Hubrich retains title

Press, 13 September 1982, Page 36

Hubrich retains title

From TIM DUNBAR, in Queenstown Marcus Hubrich's memory of Coronet Peak’s varied terrain might be hazy, but his ski-ing was all confidence when • the New Zealand championships began yesterday. One brief slide on his behind was the only stutter, as the' 19-year-old Wellington skier won his second successive national giant slalom title. Hubrich has done a lot of his ski-ing in Europe and Australia, but remembers a previous visit to Coronet Peak at the age of about 10 for a McKenzie Scholarship junior race week under Mr Werner Hanni. Rather more familiar with the slopes was Queenstown's Christine Grant, though she had to contend with a knee injury on the way to her first national title. Both the title winners were already in commanding positions after their first runs down a soft snow course which held up surprisingly well to the punishment of 100 racers.

Hubrich's main rivals nearly all eliminated themselves in the morning run, many wiping out on the tricky ninth gate where

skiers came over a lip and were virtually required to turn in mid air.

Simon Wi Rutene, ski-ing very stylishly, held second place after the first run, just over a second behind Hubrich. However, the 16-year-old Rotorua lad slipped back to third after having to make a brilliant recovery from near disaster as he hurtled over the knob with too much weight on his inside ski during the second run. Wi Rutene was pipped by the "veteran" of the New Zealand squad, Canterbury's Mark Vryenhoek, who held little back down the steep, and ■ took second place still more than three seconds behind Hubrich. Another Hubrich. Mattias, skied well for fourth place. Miss Grant, a 19-year-old Otago University physical education student, was obviously favouring her sore knee on the first run, but was still two seconds clear of any opposition. Another New Zealand A team member, Kate Rattray was affected by a badly sprained ankle, injured during training a few days before. and Mandy Vryenhoek (also Canterbury) spoiled her chances when she fell at the finish of the first run.

But it was really a day for the youngsters. Justine Jones (Queenstown), only 14. revelled in the conditions to take second place and Adele Cobergcr (Canterbury), aged 13. was sixth, with another performance that caused skiing pundits to sit up. Canterbury provided five of the first 10 finishers.

Saturday's Coronet Cup giant slafom, postponed because of the warm temperatures that softened the snow, will now be raced today on the same “Donkey Serenade" course which has a vertical drop of 280 m. The national slalom is scheduled for tomorrow. Results:

Women: C. Grant (Queenstown) 57.315. 54.58, 1:51.89. 1: J. Jones (Queenstown) 59.49, 58.20, 1:57.69, 2: M. Vryenhoek (Canterbury) 1:04.28, 54.98, 1:59.26, 3; K. Rattray (Canterbury) 1:00.32. 59.26. 1:59.58, 4: F. Boyer (Queenstown) 1:01.41. 1:00.13. 2:01.54. 5; A. Coberger (Canterbury) 1:01.41, 1:01.09. 2:02.50. 6. Men: Marcus Hubrich (Wellington) 51.77. 51.24. 1.43.01. 1; M. Vryenhoek (Canterbury) 53.20, 52.93. 1:46.13. 2; S. w'i Rutene (Rotorua) 52.91. 53.37. 1:46.26. 3; Mattias Hubrich (Wellington) 53.44. 55.40. 1:48.84. 4: C. Mosaed (Ruapehu) 55.93. 53.87. 1:49.80. 5: G. Goodwin (Canterbury) 55.42. 56.21. 1:51.63. 6.