SKI RACE PROSPECTS WIDE OPEN

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31143, 20 August 1966, Page 11

SKI RACE PROSPECTS WIDE OPEN

’A FTER the South Island “ skiing championships at Coronet Peak last weekend, the prospects for the Bata Cup invitation race and the New Zealand championships are more wide open than ever. If the races may be taken as proving anything, they proved that there is hardly any difference among the top eight male racers in the South Island.

In spite of the absence of M Gardner (Canterbury) and B. Dennis (Canterburs), the competition for top honours was intense. P. Willis (Canterbury) won the slalom and combined title because he had the best technique over the dreadful slalom course on Saturday. Indeed, he was the only racer who could get into a rhythm over the course on both runs. He has already announced that he will not be ski-ing at the nationals, but it is to be hoped that this is not an irrevocable decision.

G Nevell (Canterbury), third in the slalom, second in the giant slalom, and second for the combined title, did extremely well in conditions not in the least suited to his normally aggressive style of racing. The current national slalom title-holder, Nevell will be going to Ruapehu. P Hubrich (Otago) recorded the fastest time in the first race of the South Island slalom and is current Southern Districts combined champion. As a member of the winning W. D. and H. 0. Wills trophy team he will definitely be going

to the nationals and his experience as a professional instructor and racer in Europe must make him a favourite. These three are the most experienced racers in the South Island at the moment, and J. Willis (Canterbury) could have joined them had he not raced so infrequently this winter. However, five

skiers with their best racing still in front of them will also be hot contenders for major placings. C. Womersley (Canterbury) has been the least successful of the five this season but he is right up with the others in potential and dedication, so perhaps it will be his turn for the major honours at the nationals. So far he has been second in the Canterbury slalom, recorded fastest time in the Canterbury inter-club teams’ race, and was fourth for the South Island combined title. He is still recovering the ground he lost; last season when he concentrated on examinations rather than racing, but is ski-ing really well at the moment.

A. Chance (Otago), a reserve for the New Zealand team last year, is racing better than ever and has won the Broken River Trophy and the South Island giant slalom so far this season. Chance is going to be a brilliant racer, with superb balance, a will to win, and physical strength. His style is improving the whole time too, although his efforts to gain speed by leaning back cost him dearly in the South Island slalom.

M. Dennis (Canterbury) represented New Zealand last year and is now the best giant slalom exponent in the country. His brilliant run in the atrocious weather at the Canterbury giant slalom made his absence from the South Island championships all the more regrettable.

T. Dunlop (Otago) is a racer whose successes in the past have depended more on the failures of others than his own ability to get down a course. However, his two runs in the South Island slalom showed he has reached national standard in his own right at last. The best racer in the South Island at present, if only by the smallest of margins, is M. Gardner (Canterbury), who went to Australia with the Ruapehu Ski Racers’ Club rather than to Coronet Peak. Gardner has everything for a racer, as his feat in winning the Canterbury combined title in successive years shows, and a national title would be no more than a fitting ending to the season for

him. Only this week he won the Australian national slalom title. Against these racers the best the North Island can provide are T. G. Huppert (Wellington), R. Womersley (Manawatu) and R. Sommervailie (Auckland) — and Womersley learned all his ski-ing in the South Island. Huppert and Womersley have been racing particularly well so far this season and must be considered top candidates for national honours.

The situation in the women’s events gives less ground for speculation, particularly as Miss S. Ryan (Otago), who was second in the South Island combined title, has announced that she will not be racing at the nationals. Miss Ryan, who won last year’s award for the most promising woman racer, will be missed.

Miss K. Guy (Canterbury), who won the slalom, giant slalom and combined titles at the nationals last year, and who has had a winter in Europe since, has had no competition this season in the South Island’s races. She is as good a racer, if not better, than any New Zealand has produced.

However, she will not have things as much her

own way as at one stage seemed likely. Mrs E. Agnew (Waikato) has recovered from an early season leg injury and is at present racing well in Australia, while Miss J. Shiel (Otago) is in Australia on her way back from Europe. These two should be able to make Miss Guy work for success, although neither should be able to beat her.

Another strong contender will be Miss C., Mason (Thames) who, after ski-ing very well in 1964. did badly last year. This season she has returned to her best form.

The most unfortunate absentee from racing this season has been R. W. Palmer (Auckland), who was runner-up for the national combined title last year and earned selection for the world championships at Portillo, Chile. The claims of employment have apparently proved too strong. A number of less prominent skiers could also provide interest. Among the men J. Mitchell (Auckland), R. Dorflnger (Taranaki), M. Saxon (Hawke’s Bay), G. McFadden (Canterbury), R. Cullen (Canterbury), D. Stewart (Canterbury), R. Poulston (Canterbury), A. Watson (Otago) and T. Maling (Otago), are all capable of doing well if they get good conditions to ski in. Stewart did particularly well at the South Island meeting when running at the tail of the field in poor conditions. In the women’s events, Misses M. Blakely (Auckland). T. Frazer (Waikato), S. John (Canterbury), R. Willis (Canterbury-). H. Preston (Canterbury), J. Flower (Canterbury). V. Oddie (Canterbury), and J. Findlay (Otago), could all improve and make major challenges. The two major meetings on the national calendar, the Bata Cup and New Zealand championships, should provide some excellent racing with the present standard so high and so even.