Zipper sponsor his eyewear.
  

Sponsoring Dan on his mission…

Obviously Dan is not alone in this respect however if you work for a company that might be interested in sponsoring Dan then why not drop us a line at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it  and we will make the introductions.

What next

Since the Olympic success then Dan has been working hard on the circuit. He took part in the World Cup event in Saas Fee, Switzerland and he qualified 3rd for the final but poor weather conditions of –20c and high winds meant the final the next day was cancelled. He was gutted particularly as his season is now based on hitting targets.

Next stop for Dan this year has been to Breckonridge, Colorado in the States where he took part in the Chevy Truck Grand Prix which draws all the top riders and is up there with Olympic Standard. Dan did well and came 22nd out of 100 entrants but this time missed the final as the cut was made at the top 20, more disappointment.

The New Year 2007 will see Dan compete at Arosa and then in the World Champs in Switzerland at the end of January. He will also compete at Laax at the European Championships and then in the US, Canada and Japan for some more world cup events. We wish Dan every success and will keep in touch to let you know how he gets on.

To view the full photo gallery of Dan's tricks then click here

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