The architectural draftsman is 30 years old and admits at times he feels like an old man in a young man's game.
"It is quite ironic, when you consider I was up against 16 and 17-year-olds," the newly-arrived Lake Hawea resident said in an interview with the Otago Daily Times yesterday.
Murphy is a born-and-bred New Plymouth man who took up snowboarding aged 16, at Mt Taranaki.
He was hooked, but only began taking the sport seriously and competing in 2007, the same year he married his wife Aleisha (29), a school teacher.
In January, he won a bronze medal at the Canadian Adaptive Nationals and a gold and silver medal at the United States Snowboarding Association National Championships.
Now he is a gold medal prospect for the world championship slingshot snowboardcross event, to be held at the New Zealand Adaptive Games at Cardrona next Thursday.
Athletes from five nations have entered and the New Zealand Snowboard Union is working with other countries to have the event included in the 2014 Winter Paralympics.
Murphy is a below-knee amputee.
He was born with a congenital defect in his right leg, resulting in the removal of the lower part of his limb.
The sport usually classifies him as 96%-97% disabled.
Classification formulae are applied to timed events to determine placings, ensuring things are fair between athletes of varying abilities.
Murphy likes to joke about his leg.
"What I tell all the kids is I was attacked by a shark.
''But it's not true.
''I was born with a congenital defect.
''So I have had it all my life.
''I just get on with it and have never known anything different," he explained.
Murphy uses a custom designed carbon fibre prosthetic limb designed by Brent Woolston of Lab Industries in Levin.
It has a mountain bike-style shock absorber heel for flexibility and gets his knee over the toes for better balance.
Murphy is fortunate he was given the prosthetic as a prototype to trial for its designer before it is marketed overseas.
Otherwise, he might have had to pay about $10,000 for something similar.
Murphy moved to Lake Hawea this month and is looking for work with architects.
His wife joins him next week and also hopes to find work.
The couple recently returned from an 18-month working holiday in the United Kingdom and is considering making Wanaka a home base.
During the last northern hemisphere season, Murphy travelled from his Oxford base to join up with the New Zealand Snowboard Team in the US.
Murphy is being coached by Snow Sports New Zealand's Adam Dooney, with whom he trains every morning, six days a week.
Adding in gym sessions every other day, Murphy trains 20 hours a week.
Murphy has also been included in the New Zealand Snowboard Union national squad, putting other resources at his disposal, including access to the tiny New Zealand Academy of Sport gymnasium in Wanaka.
He is keen to help mentor other snow sports adaptive athletes but wants to get his world championship bid completed first.
He is trying not to think too much about next Thursday's event, where the runs could be all over within 50 seconds.
"The start is really important, to get a good pull out of the gate and get in front, otherwise it is hard to pass the others . . . as soon as you get out of the gates, everything just happens," he said.
The Murphy file
Favourite music: Pearl Jam, Kings of Leon.
Favourite food: smoked salmon "but being a snowboarder, I can't afford it now".
Most exciting snowboarding moment: "Apart from winning my gold medal, it was when me and Aleisha went to Austria [in March] and I taught her to snowboard".
Biggest splat: "I have been fortunate not to break bones.
I pulled the medial cruciate ligament in my good leg, the left knee, before the nationals at Cardrona last year . . .
But I have broken my prosthetic foot three times.
Not many people can go back to the car and put on some spare parts."
Advice on adaptive sports: "Just get out there and try it.
If you want to get involved in snow sports there's a great network throughout the country and most skifields have adaptive programmes.
Basically, life is too short . . .Get out there and try something."
