As the northern winter draws to a close, key events like Topolino, World Juniors and Whistler Cup are happening, you’ll get the latest news in this issue, you’ll also get updates on nominations for 2008 Volkswagen Teams.
Remember to keep up to date with all our news by regularly checking our website and if you have something to share with our members send it to me for inclusion in our next e news. To subscribe simply send an email to newsletter@skiracing.org.nz with subscribe in the subject. Please pass this on to everyone who wants to keep up to date with all our news. |
|
FEATURE ITEM
TEAM NEWS
FROM THE OFFICE
SNOWSPORTS UPDATE
ATHLETE NEWS
|
 World Junior Championship Results
Andrew Wylie finished 35th in the men’s slalom at the World Junior Championships in Formigal, Spain, scoring a 57 point result. This fantastic achievement was the best result of the series for New Zealand athletes. Of the other team members, Alice Ralston finished all the events and was 20th in the Combined series, Leighton Winsloe unfortunatley did not finish his events, Nicola Eves was sick and only able to complete the Downhill, coming out of the Super G and GS and Lucie Tait Jamieson (pictured, right: Copyright Jolyon Ralston, 2008) finished 65th in GS and 69th in Super G. Topolino Results
Our team had mixed results at this years event with some good performances from Sammy Kingston, Piera Hudson and Sophie Corser and some frustrating results for Nick Prebble and Richard Stevens. In K1 Girls, Sophie Corser finished 32nd and Piera Hudon 42nd in GS and in the Kombi Race Piera was 29th and Sophie 31st. In K2 girls Sammy Kingston finished 28th in GS and in Slalom neither Kate nor Sammy finished. 
Volkswagen National Development Team members continue their strong form.
 The remaining members of the Volkswagen National Development Team in Canada have concluded their season in strong style, Harriet Miller-Brown scoring a 66 and 67 in GS, Charlotte Newbold (pictured right) scoring 83 and 84 in slalom and Ali McGlinn also did well with a 75 in GS and 79 in slalom. They also featured on several podiums in the J1 category at the Sun Peaks series. All three of these athletes are on their way home ot join injured team mates Taylor Rapley and Jamie Prebble. The younger members of the Volkswagen Development Team have since departed their training camp, with Nick Prebble and Richard Stevens heading to Europe to compete in the Topolino and Stari Vrh Childrens’, FIS races, Finlay Neeson has gone to Silver Star to rest ahead of the Whistler Cup event and Ben Jamieson, Sophia Jamieson and Scott Chapman have also returned to New Zealand.
Volkswagen Team Members Win prestigious Inspiring New Zealanders Scholarships
Janelle Miller and Taylor Rapley have both been awarded an Inspiring New Zealanders Scholarship, following in the footsteps of Ben Griffin and Tim Café. They will enjoy one on one sessions with Claudia Reigler and a wonderful trip to the Olympic city of Beijing. This Scholarship is sponsored by Air New Zealand and will also give our girls a return ticket to a competition or training camp on the Air New Zealand network. Volkswagen National Ski Team update
The Volkswagen Team are continuing their season, although recently they have had their competition programme interrupted with poor weather and very warm conditions forcing races to be cancelled or moved. Mark Bridgwater is heading back to form after a very frustrating winter scoring 37 in slalom, and he is looking forward to the opportunities to improve in the remaining races of the season. Coach Nils Coberger is confident that all the athletes can achieve great results in the coming month. Janelle Miller has a full on race programme for her remaining month and together with Nic Eves and Coach Mike Gould will be travelling to several National Championships where she will be looking to score her best results of the season. 2008-09 Nominations, criteria and timeline
Nomination forms together with athlete agreements, budgets and programmes will be available by 17th March in the athlete information section of our website. It will detail the process that athletes wishing to be considered for 2008-09 Volkswagen National Development Team and Volkswagen National Team need to follow. If you are wishing to put yourself forward please ensure that you complete all the forms including the athlete agreement. Teams will be announced by 7th May so applications close on 10th April, please ensure that they are sent to simon@skiracing.org.nz. The criteria for this year are available in last years handbook or online in the athlete information section, please familiarize yourself with these before applying.
2008 Handbook
The 2008 athlete handbook is being put together over the coming months and we will be offering the premium advertising spaces shortly, make sure that you don’t miss out by booking your spot now, to do this please send an email to simon@skiracing.org.nz. This is a great opportunity to get your company or products in front of a wide and captive audience and applications received before the end of March will receive preferential rates. Latest Board Meeting
Some of the topics discussed at the last board meeting were:
- GM REPORTS FOR NOVEMBER, DEC-JAN & FEBRUARY
- FINANCIAL POSITION
- SPONSORSHIP
- TEAMS
- SELECTIONS & CRITERIA, PROCESSES 2008
- SNOW SPORTS NEW ZEALAND
- NZOC
- CLUB MEETINGS & MEMBER COMMUNICATIONS
- NATIONALS 2008
- 2008 HANDBOOK
- BOARD SUCCESSION PLANNING & 2008 AGM
Minutes from this meeting will shortly be available in the members area of the website, the board will also be outlining the skills required 9th FIS Points list available shortly
The ninth FIS points list for the 2007/08 winter season will be available soon on our site, it can be downloaded in PDF and Excel file format. Click the link below to go straight to that page. 
GM Calendar to go online
Shortly the diary for the GM will be placed on our website, this is all part of developing a more open communications with our members and clubs. To book an appointment just email me simon@skiracing.org.nz.
Ross Palmer has begun his position with Snowsports and is just getting his feet warm under the desk and although he has much to achieve is relishing the task. We have already had two very successful meetings with him and will be bringing you updates on these shortly. ATHLETE NEWS
A day of results for NZ athletes.
Some great results for our New Zealand athletes yesterday, beginning with the Children's FIS races in Slovenia, Nick Prebble finished sixth in the GS, only 0.82 seconds behind the winner, Richard Stevens was 37th and in the slalom Nick finished 19th, Harrison Steedman 31st and Richard 32nd. Nick & Richard have been training with the Volkswagen National Development Team in Canada and have had some great results in their K2 races. They have recently moved to Austria to join Harrison Steedman and coach Dominik Schreiber before returning to New Zealand. These three boys move on to the Topolino event later this month, so check back for updates on their progress. Andrew Wylie and Leighton Winsloe finished first and second in the CIT slalom race in Le Markstein, France and although neither scored any points these results show that New Zealanders are competing strongly and bodes well for the World Junior Championships later this month in Formigal, Spain. Lucie Tait Jamieson had a fantastic day in Flums, Switzerland scoring a 48 point GS result, her best ever GS result. Alice Ralston showed that she is back to her New Zealand form with a 59 point result in the same race. |
