Top skiers miss champs

Press, 26 July 1976, Page 3

Top skiers miss champs

Two members of the Canterbury B ski-ing team, Tim Sheppard and Debbie Bain, won the Canterbury championship titles at the North Canterbury Ski Club's Broken River field at the' week-end. I The championships were | light on entries — there (were only 25 men and 10 women — and some of the I glamour was missing beIcause the members of the A| i squad chose to train at i Mount Hutt with its coach, 'Werner Hanni, for the im(portant national-circuit races (which will be held in the next month. In spite of finishing sec-j ond 14.05 seconds behind the. winnerof the slalom on Sat-! (urday, Miss Bain still won' her title comfortably. In the first run of the slalom she recorded 49.1 sec, better than several of the male entrants, but in the second run she fell and lost both skis. However, she recovered quickly, put her skis back on, and completed the course in Imin 26.0 sec for second place. Katie Allison, with two consistent runs of Imin 03,0 sec and 58.1 Osec, won' the slalom. Amanda Vryen-| hoek was the only other j woman to complete two, runs, and finished third. j The men’s slalom was more closely fought. In the first run Sheppard was well clear of the rest of the field after an aggressive run. He recorded 44.65ec which was 2.Bsec faster than Allan Fra-: ser. On the second run! Sheppard again had the fast-1 est time, 49.0 sec.

Robert Begg, who was third in the first run, performed better on the second run and slipped into second place with a combined time of Imin 38.20. This was 4.6 sec slower than Sheppard's combined time and; only o.2sec faster than Fraser. who was third. Sheppard assured himself: of the combined title with) two consistent runs in the' giant slalom yesterday. He had a combined total of j Imin 44.355ec, 2sec faster] than Geoffrey Mead, who: was second. The racing in the giant! slalom was much closer than; ’in the slalom and only; !4.355ec separated the first! jsix skiers. ' The women had only one! : run on the giant slalom' i course and Miss Bain re-; corded the fastest time,: 54.905ec. She was 9.455ec ( faster than her chief rival for the combined title. Miss Allison, and it was enough to give her the championship. I The best performance m the women's giant slalom i came from Virginia Bush iwho finished fourth in Imin I— s.losec behind Miss Bain. This was achieved even i though she missed a gate and had to back-track up the slope to go through it. Conditions were perfect; for the two days. However: the snow was very soft and; drv and rutted quickly. At the end of the events it was not uncommon for ruts at some gates to be three feet deep. Abbreviations used in the following results are: Tekapo Ski Club iT.S.C.I, North Canterbury Ski Club iN.C.S.C.i, Canterbury Winter Sports Club iC.W.S.C.I, Christchurch Ski Club (C.S.C.), Amur! Ski Club (A.S.C.), MEN Slalom.—T. Sheppard iN.C.S.C.i, 44.6 first run, 49.0 second run, 1:33.60 total, I; R. Begg (C.W.-I SC.), 48.20. 50.0. 1:38.20, 2: A.I Fraser (T.S.C.), 47.4. 51.0. 1:38.40, 3; M. Bushell iC.S.C.i. 48.9, 56.4, 1:45.30. 4; J. Bushell (C.S.C.), 55.7, 54 9. 1:50.60, 5: M. Baddeley iC.W.S.C.), 1:04.2, 53.0, 1:57.20, 6. Giant Slalom.—Sheppard, 49.90, 54.45, 1:44.35, 1; G. Mead (N.C.S.C.), 50.35, 56.10, 1:46.35, 2; Fraser, 53.45. 53.50, 1:46.95, 3;; Begg, 53.20, 54.50. 1:57.70. 4; J. Bushell, 53.50, 55.15, 1:58.65, 5; C. Powell, 53.30. 55.40. 1:48.70. 6. Combined.—Sheppard. 131,061, 1; Fraser, 135,026. 2: Begg, 135.340, 3; .1 Bushell, 141,808, 4; M. Bushell, 146,807, 5: D. Stewart (C.V.S.C.), 149.797, 6. WOMEN Slalom. —K. AlUson (A.S.C.I, 1:03.0, 58.10, 2:01.10. 1; D. Bain (T.S.C.I, 49.1, 1:26.0, 2:15.15, 2; A. Vrvenhoek iC.W.S.C.I, 1:03.6.; 1:22.1, 2:25.70, 3. Giant slalom.—Bain, 54.90, 1;| 31 Tyndall, 56.70, 2; M. Morris, 59.15, 3; V. Bush (A.S.C.I, 1:00.0, 4; Allison, 1:05.35, 5: P. Sheppard! iN.C.S.C.i, 1:06.90. 6. Combined. —Bain, 111,216, 1; Allison. 116.100, 2; Vyrenhoek, 135.947, 3.