Richard was born in January 1932 in Devon, he joined the British Army post-WW2 as a Regular Officer in the Royal Artillery. As a Captain, Richard became a very accomplished Army and National Langfauf skier in Germany. He was selected to join the British Olympic Cross-country team at Cortina d’Ampezzo in 1956.
During these Olympics he was selected to run in the 50kms (30 miles) cross-country race. However, misfortune struck and he broke a ski after 5kms but was given another by his Norwegian coach, who happened to be positioned on a difficult part of the ‘downhill’ stretch. He won the admiration of the crowd as he was determined to complete the course coming 30th (last) in 4 hours 11mins 40 sec. The race was won by a Swede in 2hours 50 mins 27 sec.
During his time in the British Army, he skied with many successful GBR Nordic skiers such as Jimmy Spencer, John Moore and Andrew Morgan who all participated in numerous Olympics in 1956, 1960 and 1964.
Richard’s estate has generously donated in his memory to support current and future Nordic skiers.
