Struggle of ski siblings aiming to follow Olympic ace Ryding

Four-time Olympian Dave Ryding is an inspiration to the new generation of British Alpine ski racers

The ladle and the monkey wrench are not the usual tools of choice for Alpine ski racers hoping to follow in the tracks of Olympian Dave Ryding, but for the Holmes siblings, they are a stark necessity.

The Lancashire pair dream of following Ryding, often billed as Britain's greatest skier, into Olympic and World Cup glory, after the 38-year-old announced he will retire at the end of next season.

Ryding's rise to the top began at Pendle Ski Club, which has also fired the imagination, and honed the raw ability, of 22-year-old Robert Holmes and his sister Charlotte, who hail from Barrowford, just eight miles down the road from the dry slope.

Ryding's swansong will be his fifth Winter Olympics appearance, adding to his World Cup slalom gold and victory in the 2013 Europa Cup Slalom Series, which made him the first British skier ever to achieve the feat.

The Holmes' are at the other end of their careers, but simply trying to compete on a level playing field with athletes from the sport's European powerhouses has meant extraordinary sacrifices, with both working all the hours they can squeeze in during the summer simply to keep their heads above the competitive waters.

Robert told BBC Radio Lancashire of their day-to-day struggle simply to scrimp together the funds to finance their bid to progress.

"Charlotte and I have both got part-time jobs over the summer," he said.

"Charlotte is doing an awful lot of the work at the moment and I've had numerous different roles - plumbing, kitchen work etc.

"Over the summer we try to earn as much money to go into the winter, but we find it goes incredibly quickly."

Charlotte and Rob Holmes spoke of their struggles to compete, during an interview with BBC Radio Lancashire

Charlotte revealed how, in a typical week, she crammed in 45 hours of toil in a kitchen alongside her 20 hours of physical training, a necessity for both if they are to hit next season in the right shape.

She aims to be the first female racer to emulate Ryding, but says the odds are perpetually stacked against British hopefuls.

"We are 100% self-funded," she says. "Our parents are working full-time and 100% of their income goes towards skiing.

"It's a very expensive sport and we're spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on it. A pair of ski boots costs over a thousand pounds, a race entry is £50 plus the lift ticket, another £50.

"There are so many costs a normal person would never even think of. Even insurance and flights, training costs, race entries, any expenses, we have to cover.

"If you hear you're on a national team for your sport you would think 'Oh, they're in a training group, they have their coaches, they do everything with their national team', but that's not it at all.

"Since we were 13 and first raced for GB internationally, we have been training with private teams and everything is self-funded.

"You have to go through an academy and find coaches, there is no national team pathway involved, in comparison to something like British Cycling, who have very good pathways at the minute."

Robert added: "To take the next step we need support to do different things, to go to different race series and train more professionally over the summer because, realistically, doing 45 hours in a kitchen or plumbing isn't going to make me and Charlotte faster on snow.

'Superhuman' Ryding was an inspiration

"We're always looking for some support to be able to move on to the next level. It's a very difficult task to keep improving with limited resources."

Ryding has offered the pair advice and support, and they are spurred on by his example - someone who blazed a trail for British skiing by taking on, and occasionally beating, the Austrian, Italian, German and American stars who dominate the sport.

Charlotte said: "We want to do the exact same. There's been no female World Cup winner that's from Great Britain, so I think that is something I'd really like to do, to be the first and do what he's done.

"He's worked so damned hard for so many years. He's been in the sport for over 20 years and it just shows how far hard work will go. We're not scared of hard work either."

Robert still finds Ryding inspiring as he makes his own way on the slopes.

He explained: "When I was a kid I used to idolise him and think he was some superhuman, skiing these incredibly difficult hills.

"Now I've got to know him over these last few years, he's just a very down-to-earth guy and you would never think he's a top-level athlete.

"You can speak to him openly about the struggles and get advice. Without his journey and what he's achieved on his way to the top I don't think me and Charlotte would be here right now."