Carson set for ski win at Coronet
By
TIM DUNBAR
Paul Carson, a 24-year-old Canadian professional ski racer with a prolific training programme, is likely to win today’s Bacardi Rum pro-am at Coronet Peak.
“He’s pretty fast,” conceded the New Zealand squad member, Stuart Blakely (Christchurch), after watching Carson practice yesterday. Carson says that he trains 500 gates a day for the slalom event, and actually went up to 650 one day during his month-long stay at Coronet Peak.
“It doesn’t normally do you any good to exceed 500 gates, but I did the 650 purely for conditioning reasons. I do a little more than most pros.” Carson, one of the leading racers on the last world professional ski tour, is the “big name” of this pro-am
event, but is determined not to be beaten by over-con-fidence.
He describes his attitude in idiomatic fashion. “Pm not going to think it will be a breeze. Otherwise I*ll get my shorts blown off and be left at the starting gate.”
One racer whom Carson admits respect for is Chris Womersley, the 28-year-old national coach and former New Zeland champion. Womersley has trained hard with his squad, and will be going all out to retain his title and collect $lOOO first prize money. Also in the pro-am event iis the 26-year-old American Randy Wieman, who won the New Zealand freestyle challenge cup on Tuesday for the slalom race. The top 10 amateurs in New Zealand will contest the event today with about 25 professionals, over a dual slalom course.
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Press, 4 August 1977, Page 32
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256Carson set for ski win at Coronet Press, 4 August 1977, Page 32
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