Welcome home for Patrick

Ruapehu Bulletin, 10 November 1992, Page 1

Welcome home for Patrick

Double gold medal winning skier Patrick Cooper returns to Ohakune this week and to mark the occasion the local ski club, Turoa Alpine Ski Club Incorporated (TASCI) has organised a special welcome. Supporters and members of the public are invited to attend the function, to be held at the Pov/derkeg Inn at the Ohakune Junction, starting 7.30pm on 12 November. Patrick has been awarded the Ski Association President's prize for outstanding effort and achievement. The club hopes to present the award on Thursday. Patrick has been nominated by the club for skier of the year. The following is a report from the club in support of his nomination. "Patrick showed an interest in skiing from an early age but his aspirations appeared to be dashed when he was five years old and had his lower legs crushed under the wheels of a bus. This accident resulted in Patrick having his right leg amputated below the knee. His father, the late Bill Cooper, was the Park Board Ranger at Ohakune. He saw no reason why Patrick's disability should be allowed to interfere with an active life enjoying all that the Park and the mountain had to offer. He encouraged Patrick to ski at Whakapapa and on the early rope tows at Turoa. Patrick became associated with TASCI from the time that Turoa started commercial operations. Racing became the objective and he trained with Warren Scott and Huntly Wright on TASCI' s first junior programme run by local school teacher Allan Graham. As the training programmes developed and coaches were employed Patrick struggled and overcame the technical

difficulties presented by his artificial leg with its rigid ankle joint. The death of Patrick's father in a rescue helicopter accident on the mountain in 1982 was a major setback and the financial constraints that this placed on the family made skiing very difficult to sustain. TASCI gave Patrick the job^of cutting the lawns at its Miro Street lodge and paid on a per cut basis, this kept the grass very short and provided Patrick with some additional cash with the provision that it be spent on skiing. On leaving school after the sixth form Patrick made the decision to give ski racing a go for a couple of years. In association with other Kiwi disabled skiers he spent Turn to page 2

Welcome home

From page 1 winters training at Winter Park in the USA. This necessitated working full time to cover living and training costs. Travel to races presented another major hurdle but Patrick found that he could economise by sleeping on railway stations with his ski's and luggage chained and locked to his body. Patrick' s race career both nationally and internationally is a matter of public record. He suffered many setbacks both due to technical failures of his artificial leg, unusual injuries caused by the elements trying to part Patrick and his leg and extreme difficulty trying to secure

a reliable supply of suitable equipment. TASCI is well aware of the tremendous difficulties faced by all our New Zealand ski racers in their efforts to compete internationally but the Club believes that Patrick has shown a level of resourcefulness, grit and determination unequalled in the history of our sport. The fact that Patrick has been able to continue his ski racing career and achieve such fantastic success would make him a worthy recipient of this award. TASCI believes that this statement is clearly supported by Patrick 's two Olympic gold medals.