By Michael Mastarciyan
The first thing most ski fans know about Canadian Cowboy Erik Guay is that he’s almost always a podium lock when racing at Germany’s famed Kandahar track nestled high in the Bavarian Alps in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
Dubbed the “King of Garmisch” by teammates, Guay won the World Downhill Championship in Garmisch last February, and has also climbed the podium there five times during his World Cup career – his most recent success a second place in the downhill held just last Saturday.
“Yah, I kinda like Garmisch,” Guay admits in a modest but playful tone when asked about his impressions of the classic course.
Guay, who spent most of the summer and the first half of this season tending a sore back, says his main goal so far has been staying healthy and getting back into top racing form.
“My back is doing well right now. I knew this year would be a rebuilding year; I just want to stay on top of my back preparation and make sure I’m healthy at the end of the year and that’s my number one focus. That being said, I think it’s hard to be a competitor and not look for those podium results, so I’m happy to finally get that first podium of the season.”
But podium results aren’t the only thing that make Guay happy. Happiness for the 30-year-old from Mont-Tremblant, Quebec is also directly related to the life he’s been busy building outside ski racing with his young daughter Logann and wife Karen, who is currently in ‘expecting’ mode with the couple’s second child who is due in April.
Here are five more things you should know about Erik Guay...
1. ERIK LOVES TO PLAY ICE HOCKEY AND HIS FAVORITE NHL TEAM IS THE MONTREAL CANADIENS
“I’m a big hockey fan, although I can’t play lately because of my back, so that’s a little frustrating. Growing up in Quebec everybody is a Hab fan (editor’s note: The Montreal Canadiens are nicknamed ‘The Habs’) and hockey is such a big part of the culture there. I grew up never really playing organized hockey but I did a lot of ‘drop in’ with my buddies and friends, so it’s been hours and hours on the hockey rink and I kind of got involved that way. The Habs have a rich history so I just followed them closely from a young age and I continue to do so now.”
“One of my favourite Habs is Guy Lafleur, his glory years were kind of before my time, but he was always pretty cool. I kind of like the older guys like Maurice Richard. Richard is an icon in Quebec, just hearing about the things he did and my Dad talking about what it was like watching him when he was growing up. I also like Patrick Roy. I went to one pre-season game this year, depending on how they do I can sometimes catch a game in the playoffs when the World Cup season is over.”
2. ERIK LOVES AUTO RACING AND IS A HUGE FORMULA ONE FAN“Being associated with Red Bull I get a chance to meet Formula One drivers. I’ve met Sebastian Vettel a couple times. I actually went kayaking with Mark Webber this past summer. Even in the past I’ve met Scott Speed a couple of times in training camps in Europe. I go every year to the Formula One in Montreal. They happen in the beginning of June and that’s good timing for me. I’d love to be able to go and watch a couple of other races but my schedule doesn’t always allow it. Formula One is such a great sport and there are so many similarities between car racing and downhill with the speed, the lines, the anticipation that sort of thing, a lot of tinkering with equipment. I just always loved car racing, I got involved because I’m from Tremblant and there’s a track there so I grew up watching racing and once I could afford a car I spent some time on the track.”
3. ERIK LIKES LASAGNA...WELL KIND OF...
There’s no food that I don’t like but I feel a lot of American food is kind of nasty. When you get that lasagna with an inch of cheese on top, it just makes me feel horrible after. It doesn’t taste bad going in - it just doesn’t feel good after (he laughs).
4. ERIK COULD NEVER BE A VEGAN OR VEGETARIAN
“ A meal has to have some sort of meat in it, I could never be a vegan or a vegetarian, there is no way I could eat just fruits and vegetables - that would never happen. Being an athlete you need a lot of protein to build muscle mass. I love all kinds of meat and yah, I’m a ‘meatatarian’ (he laughs), no meat would mean no satisfaction for me.”
5. ERIK HAS A TRAVEL BUCKET LIST AND WOULD LOVE TO STEP FOOT ON EVERY CONTINENT ON THE PLANET
“My schedule doesn’t allow me to do a lot of traveling outside of ski racing but there are a ton of places I would like to visit some day. Asia is one, I’ve never been anywhere in Asia. I’d love to see Tokyo and some of the big cities in Japan. I’d also love to do the tourist thing in Africa, go to Egypt for example, spend some time there. It would be pretty cool to say you’ve been on every continent. So Asia, Africa and Antarctica are the only three missing for me but that’ll be for later on in my life.”
