6 November 2005: 

Top Ranked Skier Named 2005 Snow Sports Athlete Of The Year

New Zealand's top ranked male alpine skier Michael (Mickey) Ross has been named Snow Sports Athlete of the Year.

Twenty-four-year old Ross of Oamaru won the 2005 Alpine Ski Racer of the Year title awarded at tonight's Daniel Le Brun Snow Sports Awards function at Clearwater Resort Christchurch.

Ross, who is one of the main contenders for a place in the New Zealand team to compete at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino Italy, returned to competition this season after a serious knee injury put him out of action in 2004.

In the 2004/2005 European season he achieved four sub 40 FIS point results, the highlight being a 28 point result at the Liechtenstein National Championships. But his greatest coup was to win the Air New Zealand Southern Cup slalom at Coronet Peak in August, when he blitzed the star studded international field, to win the title and score a 12 point result.

Ross is arguably New Zealand's best ever slalom skier. He is also the 2005 Giant Slalom national title holder.

OTHER AWARDS PRESENTED WERE:

The 2005 Cross Country Skier of the Year is Ben Koons. He is based in Maine, USA and is the current national champion and New Zealand's top ranked cross country skier. His best performance in 2005 was a 116 point result, at the National Collegiate Finals at Lake Placid, making him the first New Zealander to qualify for World Cup competition.

The award for the 2005 Speed Skier of the Year has been made to Chris Gebbie of Mt Ruapehu. Gebbie has been consistently New Zealand's fastest skier and clocked a top speed of 232.86 kmh in Les Arc France in April this year. Gebbie has been on the international circuit for the past three years and his results put him in the top 20 in the World Cup series.

The 2005 Freeskier of the Year is Hamish Acland of Mt Somers, Canterbury. His most notable achievement this season was to take fifth place in the World Freeskiing Tour. This is the best result ever achieved by a New Zealander and the World Tour is an intensely competitive circuit.

The 2005 Snowboarder of the Year is Juliane Bray of Wanaka whose achievements have qualified her for the Winter Olympics in Torino. Bray is New Zealand's top woman competitor and this season has recorded two top ten World Cup finishes. She was fifth in the halfpipe at the Chile World Cup event and finished ninth in an international field in snowboardcross in Austria. She is currently ranked 12th in the world in halfpipe and 18th in snowboardcross and will represent New Zealand in both disciplines at the Winter Olympics.

The 2005 Disabled Snow Sports Athlete of the Year is 18-year-old Adam Hall of Outram, Dunedin. Hall has been selected for the 2006 Winter Paralympic team and will compete in giant slalom, slalom, Super G and downhill. At the US Nationals this season he won the junior titles in slalom, giant slalom and Super G and was highly placed in the open category. Hall achieved good results on the Disabled World Cup circuit and has a world ranking of 35 in giant slalom. His outstanding result in 2005 was winning the Wells Fargo Dual Slalom at Winter Park Colorado narrowly beating high profile Australian paralympian Michael Milton.

The winner of the 2005 Contribution to Snow Sports Award is Dennis Jones of Jones Brothers Wellington. Jones Brothers became the agents for Fischer skis and Tyrolia bindings in 1956 and Dennis Jones joined the company in 1970 launching a long association with the ski industry. He personally played a significant role in setting up the original New Zealand Ski Industry Federation. Jones Brothers was a major sponsor of Annelise Coberger when she won her Olympic silver slalom medal for New Zealand at Albertville in 1992.