'I think today has been my final race': Telemark stalwart 'Daz’ Howells hangs up his skis
British Army Telemark men's captain, Lieutenant Colonel Dafydd 'Daz' Howells, has freed his heels for the final time after suggesting that this year's Inter Services Snow Sports Championships in Meribel will be his last as a competitive telemark skier.
Now in his early 50s, Lt Col Howells has been a member of the British Army Men's Telemark team for fourteen years.
In that time, he has spent a decade as captain for the men's team, attending twelve Inter Service Snow Sports Championships.
This year, 'Daz' has led the men's Telemark team to great success at the Inter Services in Meribel with the team winning multiple team and individual medals.
He told BFBS Forces News after the Telemark Classic event: "I think today has been my final race."
Lt Col Howells' journey in telemarking began whilst serving as an Army Commando with the 3 Commando Brigade in Norway.
"We learnt telemark because it is the way you need to move around when carrying heavy equipment," he told BFBS Forces News.
"It's more stable than any of the other forms, Alpine being the main one just because of the weight," he added.
Lt Col Howells also reflected on how much the standard of skiing has improved over the years, noting how the number of female competitors has increased since his Inter Services debut 14 years ago.
Speaking of the changes he's noticed, he said: "The standard of skiing has definitely improved, and I think probably the most important one is now how many females we have actually engaging in the discipline as well.
"I think there was probably a problem that we used to say that it was a challenge and sometimes that might have been misconstrued as it being all about hard, physical work.
"But I think now we've got more females who realise that they can all enjoy telemarking, it's not all about hard, physical effort all the time, it certainly is not that."
The British Army's Women's Telemark team have had great success at this year's Inter Services with a gold in the Telemark Parallel Sprint as well as individual success for Sapper Georgia Binnington.
With years of telemarking experience under his belt, Lt Col Howells hopes that anyone who is considering taking up the sport will come to realise how "rewarding" telemarking is.
He said: "Just give it ago, just try something new.
"I know it looks odd, but it could be very rewarding in the fact that you're just learning a new skill, it's great for the brain and it's good for the body as well.
"There's a lot of evidence to suggest that if you take up telemarking that it's good for lower leg injuries, for building up certain muscles, and it's just fun.
"Once you get it, there's a sense of satisfaction and enjoyment that you get out of it, so I recommend it to anybody."
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