Canterbury Skiers Should Do Well At National Meeting

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30212, 17 August 1963, Page 11

Canterbury Skiers Should Do Well At National Meeting

AN extremely strong Can- ■** terbury contingent will be contesting ttie New Zealand ski championships, which begin at Coronet Peak, Queenstown, today, and its chances of regaining at least some of the titles lost last year at Mount Ruapehu are good. Heading the list of favourites for the downhill, slalom and combined titles is the 18-year-old North Canterbury skier, R. Womersley, who won the South Island combined championship so comfortably last week-end from a large and talented field. Womersley promises to become one of New Zealand’s greatest ski racers. His main opposition will probably come from the Wellington competitor, T. Huppert, who showed great form at last season’s nationals, winning the downhill and the giant slalom. Womersley was fourth in the downhill, third in the slalom, second in the combined and fifth in the giant slalom. With another year behind him, he should perform much better. A. D. Coberger (Christchurch) who won the New Zealand slalom, downhill, combined and giant slalom

titles in 1961, must also be considered a leading candidate for ahamipiomship honours. He did not have a very happy time at the last nationals, crashing badly in the downhill and becoming hopelessly tangled in a series of very tight control gates In the slalom. However, he has been showing very steady form this season and was runner-up to Womersley in the South Island combined championship. Another Canterbury entrant who could easily take the main titles is G. Nevell (Canterbury Winter Sports). He is a particularly fine racer with considerable competition experience.

overseas as weld as in New Zealand. He beat both Womersley and Coberger for the Canterbury combined title this season and it would not be at all surprising to see him repeat the performance at Coronet Peak. In the recent South Island championships, Nevell was second in the downhill and was sweeping through the slalom course in fine style when he crashed on the lower section. He recovered but, trying too hard to make up the lost time, collided with the last two slalom poles and lost a ski binding. This must have been a bitter disappointment for him because it was his superiority in the slalom which gave him the Canterbury title.

Although it is rather unlikely that they will take a title, four other Canterbury skiers, S. StammersSmith, M. Comer, R. Lewis and J. Bristed, should ail be well to the fore.

Stammers-Smith has shown remarkable improvement since the beginning of the season and gave his best performance yet at the South Island titles, finishing third in the combined. Corner, a sound performer in any conditions, has proved very consistent. He was fifth in the Canterbury downhill and combined championships. Canterbury’s chances of taking the women’s titles rest with one person, Miss K. Guy (North Canterbur”'. Nobody else in the South Island has been able to give her a close race this season. The Canterbury Winter Sports Club’s professional instructor (Mr Bodo Nifcbe) said recently that Miss Guy’s technique was superior to that of Misses A. > Latham (Marton), the combined title-holder, and P. H. Prain (Palmerston North). He had seen both Misses Latham and Prain on the continent and considered that Miss Guy, with her great fighting spirit, was the best racer of the three. It will undoubtedly be from Misses Latham and Prain that Miss Guy’s greatest competition will come. Her only rival in the South Island of any account, Miss A. Reid (Wakatipu), broke a thumb on the access tow to the Mount Cheeseman field last weekend and was unable to defend her South Island title. She is a doubtful starter for the New Zealand championships.