With the release of a film about his life due out this spring, Eddie the Eagle has once again taken to the skies and brought four complete beginners with him to jump on the Winter Olympic site in Courchevel, France.
After some initial training back in October, the four winners are returning on January 24th for a week that will hopefully see them launch off the 90 meter ski jump. Eddie will be there to oversee them along with trainers from the French national team who are helping them achieve what is an extraordinary feat of bravery and skill by ordinary people who had never before seen a ski jump in their lives.
Aiming to raise money for the charity Ski 4 Cancer, their goal is to jump as far as possible along with Eddie who hasn’t himself launched off Olympic sized jumps for over 20 years. Sponsorship will be based upon the amount of meters they jump.
Organised by Chris and Lucie Learoyd of Alp Leisure Ltd, a luxury chalet operator based in Courchevel and Meribel, the event has already attracted a lot of attention and the support of the resort itself. Chris Learoyd comments: “Both our sons have grown up here and they are very active ski jumpers themselves, with Jonty heading to the 2016 Youth Winter Olympic Games in Lillehammer in February. We wanted to do something special to help raise awareness for Ski 4 Cancer whilst introducing the sport of ski jumping to ordinary people who might never had tried it for themselves.”
“The chance for me to jump again after all this time was a really exciting prospect”, says Eddie the Eagle Edwards, “and to be able to introduce new people to the sport is a great buzz. I look forward to the chance of helping more people get into ski jumping in the future as well.”
Jump with Eddie week two commences on January 24th 2016 for six days in the resort of Courchevel with Alp Leisure Ltd. The four winners are Alexandra Stubbs, Max Willcocks, Andrew Marshall and Mark Black.
During the week they will receive training from the Club des Sports Courchevel and coaches of the French National Team as well as receive help from Eddie the Eagle’s himself. Their goal is to reach the 90 meter ski jump – safely.
The competition has been organised and run by Alp Leisure Ltd
Eddie’s fund raising page is ski4cancer.org
There are also individual fund raising pages for all the winners at ski4cancer.org
