What I do...
Asides being a team rider for my long time sponsor Liquid Force Kites I also manage a kitesurfing and adventure training school in my home county. We’re committed to getting people outside and into nature through the medium of only human or naturally powered sports and, while I do what I do to make a living, I do take pride in the fact that we encourage people to take up sports that have as minimal an effect as possible on the environment.
I also recently started my own business as a personal trainer specialising in outdoor fitness, training in natural environments and as a running coach with a primary focus on trail running. It is through my business that I feel I’m able to, in some way, pass on my enthusiasm for an outdoor healthy lifestyle and I feel very fortunate to be able to spend more or less my entire working life outside as a result of what I do.
Along with what I’ve already mentioned I’m also increasingly finding myself working as a writer. While I’ve been writing travel articles for kitesurf magazines for a while I’ve also recently branched into fitness writing and now have a feature every issue in Kiteworld, the world’s biggest kitesurf magazine, on functional sports specific fitness for kitesurfers. I find it immensely rewarding to see what I’ve written in print but also to be able to pass on what I know about movement, form and exercise to hopefully help other people improve their kiting and get the most out of their time in the ocean. Much of what I’ve written of late has been focused on kitesurfing but I’m also moving into the running press later this year with some articles I’ve been putting together on trail running on my home turf and some trips I’ll be taking to train in the natural parks of Tenerife this summer.
On top of all that I also feel very lucky to be involved in a recently implemented initiative working in the North East that takes groups of school kids from inner city schools, scout and youth groups and brings them out to our local beaches to learn to fly kites and learn about the power of the wind. It’s immensely rewarding both for us and the children we’ve worked with so far and it is our hope that through engaging in a sport like kite flying which is totally powered by nature we can engender in these kids a love for the outdoors, a respect for their environment and also give them an experience they would never otherwise have had.