Dan Wakeham

Dan Wakeham (born November 12, 1981 in Plymouth, England) is a British professional snowboarder.
Career
Started snowboarding on Plymouth dryslope when he was 14. Sponsored by Santa Cruz Snowboards by the age of 15 and traveling the country riding the national dryslope tour. When leaving school at the age of 17 he spent his first season in Flaine, France where he worked as a digger in the snowboard park. From here he didn't turn back, working summers to save for the winters across the globe. In 2003 a decision was made to join the GB team and set his target to compete in the 2006 winter Olympics. In 2004 he signed to Nike ACG. In 2006 Wakeham was the first British male to compete in snowboarding at the winter [in Torino, Italy] Life on the World Cup Tour wasn't easy with a lack of funding and weak backing from Snowsports GB, the national governing body for snow sports which was poorly run and fell in to shortly before the Olympics in Vancouver. Wakeham and set up One Snowboarding with GB Freestyle team coach, Hamish McKnight.Together they run freestlyle snowboard camps and are responsible for the GB junior snowboard team. Wakeham also works for head Snowboards as the national sales agent and brand manager. He is seen as an ambassador for British snowboarding and is well respected by the snowboard industry for his work with the GB junior team. At the age of 29, Wakeham was the first Brit to land double in the halfpipe. In 2010 O'Neill Wakeham as an ambassador for their brand. In 2011 O'Neill made Wakeham their UK team manager.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/more_sport/article7016413.ece http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/winter_sports/5350144/British-Olympic-snowboarder-Dan-Wakeham-retires-from-World-Cup-circuit.html http://whitelines.mpora.com/news/dan-wakeham-signs-oneill.html http://vimeo.com/18124205