12 September 2005: 

ELITE KIWI COMPETITORS FOR VOLKSWAGEN ALPINE NATIONAL SKI CHAMPIONSHIPS

New Zealand's Olympic contenders will be on show at the Volkswagen Alpine National Ski Championships at Turoa on September 14 and 15.

The national event has been rescheduled to Turoa from Cardrona Alpine Resort, and members of both the national men's and women's teams, will compete alongside a number of international skiers currently training in New Zealand.

This year for the first time there will be no combined title. Giant slalom and slalom titles will be raced for individually in the open, Junior and J1 categories.

Mickey Ross (Oamaru) who earlier this season clocked the best result ever for a New Zealand male, when he won the Air New Zealand Southern Cup slalom FIS race , in a field which included superstar American Bode Miller, is a favourite for the slalom title.

Christchurch's Mark Bridgwater is the current men's national slalom title holder and Sarah Jarvis (Hamilton) will be defending her slalom title. The giant slalom championship titles were not awarded last year due to the cancellation of the event.

James Arnott, Andrew Greig and Tim Cafe , all of Queenstown, are expected to put up good showings in the both events with Cafe also a junior title contender.

Nicola Campbell (Dunedin) who has reached discretionary qualification for the Winter Olympics in Italy next year is also focused on both the giant slalom and slalom titles. Erika McLeod (Auckland) who is looking for Olympic selection is injured and unable to compete at the nationals.

National team members Sarah Jarvis and Michelle Greig (Queenstown) will be vying for the junior titles as well as the open.

Entries have been received from competitors from Iceland, Norway, Great Britain, Ireland, Switzerland, USA and Greece for the national championships.

Ski Racing New Zealand CEO Sue Bridgwater says it is excellent that the Volkswagen National Alpine Championships are going ahead after warm, spring conditions forced their postponement at Cardrona.

"This is the premier event on the ski racing calendar and the national titles are obviously significant for our New Zealand representative skiers. The presence of overseas skiers in the field will provide increased competition and interest in the the event."

A FIS slalom has been scheduled for Turoa on September 15, following the national event.

The Australia New Zealand Cup (ANC) finals will be held at Turoa from September 19-23.