5 minute read
In conversation with... Menna Firzpatrick
Menna Fitzpatrick has a consultant to thank for her daredevil attitude to life which has earned her an MBE at just 20 and the title of Britain’s most decorated Winter Paralympian.
When she was born with Congenital Retinal Folds which rendered her blind in her left eye and with only three per cent vision in her right, her parents were advised to treat her the same as her two able-bodied elder sisters.
“My family were really good,” she says. “They let me join in everything and didn’t worry when I fell. That made me so independent. I was able to try all sorts of things which helped me to adapt. It was the best advice and I tell anyone with young visually impaired kids to do the same.”
That courgeous attitude saw the young Menna fearlessly scaling trees and gave her the autonomy so many visually impaired people crave.
But more importantly, it saw her careering down snowy slopes in France from the age of five using her ski-mad dad as a guide, and ultimately going for gold as a top athlete.
“Skiing with such limited vision is like passing through a blizzard every time you ski,” explains Menna, 20, from Macclesfield. A picture on her Instagram shows a mass of white and a blurry flash of colour – that’s how life on the slopes looks to her.
She was the first visually-impaired child to attend Prestbury Primary School – they’ve had two more since, she says proudly – where they taught her to read braille and large print in year two.
At Fallibroome High School she had the help of a scribe and an assistant to describe visually what was going on in chemistry lessons.
Menna’s road to Paralympian stardom started in 2010 when she was spotted at Chill Factore in Manchester and started regular training with the British Para Snowsport team.
She made her senior international debut for Great Britain in 2012 and in March 2016, she and guide, Jennifer Kehoe, a Captain in the Royal Engineers, made history by becoming the first British skiers to win the overall World Cup visually impaired title in Aspen.
The duo also picked up the giant slalom Crystal Globe, silver in the overall super-G and bronze in the overall downhill and slalom events.
At the 2017 World Championships in Italy, Menna and Jennifer claimed bronze in the giant slalom while they began the 2017-18 season in superb fashion, winning two silvers and two bronzes at the opening World Cup in Kuhtai.
At the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Paralympic Games Menna and Jen became Britain’s most successful Winter Paralympians as they claimed slalom gold, super combined silver, giant slalom silver and super-G bronze.
Menna and Jen are very much a team. In fact, few people know that Jen is also visually impaired, although her sight is corrected with contact lenses.
Visually impaired athletes ski with a guide wearing bright clothing slightly in front, communicating at every turn via bluetooth headsets; these skiers need to change direction every one to three seconds and travel at speeds of up to 100km per hour.
Menna and Jen use a specific set of commands to communicate, and Jen is responsible for communicating the direction of travel, changes in terrain, light and snow conditions and the rhythm of the course.
Plus, she has to set the correct pace to enable Menna to ski as fast as she can and give her instructions to speed up, slow down or keep at the same speed.
Now the pair are in training for the next Winter Paralympics in Beijing in 2022.
In between training they visit schools to inspire the athletes of the future. As Menna says: “Whether you’re able-bodied or have a disability you can go out and do anything
you set your mind to. Seeing the impact we have on others who look up to us is humbling. But if we did it, they can too.”
From a person who grew up hurtling down slopes and climbing trees with only three per cent vision, that’s a sound piece of advice.
MENNA’S TIPS FOR SUCCESS
You need trust in people around you, that’s really important. I have complete trust in Jen and that has been a huge part of our success.
Determination – for me picturing myself on that podium winning gold is a great incentive.
Courage – you definitely need that – I broke four bones in my hand in 2016 when I hit a rock, and had to have eight pins put in.
Communication – it has to be effective, particularly in what we do. I have to listen to what Jen says and act instantly.
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