(aka: Snowy, Halley, “You Dag”)
“Better to have tried and failed spectacularly and got a few laughs than never to have tried at all”
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Current Occupation:
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Corporate Banker
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| Dream Job: |
Paddling tour guide by day, Pet detective by night. |
| Passions: | Late night laundry, singstar and karaoke bars that serve scotch one bottle at a time (in the 90’s when they weren’t so seedy). Cooking and eating. |
| Ambitions: | Keep ticking off the big events and having fun. Hamo (Tick), Penang (Tick), Macau (Tick), Molokai (…). |
| Claim to Fame/Infamy: |
1) Being the only PD who was actually born and bred in Orange….NSW that is! BTW. They grow about everything but oranges there. It was named by Sir Thomas Mitchell after his associate the Prince of Orange.
2) I paddled in the dragon boat that carried Robin Bell with the Olympic Flame in 2004 to Homebush Wharf (and it went out under Ryde Bridge and had to be re-lit).
3) A lamb roast that has been talked up well beyond its reality.
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Favourite Stuff |
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| Food: | Chocolate, cheese, roasts, chilli and Asian food. Dried shredded squid…mmm. |
| Drinks: | Anything I can get my hands on but beer or scotch straight up goes well. |
| Movies/Books/Music: | Blazing Saddles; Star Wars; AD&D 2nd Ed; LOTR; Harry Potter (bedtime stories when Annie was little); True Blood; Big Bang; Black Books; Authors Colleen McCullough, Anne Rice and Robin Hobbs; Margaret Fulton’s Cookbook; anything on Triple J; 80s pop, Iggy Pop’s China girl (really raw song of a shattered addict – YouTube it!); David Bowie’s Ashes to ashes, Space oddity, Starman; Don McLean’s Vincent; Iron Maiden’s Run to the hills; George Michael’s Careless whisper. |
| Super Hero or Villian: | Thor – he’s got a hammer. |
| Websites: |
www.icanhascheezburger.com (always get at least one chuckle)
www.wikipedia.org (great reference for answering those “What was he in?” questions you get watching tv) |
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PDs Stuff |
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| PD Member Since: | 2004/05 for OC. |
| How I Got Into Paddling: |
My mum, a child of the 60s, was an early adopter of lycra and its pre-cursor corduroy. I started wearing tight jodhpurs on my horse, Peter Pan, in Orange’s Pony Club at an early age. However, by 26 it became apparent that I would always be overlooked for the male lead of The Nutcracker Suite, so I started to look for alternatives. St.George entered a DB Corporate team at CNY in 2000 & 2001 and the prospect of tight rashies led me to join DSA in the sports category where we went on to represent NSW as the second team in Hinze Dam, QLD (2002). Heard about the fabulous zoot suit enterprise of PDs in 2005 and had to come across. Little did I know it was just a recruiting tool. However, I remain a firm supporter of the zoot suit movement and am totally committed to achieving its core aims and I am training like buggery to become a prominent paddler and steerer in this great club with the aim of using my influence for the tighter good. Viva la suit! (some of these facts are actually facts). |
| Favourite PD Moment: | Gold, Gold, Gold, Gold, GOLD, GOLD at 2006/07 Nats! Following up with SILVER & GOLD at Macau in 2010. |
| Three words to describe PDs: |
Get on up! (James Brown) |
| How Other PDs Describe Mark: | committed, tenacious, determined, dry, chef extraordinaire, Orange country lad with a heart of gold, funny, witty, stealthy, does a mean roast lamb……..mmmm!!! He steers a good light ama. His cocked wrist stroke method is visionary. Doesn’t say much, but what he does say is worth listening to, provided you can hear it. |
| Favourite PD Photo Gallery Pic: |  |
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Other Stuff |
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| Role Models, Heroes & Heroines: | Quiet achievers like my flatmate Claire or Paulie. |
| When not paddling most likely to be found: | Staring into a pantry wondering what to cook next. |
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Three people you’d like to invite to dinner:
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Kevin Wilson & Rodney Rude and my Dad (for my Dad) |
| Superstitions (Paddling or Otherwise): | Paddle sticker MUST face forward. Macca’s on the way out to Penrith. Tea and 2 Tim Tams every night with my flatmate. |
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