Are you Scandinavian?

 

No, I'm 100% British, although regions of Scotland were part of Scandinavia at one point in history.  You may have noticed that the logo at the top of the page is slightly different from my name and has the two little dots at the top of the "o" in my name - why?  

 

Well, there are a couple of reasons, firstly, the "ö" is one of the additional vowel letters in the Swedish alphabet and as the sport of XC skiing is heavliy based in Scandinavia, it seemed fitting to tweak my name.  Having checked it out, the pronounciation of my name only slightly differs from the English.

 

Secondly, as my father points out to me all the time, is that when I race, I tend to have my mouth wide open gasping for air intake as I go full bore during the race - the photos at the side of this page give a couple of examples but the more I look at other images, the more I can see it.  So, imagine the two dots are my eyes and the "o" is my big mouth - some might say a very apt description.

 

As I, nor most of the British Nordic athletes receive any funding from UK Sport or other governing bodies, raising funds to support my training and travelling to races is essential.  I juggle part time jobs alongside college work and I've pulled together a little logo/brand which I hope to expand on to raise a couple of extra pounds here and there.  Click on the link to the on-line shop if you fancy showing your support.