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Lake Hawea adaptive ski racer Carl Murphy was last night named Snow Sports New Zealand's overall athlete of the year at an awards night in Wanaka.
Murphy, a below-the-knee amputee, is ranked No 1 in the world by the International Paralympic Committee for men's snowboard cross.
Ask him what happened to his leg and he explains he lost it at a young age while surfing off the south coast of Australia, when a tiger shark ''thought I looked like a tasty lunch package''.
The true story is Murphy was born with one and a-half legs, but the disability has not held him back from getting up on a snowboard and competing at an international level.
With the help of a custom-designed carbon fibre prosthetic leg, Murphy rides his board in the same setup as a two-legged rider.
He was the first adaptive snowboarder to be named in the full New Zealand team, of which he has been a member since 2009.
Highlights for Murphy in the past year have included two gold medals in men's snowboard cross at the two-day IPCAS race in the Netherlands in November, first in snowboard cross at the IPC Para-Snowboard World Cup in Canada in March, and bronze at a Paralympic test event in March.
He was also a recipient of an AMP National Scholarship.
Snowboard cross will be included in the Paralympic programme for the first time in 2014, making the coming months an exciting time for Murphy.
Other awards presented at last night's function at the Lake Wanaka Centre went to:Instructor of the year: Nicole Ellis; Men's masters winner: Walter Underberger; Women's masters winner: Sue Unger; Coach of the year: Bruce Wells (freeski); Breakthrough season: Corey Peters (adaptive); Cross country athlete of the year: Nils Koons; Alpine ski racer athlete of the year: Adam Barwood; Adaptive athlete of the year: Carl Murphy; Snowboarding athlete of the year: Christy Prior; Freeskier athlete of the year: Jossi Wells.