Craig first got on skis somewhere around the age of two and spent his formative years ripping around the Canterbury club fields. Craig made his way through the ranks of the New Zealand Junior Freeride Tour, the Freeride World Junior Tour and the Freeride World Qualifier Tour (FWQ), qualifying to compete on the 2018 Freeride World Tour (FWT) where he claimed two podium finishes. He was back on the podium in 2020 with a win in Fieberbrunn.
1st place FWT Fieberbrunn, Austria 2020; 1st place FWT Kicking Horse Golden, Canada 2019; 2nd place FWT Final Verbier 2018; 2nd place FWT Vallnord-Arcalis, Andorra; Qualifying for 2018 FWT; Winner Hochfugen 4* FWQ and Open Faces Obergurgl-Hochgurgl 4* FWQ, 2017; Junior Freeride World Tour Champion 2016
Craig started competing just before hitting double digits and began a steady rise to success. As the overall winner of the 2015 New Zealand Junior Freeride Tour, Craig earned a place on the Freeride World Junior Tour and headed to Europe for the 2016 season. He landed himself on the podium twice, with second place in Fieberbrunn, Austria and a win in Chamonix, France before taking out the overall Junior Freeride World Tour title.
He began competing on the Freeride World Qualifier Tour for the 2016-2017 season, winning The North Face Frontier 2* at home in New Zealand before heading to Europe and claiming two 4* wins in Austria. An outstanding season of results saw Craig become the youngest person to qualify for the Freeride World Tour, at the age of 18.
In his rookie season on the FWT Craig achieved two podium finishes, including second place on the legendary Swiss freeride venue the Bec de Rosses at the Tour final in Verbier. Second place in Vallnord-Arcalis helped him to a ninth place finish on overall rankings and a spot back on the Tour for 2019.
Making a solid start to his second season on the Freeride World Tour in 2019, with a fifth place in Hakuba, Japan, Craig went on to claim a spectacular win at stop two at Kicking Horse Resort in Canada. One of the youngest riders on the prestigious world tour, Craig wowed the judges and spectators with some of the biggest tricks of the day and his creative use of the course. Unfortunately, a broken heel sustained a few weeks later put Craig out of action for the rest of the Tour. Thankfully, he was back in action in time for the NZ winter and achieved a third place at the North Face Frontier Freeride World Qualifier four star event!
During the 2020 FWT season, Craig made an epic return to Fieberbrunn, where he had sustained his 2019 season-ending injury, this time taking out the win. He finished the season ranked fourth overall which gave him a ticket to FWT21.
Listen to an interview with the Low Pressure Podcast recorded right after his win.
Craig was named Otago Sportsman of the Year for 2020.
The whole Murray clan is at home in the hills, in 2015 Craig joined Mum, Dad and older brother Charlie to compete in the Godzone Adventure Race, a seven day non-stop mission mountaineering, trekking, kayaking and biking through NZ's Southern Alps. They finished an impressive eighth place.
