Skiers from 10 nations entered in dual slalom

Press, 5 August 1980, Page 30

Skiers from 10 nations entered in dual slalom

From TIM DUNBAR in Queenstown . Skiers from a record 10 countries will compete for more than $2OOO in the Smirnoff Pro-am dual slalom at Coronet Peak today. . The event :is -usually the highlight of the Queenstown Winter Festival, the skiers racing head: to head down. a short course and having to negotiate a I.3m' jump halfway down. Included in the entries are four skiers who have represented New Zealand at Winter 1 . Olympics, Robin Armstrong,. Chris Womersley, Stuart Blakely and Mark Vryenhoek. : ! .

Armstrong and Womersley (a former pro-am winner) will both race as professionals but are unlikely to have put in the amount of training that an amateur such as Vryenhoek has had recently. ■ • > Taranaki’s Warwick Brown is again entered as: an amateur though ; he has not contested the New Zealand F.I.S. -series this year. In 1979 his $7OO second prize-money (naturally a little reluctantly) had to go to the, New 1( Zealand- Ski Association; . No amateur has: ever won the event and it will be surprising if -the trend is changed. ■ ’ •. Professionals such as

Christian Witt - Dorring (Austria), Christer Lidgren (Sweden), Martial Bonvin and Herve Durgnat (both Switzerland) are among the favoured racers. Witt-Dor-ring the Canterbury coach last year won the Europa Cup in 1974 and will be the skier to watch. Also competing is the popular West German, Gunther Radler (nursing an injured knee), who has applied for permanent residency in New Zealand, together with Geoff Hunt (New Zealand) and Tim Boulay (United States), better known for their acrobatics in freestyle skis.. <