Say Hello To Alex Waters….
26 November 2009
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Personally I make no effort in trying to hide my love for racing drivers - considering that Sebastian Vettel is top of my Christmas List this year - but I think I might have just developed a heightened interest in the sport after spotting this chaps profile!
Alex Waters is the star of BBC2’s The Season, a reality drama set in the exciting ski resort of Val D’Isere, and with a keen interest in skiing and snowboarding, Alex was approached as he visited the Metro Snow Show in 2008 by talent scouters looking for a young cast for The Season.
Alex was fast-tracked through the audition process and selected over hundreds of hopefuls to star in the show. He got a job as an events and PR manager for one of the biggest night clubs in Val D’Isere and the show follows his life in the thick of it all during a season at one of the most popular ski resorts amongst the under 25’s.
At only 22, Alex has led an interesting life prior The Season, full of glitz, glamour but also some hard and trying times…
From a young age Alex had a keen interest in cars and motorsports borne out of his parents owning a car dealership, and it was here that Alex’s interest in motor racing was really sparked, when a customer mentioned that his son was a national level Kart racer. It was arranged for Alex to have a day out with the sons race team. On the day, Alex who had no experience at racing, actually drove a faster time than the son who was ranked 8th in the UK and from here on in Alex’s motor racing career began.
Aged 15, Alex drove at the Silverstone Racing School where he was taught by top level drivers- he entered their scholarship scheme and finished in the top 10. The following year Alex entered the British Formula Ford Championship, winning the rookie championship and finishing 6th overall. The following year he finished in 4th place.
It was aged 17 when Alex got some news that rocked his world; he was diagnosed with skin cancer. Alex was extremely lucky to have caught it early meaning that he didn’t have to go through chemotherapy, but he did have to have 4 operations on his arm to remove all the melanoma cells, and spent a significant amount of time in hospital.
It was here that he encountered the children’s charity Clic Sargent, who would come round and visit the children suffering with cancer. Alex was so moved by the some of the children he encountered on his stay in hospital, particularly those with terminal cancer and felt that he would love to help out Clic Sargent with some fundraising.
Alex came up with a totally unique concept on how to raise money for Clic Sargent through racing, and decided to get rid of all the sponsors from his cars livery and replace it with the charity colours and logo whilst also giving 50% of money raised from racing to Clic Sargent. Alex took on a more ambassadorial role for the charity- and drove the ill children around Silverstone in race cars and took them to meet the F1 drivers at Redbull.
It was through his motoracing and charity work for Clic Sargent that Alex became a well known face on the motor racing circuit and found himself socializing with the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber.
Alex was taken to two Grand Prix’s where he came up with the unique idea of getting all the drivers including Jensen Button and Lewis Hamilton, to draw their respective team mates and autograph the drawings, which he then planned to auction off.
Alex was invited to give a speech at the 2007 Grand Prix Ball at The Royal Albert Hall in front of big stars such as Simon Cowell, Sir Philip Green and Mischa Barton amongst others. It was here that he auctioned off the drawings that he’d worked so hard to get- donating 50% to Clic Sargent with the remainder going towards his racing fees. The pictures raised a staggering £120,000.
In late 2007 Mark Webber invited Alex to take part in The Mark Webber Challenge in Tasmania which involved 450km off road climbing, cycling, kayaking and running. Alex landed a role writing up the challenge for F1 Racing magazine, and had a 5 page editorial printed.
Through all of the fundraising and events that Alex threw himself into, he made firm friends with Eddie Jordan and also the Chief Sporting Editor of The Times who invited Alex to cycle across America with him and in 6 days, 13 hours and 58 minutes they completed a non-stop gruelling race from the West coast of America- across 15 states to the East Coast and raised £85,000 for Clic Sargent.
On his return Alex found to his dismay that due to the recession, his sponsors had no funds available for him to race, and in the world of motor racing vast amounts of money is needed or a huge public profile to be seen as lucrative to potential sponsors. Then he was spotted at the Metro Snow Show, landed the part in The Season and so it continues….
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