Dream-Believe-Be award to be open to any pupil from McGarry’s hometown who best exemplifies “the McGazza factor”.

>>> Kelly McGarry 1982 – 2016, the gentle giant of the freeride world

Kelly McGarry studied at the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology and completed his National Certificate in carpentry there (we bet you didn’t know that did you?)

It was working as a carpenter on the 2010 Winter Olympics that McGarry was able to reside in Whistler for a decent amount of time. Long enough to make some connections in the bike industry. And the rest is history.

As we all sadly know, McGarry died of cardiac arrest in February this year aged 33.

To honour his memory and to continue to inspire others, the ‘Dream-Believe-Be‘ award has been set up by the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology in conjunction with McGarry’s family.

This idea came from McGarry’s carpentry tutor Steve McIntyre. Speaking to the Nelson Mail, McIntrye said: “I’ve dealt with more than 300 apprentices in the last fourteen years, and Kelly has always been one of those guys that you can’t forget,

“When he passed away I thought I don’t want to forget this – I want what this guy was about to continue.

“We’ve all had those ideas where someone has said ‘it’ll never work’ so you kind of doubt yourself – it’s about pushing through that and going ‘I can do that.'”

The award trophy itself is, appropriately, shaped like a ramp and contains real dirt from the Red Bull Rampage site in Utah, sent over to New Zealand by McGarry’s friend Carson Storch.

Middle schools in the Nelson region will be invited to send in a letter about one of their pupils explaining why they best exemplify “the McGazza factor”.

What is the McGazza factor? Steve McIntyre: “[McGarry] had many very positive traits that we don’t see enough of – he gave things a go, he didn’t accept failure, he set goals, [but] he took time to give back”.