Stop the clocks. Hold the phone. The Ghana Ski Team and the Snow Leopard have now left Vancouver and arrived home in the UK.  The team have experienced the most amazing hospitality and have lived a lifetime on their unique roller coaster ride since landing on Vancouver Island at the end of January 2010. Kwame’s journey from fledging ski racer to Olympian in a little over 6 years truly captured the hearts of a great many people and for a 2 week period the world media attention.  To get to an Olympics in such short time is extraordinary, he was starting to race at an age when most retire, to then add you are from a country with no snow makes it almost implausible and to then arrive there largely unfunded is next to impossible.  In fact Paddy Power one of our sponsors had taken responsibility for providing funding that had allowed us to operate as a team and get to the Olympics

A band of brothers was assembled to support this incredible adventure putting their own lives on hold to be small but essential cogs.  This small team consisted of Kwame, Tim our physio from Croydon, Richard Harpham of Bedford, Denis Grigorev, the coach from Uzbekistan and Martin Desborough and David Beach from MK who are web experts. Kwame will tell you he is an ordinary person who had an extraordinary dream, the Ghana Ski Team are equally ordinary people, no superhero’s here but collectively the team made history against unlikely odds.  In particular Denis’s story is worthy of a mention, a great ski racer who qualified for Vancouver as his countries best skier and who was not competing due to politics within this ski federation.

So lets turn back the clocks, its late October 2009 and Richard and Kwame head to the Metro Ski Show to try and find some support for the Vancouver Winter Olympics.  They meet Sarah Nicholson, Tourism Manager for Mount Washington, Vancouver Island and also Katherine Munro of Canadian Affair, a tour operator.   In these days of commercial hysteria with organizations wanting more than a few pounds of flesh, the approach of these two individuals was exemplary. They loved Kwame and his story and just wanted to help.

With a few emails and calls the Ghana Ski Team had secured a training camp on Mount Washington for a 10 day period and also return flights from the UK for our small team of 6 with Canadian Affair.  The training camp was funded by 12 extraordinary individuals, local business people who each paid for one night each to bring the Ghana Ski Team to their island. In fact Mount Washington had secured 26 teams in total and hundreds of athletes.  The 12 incredibly generous people who helped support Kwame’s Olympic dream were : Tourism Mount Washington, Mount Washington Alpine Resort (espically Peter Gibson, Don Sharpe and Brent Curtain), Baxandall Ford Country (Peter Britain and Neil Van Ierland), The Kingfisher Oceanside Resort and Spa, Dianne Hawkins, Tourism Vancouver Island, Havers Design(Neil Havers), Speedpro Signs(Mike Finneron), Canadian Tire(Keith and Bert), Comox Valley Record(Colleen Dane), The Eagle 97.3 (Elizabeth Young), Blinds, Baubles & Billiards(Tracey McGinnis), Round2itPR(Judith Round), Peak Accommodation (Pam deBoer), 1st View (Clarice Coty), Anna Jorgensen of Coast Realty Group Ltd, True Dimension of Hair Design, Discover Marine Safaris, Gordon Ross Photography and Black Creek Farm and Feed Supply (Steve Nixon for supplying a van to get our kit from the airport to the mountain).

The team left the UK to travel to Vancouver Island on 31st January with Canadian Affair and their partner Thomas Cook pulling out all the stops, they conveniently looked the other way as the plane loaded with very excess baggage, including skis, boots, literature, workshop kit and the like.  It was an interesting leap of faith for the team as they did not have accommodation for everyone after the start of the Olympics.  

The phenomenon that  engulfed the team and the Snow Leopard began on Vancouver Island not long after arrival.  Sarah Nicholson and the Comox Valley came up trumps and responded to the team’s need for a vehicle in style.  The local Ford Dealer, Baxendale’s County provided 19 inch rims on a Ford Flex with full sign writing “Live Snow Leopard in Transit” sporting Kwame’s Paddy Power race suit.  Throughout the time in Vancouver that vehicle provided an iconic mode of transport for the team.

The first press conference on the Island provided the taste of things to come.  Journalists from France, Germany, Japan, Canada to name a few. The word spread and we got requests almost every day, including CNN, Australia’s CH 9, BBC World Service and Brazil TV.  And that was the way things continued until the pretty much the team left for the UK 4 weeks later.  This is course was a great coup for Vancouver Island getting the world media attention as well and something they thoroughly deserved in return for their unconditional support.

Canada then began to show its true colours.  Canadians just seemed to come alive with inbuilt hospitality fuelled by their heritage as a pioneering people.  The Ghana Ski team were invited as guests to the international ice hockey match hosted on the island between China and Sweden.  The ‘Spirit committee’ who organized the event tapped into the local community and the event included gospel singing, a community breakfast and a ‘push cart’ race for charity.  The Ghana Ski Team with support from Diane Hawkins of Comox Valley Chamber and also Don of Comox Valley Kayaks.

The result, never in doubt, the Ghana Ski Team were winners of the best looking float!  Kwame had adopted the role of coach for the event leaving Tim, Dennis and Richard to man the push cart with support from Don.  The push cart team made the final but were given a lesson in push cart racing from the local champions.  Above all it was about fun and athletes mixing and relaxing with the local community.

