7 November 2005: 

Ski Racing New Zealand Announces New Representative Teams

The New Zealand National Ski team has four representatives -two men and two women- following the selection of Christchurch's Mark Bridgwater to the team.

Bridgwater who is New Zealand's top ranked male speed skier joins number one Kiwi slalom skier Mickey Ross (Oamaru) and New Zealand's best women skiers Nicola Campbell and Erika McLeod on the team. Bridgwater has gained selection after lowering his world ranking in downhill to 323 and Super G to 388 in the world during the Northern Hemisphere season.

Ski Racing New Zealand Alpine Director Jim Davies says it is exciting to see athletes reaching the criteria required for the national team.

"It reflects the ongoing commitment of our athletes and their bid to achieve national team status. Our national team members are all Olympic 2006 contenders and they will be working hard over the next few months to gain selection to the New Zealand Olympic team."

Consistent performances during the past season by Sarah Jarvis (Hamilton) who is now ranked 397 in the world in slalom and Ben Griffin (Ohakune) have seen the pair promoted from the New Zealand Junior team to the National Squad. They join James Arnott, Tim Cafe and Michelle and and Andrew Greig all of Queenstown in the squad.

Rory Hill (Queenstown) and Leighton Winsloe (Wanaka) have been selected to the National Junior team after recording good results during the 2005 season. Michael Eyles of Queenstown is the third member of the Junior team.

The selections are the final ones to be made under existing criteria. New criteria for selection to all Ski Racing New Zealand representative teams will be implemented in May 2006.

"Ski Racing New Zealand's intent is to develop an increasingly competitive team during the next four years leading up to the 2010 Olympics," says Mr Davies. " During that time our selection guidelines will move towards international standards."