Inter provincial Ski-ing Match

Press, Volume C, Issue 29620, 16 September 1961, Page 9

Inter provincial Ski-ing Match

r pHE Cantago inter-provin-cial ski-ing team competition between Canterbury and Otago which will be held at Lake Ohau this week-end promises some interesting racing. Both teams have a core of keen young skiers fresh from their experiences in Australia with the national

team. Canterbury will be fielding a particularly strong men’s team which looks on paper to dominate the field, but this is countered by the merits of the Otago women's team. In any conditions, it could be a hard fight for the Canterbury men’s team to establish sufficient margin in ts total points to tip the scales in the event of a close decision between the women's teams. The Canterbury men’s team consists of P. Baudinet A. Coberger, J. Fulton, G Nevell, P. Willis and M. Wynn-Williams (captain). Of these, Wynn-Williams, Willis and Baudinet were members of the national team and Coberger won the New Zealand slalom, giant slalom and downhill titles at Coronet Peak this year. Nevell has shown himself to be one of the most improved skiers in Canterbury this season and Fulton, a prominent university skier, also showed well in the New Zealand titles.

Five women have been named for the Canterbury team but the selectors, Messrs A. R. Robinson, A C. Rattray and F. S. Gillett, will wait until they see the conditions of the snow before they decide on the four who will race. The five are A Latham (captain), H. Arndt, V. Beckett, K. Guy and E. Watson.

Miss Latham captained the New Zealand women’s team in Australia and has a wealth of racing experience. She is an outstanding skier and will be matched in the Otago side only by Miss C. Womersley. Miss Arndt won the Canterbury slalom championship at Lake Ohau in July and was second in the downhill, and showed up well in the New Zealand titles. Miss Watson won the Canterbury downhill and was third in the slalom and at Coronet Peak was placed fourth in the downhill. Miss Guy was second in the slalom and third in

the downhill at both the Canterbury and New Zealand championships and Miss Beckett was fourth in the Canterbury slalom. The Otago men's team includes D. White (captain), A Bell, P. Parkinson, P. Chapman, H. Guy and L. Brough, with A Divers as emergency. The women’s team is C. Womersley, C. Shiel, K. Mac-

allan and P. Earle (captain), with J. Shiel as emergency. In the men’s team only White and Bell have been showing form this year in racing but there is a wealth of talent in the Otago women's team. Without mishap their points aggregate could well be a formidable

figure. The recent storms have brought fresh snow to the Lake Ohau ski field and providing there is no change, the snow should be in ideal condition for racing after settling down this week. The races are being timed with the Canterbury Ski Association's electric timing gear and, being a team competition, there will be no individual time* announced. Runs will be aggregated to give team results. It is also hoped that the Scuth Island downhill championship will be held this week-end at Lake Ohau as well, and this may be run on a different course. The downhill championship wss postponed because of weather when the South Island championships were held at Broken River Basin early in August