Young Ski Champion Has Great Courage

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29016, 3 October 1959, Page 2

Young Ski Champion Has Great Courage

Paddy Hall, New Zealand worften’s ski-ing champion at the age of 19, has not achieved her success with ease. Winning the national title for the first time this year and earning nomination for the Winter Olympics at Squaw Valley, California, was a signal triumph for this attractive young Christchurch kindergarten teacher, since injury at one stage threatened to end her ski-ing career.

She began ski-ing at the age of nine, but it was not until three years ago that Paddy Hall began to take racing seriously and enter for major events. Ski-ing was a popular pastime in the Hall family, for her father, Mr K. W. J. Hall, of Hororata, was a noted mountaineer and skier, and her mother, Mrs N. Hall, also skied in her younger days. A sister, Gay Hall (now Mrs W. Beaven), represented New Zealand in skiing against Australia, and is married to another noted Canterbury mountaineer and skier.

Paddy Hall’s first major race meeting brought her success. That was at the Craigieburn Valley club championships in 1957, and from then her ski-ing improved

at such a rate that she was ranked among the top four women in the country. At the national championships at Mt. Ruapehu last year she was placed third, and won selection for the international contest against Australia. This year she won what she had set her heart on—the national women's title. But Paddy Hall is more than a champion skier—she is a fine example of how high spirits and plenty of courage can take people to the top. Success has come to her only by dogged determination and strict training and a spirit which had not faltered over the toughest downhill courses in this country. Disappeared At the inter-Dominion contest last year conditions were attrocious for the downhill as she set

off from the top of the course. Visibility was at its worst and driving sleet caked itself on the skiers as they raced down the mountain. Paddy Hall left the starting line singing gaily in her usual manner, but long after she was due to cross the finishing line, there was still no sign of her.

Only when the Ruapehu ski patrol began sending urgent messages on their portable radios did the story of her plight become known. Everyone knew were it humanly possible she would have finished the course.

She had fallen heavily near the top of the course while travelling at high speed in visibility restricted to a few feet, and a flagwatcher noted that she climbed groggily to her feet and continued. At a cornice half-way down the course, blinded by the sleet and weaving an erratic course as a result of her earlier fall, she crashed on a patch of ice and was knocked unconscious. Six weeks in hospital and six months away from work with serious concussion were the reward for her efforts. Broken Wrist

At the South Island championships at Craigieburn this year, it was typical of the person that in spite of a broken wrist, she was quite convinced she could compete. Only the referee’s warning of disqualification prevented her from attempting to race with her arm in a sling. Controlling skis with all limbs intact is difficult enough, and there are few, if any, who would attempt a treacherous downhill with such a disability. Together with Misses Patricia Prain and Cecilia Womersley, Paddy Hall has been nominated for the winter Olympics at Squaw Valley next year. All three are from Canterbury, and are capable of representing New Zealand well in Olympic competition.