Ski racer to sport angry Panda on his helmet
Former liver patient designs helmet for Hudec as part of fundraiser, Vicki Hall writes.
CALGARY Ski-racer Jan Hudec will have a secret weapon in his arsenal next weekend at the World Cup season opener at Lake Louise.
The Olympic bronze medallist will wear a new helmet designed especially for him by 10-year-old Dylan Kwan, who was diagnosed with the liver condition biliary atresia when he was eight weeks old.
As part of the Helmets for Heroes program created by retired ski-racer Brad Spence, Kwan researched Hudec on the Internet and discovered his nickname is Panda. As such, the back of the helmet depicts an angry panda designed to scare the racers behind Hudec in the starting gate.
“It’s fierce,” says Hudec, 34. “A panda that you think might win something. He even looks fast. To get to wear a helmet like this in Lake Louise is absolutely incredible.”
The helmet will be auctioned off next week at a Canadian Liver Foundation gala in Calgary to raise funds for research into pediatric liver disease. Kwan had surgery as a baby and today leads a normal, healthy and happy life.
“I’m not really into pandas, but this one is cool,” said Kwan, who will be a guest of honour at Lake Louise.
Not to heap more pressure on Hudec, but Sam Edney became the first Canadian to ever win gold at a World Cup luge event last year wearing a helmet depicting a snarling bear designed by 19-year-old Richard Flamenco, who has a rare, incurable skin disease. CIRCUS ACT: Canadian Olympians Mike Riddle and Noah Bowman ran away this summer and joined the circus.
Well, not literally, but the World Cup halfpipe skiers took part in two summer training camps with Cirque du Soleil — one at the National Circus School in Montreal and another on the St. Lawrence River. Their mission? To share tricks of the trade with their circus brethren and test out new tricks minus the fear of crashing on the unforgiving snow pack.
“They let us go at it as long as we weren’t going to kill ourselves,” says Bowman, 23. “They just gave us the freedom to explore.”
At the first camp, Bowman and Riddle trained on the Russian swing, catapulting in the air before landing in a foam pit.
“Even getting on the swing was terrifying at first,” says Bowman, who is based in Whistler. “You have to get onto it when it’s moving. It was barely moving, but it definitely freaked me out.”
The camp on the St. Lawrence River involved jumps off a barge.
“When we didn’t have to worry as much about landing perfectly, it gave us a lot of room, to try extra rotations or spins and other stuff we wouldn’t try if the consequences were higher,” says Bowman. “A belly flop into the water isn’t fun, but it’s not that bad in the scheme of things.” TAKING IT EASY: Speedskater Denny Morrison, 30, is playing it smart in his recovery from a near-fatal motorcycle accident in May that saw him break his femur, puncture his lung, rupture his kidneys, and bruise his heart. His next step is to race a low-key 3,000 metres in Calgary this weekend, and he expects “pigeons in the rafters” as the only spectators.