Our memories about Vancouver Island will be about lasting friendships, a great training camp and a community that embraced the Ghana Ski Team and took us into their hearts.   For us that is a great recipe and lesson for future Olympics Leaving the island was a wrench and it was off to Whistler to prepare for the Olympic ceremony and the games themselves.   We did however conclude that our extended team would now include local world class photographer Gordon Ross (it took a request in the parliament to get him an Olympic photographer’s pass), Diane and Sarah and artist Gillian Brooks who had helped with our photoshoots.

You may recall that the Ghana Ski Team did not have any accommodation for the full team or Kwame’s family during the Olympic Games.  During our stay on the island we had done a radio and newspaper appeal for support with accommodation.  To put things into perspective the charges for accommodation for the period were quoted as a minimum of $25,000 and without funding this was an impossible target.  Two families responded to the cry for help with Maureen and David Lunny offering their Scottish style lodge called Drumkeeran House in Pemberton, 40 minutes past Whistler.  It was a huge relief to Kwame that his family including mum, dad, his wife and kids would be safe and comfortable.

This still left logistics issues and an accommodation shortage for the technical team.  CKNW radio had been trying to get in contact and set up a live radio interview where Kwame and Richard were on separate mobiles to hear that Greg and his wife were able to provide their Whistler chalet for the team. The team were euphoric and the roller coaster ride was definitely at a high point.  One fact that we found amazing talking to Greg was that 30 years ago when his dad had asked for a mortgage to build the chalet the bank had declined wondering why someone would build in this remote and tiny place called Whistler. 30 years on it is now one of the biggest resorts in the world and hosting an Olympics!

The Olympics came alive with the opening ceremony and walking into the arena was an experience of a lifetime. Kwame had turned to Richard, Van P (the Ghana Chef De Mission and head of cricket) and Denis before walking into the stadium and commented “Spartans, are you ready? This is our time”.  What an experience.  It was simply incredible as 4 of the Ghana Ski Team sandwiched between Germany and Great Britain marched into the arena to a hero’s welcome.  The opening ceremony passed in a blur with incredible arts, culture and music as Canada performed for the world.  Our highlights included the light show with Whales simulated swimming and of course the poet.  Of course there was also the incredible sadness following the death in the Luge of the Georgian athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili, also highlighting the risk involved in some winter sports.

The next 2 weeks passed quickly, with Kwame racing in the slalom on the penultimate day time was spent juggling the demands of training and the huge media interest.  One of our press conferences attracted more media attention with 23 cameras and press crews than Bodie Miller, the American who won 3 medals.  Kwame seemed to take most of this in his stride un-phased by it all.  As a team we talked of future opportunities for an Athlete Development Programme for Ghana, of an artificial ski slope in Ghana and skiing well for the fairy tale ending to the story.  We also held 2 nightclub receptions and a dinner at Labocca and Maxx Fish in Whistler Village to showcase Ghana and African culture. This was a first at a Winter Olympics and the Ghana House concept also allowed us to say thanks to a great many people who had helped and been part of our journey.

Tension built as race day approached and for those of us in the team it was a strange time, for months we had been part of something but on the day we were simply bystanders as Kwame would race down the slope.  He had been originally scheduled to take part in the Giant Slalom as well but following a rule change and our appeals from us this was declined.  It simply added to the pressure, all or nothing, a high stakes end to 6 years of effort and sacrifice.  The morning of the race it became clear that conditions were far from ideal.  Visibility was poor, a misty fog hung over the mid section of the course and the Kwame lined up as number 102 of 102.  The first run was extremely difficult with tight turns in the poor conditions and in fact almost half the field didn’t finish the first run.   For the team it was tough, Denis and Tim at the top of the course assisting with final preparations and Richard waiting at the bottom in the team area, plus our other team members and supporters rallying the crowds.  For Denis in particular it was a strange time, this should have also been his time, his chance to race in an Olympics.

The first run began almost unnoticed, Kwame had received a huge roar from the crowd and then the big screens picked him up tentatively negotiating his way down the course. And before we had time to really think he had crossed the finishing line.  Richard commented later this was one of the most incredible moments of tension he has ever experienced. The range and depth of emotions among our little team were extraordinary, and it was then a waiting game for the second run.  We had to do it all again although this time it strangely was not quite as nail biting.  We all crossed our fingers and prayed for the fairy tale end.

Once he finished the second run we were all euphoric, there were cheers, tears and elation.  The crowd went berserk and getting through the media, fans and crowds took an age.  Kwame took it all in his stride signing autographs and posing for pictures for each and every request.  Undoubtedly Kwame could ski faster than that race day but to finish 47th out of 102 starting on the day was a success for him, his family, the Ghana Ski Team and his fans.  As for the future then Kwame hopes to race in the World Championships next year and the World Cup, subject to qualification.  This is as always dependent on funding and sponsors.  Plans are also being developed for the Ghana Ski Slope, the Athlete Development Programme and the Snow Leopard Challenge(Kwame’s annual race for young people and aspiring ski racers – register on the website for more info www.ghanaskiteam.com ).