Skier’s Queenstown base

Press, 29 July 1987, Page 37

Skier’s Queenstown base

Simon Wi Rutene, the national men’s ski-ing champion and New Zealand “Skier of the Year,” will again be based at Coronet Peak, Queenstown, for training this winter. Wi Rutene, aged 21, has resumed his build-up for the Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada, next February after a two-month break because of a lung infection. Happy to be “home in Queenstown,” the Rotorua skier intends to mix his training at Coronet Peak with the odd day of heli-skl-ing. As well as his on-slope training, Wi Rutene has a heavy off-the-snow fitness programme including two hours of work in a gymasium, half an hour’s squash and a 28-minute run every day. Among the competitive

events Wi Rutene plans to enter are today’s Powderhound-Atomic proam at Coronet Peak, the Coronet and Wigley cups at Coronet from August 13 to 15 and the national championships at Whakapapa in September. Wi Rutene is the hot favourite to retain his pro-am title but stiff opposition is expected from the former Swiss national team member, Erich Zelgar., Zeigar, a member of the Coronet Peak ski school, is believed to be the fastest ski instructor in the Southern Hemisphere this winter. He was placed fourth in the world ski instructors* championships in Arosa, Switzerland, last year. Among Wi Rutene’s fellow amateur skiers to watch are another New Zealand Ateam member, Mattias Hu-

brich, and the Queenstownbased B-team members, Julian Brown, Nick Boyer and Euan Paterson. Other Coronet Peak ski instructors entered in the men’s section include Rick Devos, of the United States, lan McLeod, of Canada, and Hiroaki Kimura, of Japan. In the women’s section the entrants should include the West German, Marita Blanz, Heather Dorman-Devos, of Colorado, and two Canterbury skiers based at Queenstown, the national champion, Kate Rattray, and Bergendy Cooke. The prize-money this year has been substantially increased to $4500, with first place worth $l5OO in the men’s section and $5OO in the women’s section. The head-to-head dual slalom course Includes two Jumps.