Canterbury skiers win Alpine slalom cups

Press, 17 July 1978, Page 3

Canterbury skiers win Alpine slalom cups

By

TIM DUNBAR

Ken Read, a self-styled "advance scout" at Mount Hutt for the Canadian downhill team, showed during the Air New Zealand Alpine Cup at the week-end that he is by no means restricted to

if ■ Because of his injury, tj Blakely has restricted him--Iself to physical training and s'.the slalom was his first run T through gates this year. sf His second run in the slai.lom was a mighty one of :48.9sec, only o.9sec slower - than that of Read, who has t considerably lower F.I.S. s points. i However, Blakely was ; not so happy with his giant i slalom runs. The event put t more pressure on his knee, which still needs strength- >’ ening. i The up-and-coming Mark i Vrvenhoek (Canterbury) j failed to finish the first run 1 of the slalom but yesterday showed how much he has t developed after a winter s spent in Europe. 1 He was the second New 1 Zealander in the giant sla- : lorn, ahead of such well re- .’ garded skiers as Warwick Brown (Taranaki) and Jere- , my Light (Canterbury). In ! the first run he was a mere 1 o.ossec behind Blakely. t Fiona Johnson, a 17-year- : old Christchurch schoolgirl, i had her expected win in the I women’s Alpine Cup after clear victories in both the slalom and the giant slalom.

his speciality. On Saturday, the 22-year-oid Canadian was more than 3sec faster than any of his slalom opponents and yesterday his superiority was even more marked when he was B.ssec clear in the giant slalom. Read was quite happy’ with the snow, which he likened to that in Canada but said he almost fell twice when he hit loose snow in the giant slalom. He is staying on at Mount Hutt over the next 10 days for the F.I.S. (International Ski Federation) series and will contest his specialist event, the downhill, on July 26. The first New Zealander, and winner of the Alpine Cup, was the 21-year-old Canterbury skier, ’ Stuart Blakely, who seems to have recovered quite well from a bad knee injury he received at Mammoth Mountain, California, last December.

Neither of : the Australian challengers, Jenny Altermatt and Jackie Cowderoy, got near Miss Johnson in the slalom event and her combined total for the two runs was nearlv Gsec faster.

Only one run was possible in the giant slalom because of a lack of time partly caused by tow-queue holdups, but Miss Johnson again made her mark with a good time of 76.555ec. This time, another New Zealand representative, Julia Allison, also headed off both the visitors by a good margin. Useful performances by some of the younger competitors in the Alpine Cup, which attracted 64 men’s entries and 16 women, has resulted in some of them being included in the Canterbury team announced yesterday for the rest of the national circuit. The team, picked by Tony Graham, lan Baxter and David Ingram, is: David Cooney, Dean Stewart, Allen Frazer, Bill Brownlee, Mark Vryenhoek, Roland Kuhn, Claire ActonAdams, Tim Sheppard, Andrew Hall, and Mike Mayell.

Abbreviations used in the results are Canterbury Winter Sports Club iC.W.S.C.-. Canterbury University Ski Club (C.U.S.C.I, North Canterbury Ski Club (N.C.S.C.), Methven Ski Club (M.S.C.). Porter Heights Ski Club iP.H.S.C.i, Ruapehu Ski Club iR.S.C.i. Stratford Mountain Club tS.M.C.i. MEN Slalom.—S. Blakely (M.S.C.), 52.55. 48.9. 101.45. 1; J. Light (M.S.C.), 53.45, 51.05, 104.50, 2; W. Brown (S.M.C.), 54.65, 51.0, 105.65, 3: D. Cooney (Tekapo), 56.1, 53.2, 109.3, 4; E. Bloomfield. 57 4. 54.8, 112.2, 5; W. Lonsdale (S.M.C.I, 57.95 54.75, 112.65. 6. Special seed: K. Read (Canada), 50.3, 48.0, 98.30. Giant slalom. —Blakelv, 77 40. 78.30 1; M. Vryenhoek IP.H.S.C.i, 77.45. 78.45, 2; Brown. 77.75, 78.65. 156.40 3; Light, 80.0, 81.8, 161.0. 4; D. Pairman (C.U.S.C.), 81.0. 82.1. 163.1, 5; Bloomfield, 81.3, 81.95. 163.25, 6. Special seed: Read. 73.1, 74.1. 147.2: R. Massey (Canada), 77.35, 79.8. 157.15. Combined. —Blakely 1. Brown 2, Light 3. WOMEN Slalom.—F. Johnson (N.C.S.C.). 52.0, 51.15. 103.15. 1; J. Allison lAmuri), 52.0, 59.2, 2; V. Laird iR.S.C.i, 61.1. 58.65, 119.75, 3; K. Rattray (P.H.S.C.). 67.25 , 73.6, 140.85, 4. Special seed: J. Cowderoy (Australia), 55.15, 53.8, 108.95; J. Altermatt (Australia), 56.2, 53.8, 110.0. Giant slalom.—Johnson, 76.55. 1; AlUson. 78.45, 2; A. Archibald (C.W.S.C.), 80.45, 3; R. Wedding (C.U.S.C.i. 86.15, 4 Special seed: Altermatt, 79.75; Cowderoy. 84.55. Combined.—Johnson 1, Allison 2,..