January 4th 2008

BEN GRIFFIN SCORES AWESOME RESULT

Ben Griffin has scored 14.55 in a North American Cup Giant Slalom in Sunday River, Maine.  Having had a great first run, Ben skied even faster to finish 6th overall, winning the second run.  This result eclipses his best ever result scored at Coronet Peak in August.  Ben is a key member of the Volkswagen National Ski Team coached by Nils Coberger.  If you want to send your congratulations to Ben please send an email to ben.griffin@tussockgrove.co.nz  Full results are available here www.fis-ski.com.

Ben Griffin in action at Coronet Peak, August 2007.  Photo Copyright Jolyon Ralston.

“The Coronet Peak result was one of the best-ever from a Kiwi male skier, “says Ski Racing New Zealand CEO Simon Mills. “But Ben’s latest achievement in the USA is incredible because of the calibre of the Nor-Am event. The field included some of America’s top skiers and this is undoubtedly a highlight for New Zealand skiing.”

USA’s Warner Nickerson took out first place in a tight finish amongst the top 10 competitors to complete the race in a combined time of 1.44.32. Griffin could only manage 8th fastest time in the first run when he recorded 51.65, but in the second run he blitzed the field to take the fastest time stopping the clock at 53.08 putting him into sixth overall position in 1.44.73.

Second place went to Jake Zamansky (USA) in 1.44.54 and Julien Cousineau (Canada) finished third in 1.44.55.

Volkswagen National Team coach Nils Coberger says Griffin raced a strong race, particularly in the second run and the 14 point result, will significantly reduce his world ranking.

“This result bodes well for the Northern Hemisphere competition and we are expecting more good performances from him as the season progresses.

This is the best mens result since Simon Wi Rutene won the NAC finals in the early nineties.  A mistake was made in the original press release and we did not credit Simon with his results, SRNZ would like to apolgise for the error.