A graceful young lady of New Zealand’s ski-fields

Press, 18 June 1980, Page 29

A graceful young lady of New Zealand’s ski-fields

Bv

TIM DUNBAR

Tragic death, not retirement, has meant the break-up of ■ the famous Canterbury ski-ing trio of Julia Allison, Anna Archibald, and Fiona Johnson. Julia Allison, aged only 20, and her younger sister, Katie, died as the result of a motor accident earlier this month. The ski-ing . season just started would' have been Miss Allison’s eighth winter in a row. She has trained and raced in Europe every New Zealand summer but one since 1975.

It was in 1975 that the young Canterbury ski racers, Julia Allison, Anna Archibald, and Fiona Johnson, first made a big impact on national circuit — and they have dominated the New Zealand women’s ski-ing scene ever since. The trio has won all the national combined titles over the last five years, with Miss Allison the New Zealand champion in 1977 and 1979,’ Miss Johnson successful in 1976 and 1978. and Miss Archibald in 1975.

Last vear Julia Allison for the first time won. by an overwhelming margin, the Reizensteins Cup for the top women’s racer on

the national circuit. Twice before she had been second.

She was the New Zealand women’s giant slalom champion in 1975 and 1979 and won the slalom title in 1977.

All three girls attended Selwyn House and were to have spoken together

about their latest ski-ing experiences at their old school last evening. The other two decided to carry on without Julia in their talk to the Selwyn House Old Girls’ Association and make it into some sort of tribute to their friend. Anna Archibald says she has difficulty finding words to express her feelings about Julia Allison. But she made this tribute: “Julia, .was an intriguing little’ lady, somebody who was very different,’somebody who was so different I always felt I wanted to be close enough to her because there was always something wonderfully' alive and (because of the) vitality she had to offer to life and to me.” In between her five ex-

cursions to Europe (the first under Leo Baccaglio at Locarno) Miss Allison trained and raced through thousands of gates at Mount Hutt and other New Zealand ski-fields. Mrs Kate Archibald (Anna’s mother) was chief gate-watcher for many of those races and she often

enthused about Miss Allison’s style. “I always thought she skied like a beautiful bird, one with extraordinary agility and balance,” Mrs Archibald says. Julia Allison, who had her twentieth birthday just over four weeks ago, was a former puoil of both Craighead Diocesan School, Timaru, and Rangiora High School. She was -an outstanding snorts performer, excelling in -athletics and swimming. In addition, she played the violin very well.

A bright girl, Miss Allison won an A bursary to university and this was her third vear of study for a Bachelor of Arts degree in English at the University of Canterbury.

Miss Allison’s racing campaigns in Europe often meant she had to finish a school term a little early, or arrive back at university a month late. Even racing on the national circuit created problems of getting her work done and between events of the Coronet Cup (which she won handsomely) last August Miss Allison was busy finishing off an overdue philosophy essay. During the 1976-77 northern winter, Miss Allison trained and raced with the Italian women’s team, but the highlight of her career would probably have been representing New Zealand in the 1978 world alpine championships at Garmisch-Parten-kirchen in West Germany. In the slalom she finished forty-first in a field of 74. The 1977 New Zealand winter was notable for a remarkable recovery by Miss Allison, then aged 17. She suffered a hairline fracture of the fibula while ski-ing at Coronet Peak on August 6; the following week-end she was back training (in a softer boot) with the New' Zealand team at Mount Hutt and on August 20 won the Australian women’s slalom at Thredbo.

Competition between the Canterbury trio was always healthy and Mrs Virginia Johnson (Fiona’s mother), of Springfield, says they "egged each other on.” Fiona Johnson and Anna Archibald were just two of the many skiers among the more than 400 mourners who attended the double funeral for the Christchurch-based girls last week.

The girls’ parents, Sally and Bey Allison, farm Lyddington at Fernside. Their other children are Sarah (a ski instructor), Jonathan (Julia’s twin), Andrew. and Richard. Katie, aged 18, was also at university and was a talented horse rider as w’ell as skier.