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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume. 33, Number 13. 1970
Tournament Sport
Tournament Sport
Tournament Ski-ing
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On tho Friday before racing, the Auckland University skier Richard Morrison was killed when he fell on some ice and slid over a cliff. Training for the Downhill during the weekend became subdued and virtually halted when a Lincoln skier groping through a white-out, fell fifty feet over a bluff. He was unharmed.
Monday was the day for the Downhill, but racing was adjourned to enable Aucklanders to attend Richard Morrison's funeral.
The Slalom began on Tuesday in the Te Heu Heu Valley in mist and soft snow. The course was very short, only thirty five gates, but was of a high technical standard. Auckland officials had the race going by about two, and most racers had reasonable light. Tim Stewart of Canterbury jetted through the course in 36 seconds and comparisons with the young Killy were inevitable. Armstrong of Victoria ski'd reasonably, hoping that the main opposition would fall. They didn't, and he came second to Stewart. The Otago skier Noddy Ross surprised everyone except himself and came third. By about 3.30p.m. the second run of the Slalom was only about a quarter through and the radios packed up. Team captains rapidly conferred and everyone left for the pub, Tokaanu and the sauna at Grads.
Miraculously, Wednesday was very clear and hot, so it was decided to run the Slalom second run, the Giant Slalom and the Non-stop run of the Downhill. Most of the South Islanders discovered the true powder and revelled on the Pinnacles and delayed the start until about noon. Stewart demolished the course in 35 seconds, most of the girls struggled through, and Victoria emerged third.
Competitors had to climb 500 feet up the glacier to the start of the Donwhill. One or two people fell but most people were bored with the excessively slow middle section.
The Giant Slalom had been set in the valley and this involved another climb. Victoria had three very good times but were only fourth in this event. Auckland in their true mercenary fashion invited 200 hangers-on to a Drinking Horn and we would like to thank them now—for the grog when we could get to it, for the fun we had when we were allowed to breathe, and for the spirit of competition our team had in the one drink they allowed us. Our girls managed to win in fine style though. We were told the Men's Final was between the Auckland team and the Auckland Official's Team, which resulted in three teams later that night plundering a nine gallon keg belonging to A.U.
Thursday was a blizzard and most teams abandoned even the beer Slalom for the Taverh. Tournament Dinner that night was very successful and probably Tiny Mai's delicate downtrou will live on in the minds of the unabashedly purile for decades.
Results: 1. Otago, 2. Canterbury, 3. Victoria.
Men's Individual: 1. John Armstrong (V), 2. M. Ross (O), 3. Bruce Gardner (L)
Women's Individual: 1. Sue Williams (O), 2. Andre Mason (A), 3. Margretta Chance (O).
Victoria team: Ann Armstrong, Bethina Bradbury, Liz Pike, Marilyn Waring, Phil Jones, Wayne Morgan, Joe Bryden, John Armstrong.
Hockey
Men
One win and one draw in six games is not a very impressive record to bring back from any tournament, but this is what Vic achieved—and everyone in the team appeared happy. Perhaps they were not pleased with the results—just pleased with Tournament itself.
On the first day Vic were unfortunate to lose 0-1 in the morning to Massey (who went on to win the Men's Hockey section of Tournament) then in the afternoon drew 2-2 (after missing three penalty strokes) with Otago, who virtually were the Otago provincial team. On Tuesday the effects of Cabaret hit Vic rather hard and we lost to Auckland 2-5 and Waikato 2-3 (a minor upset). After the hockey dinner—a very merry occasion—we beat Lincoln 4-3 and lost to Canterbury 0-6.
Generally the defence and cover defence for Victoria were good—except against Canterbury and, the first half against Auckland. In the towards, Toon Borren made some penetrating runs and was usually ably supported by Doug Hill. The team should have a special thank-you to Geoff Kirkham, the team captain, who always worked hard and sweated most ' of that grog out!
Victoria had no representatives in the N.Z.U team which drew 2-2 with Manawatu on Thursday afternoon.
Women
The fact that Vic did not score any goals at Winter Tournament is a rather unfortunate one, as, in actual fact, the team played very well and were not justly rewarded for their efforts. All of the women's games were very close and every match had to be taken seriously. In all games Victoria managed to keep the game scoreless until well into the first half.
On Monday Victoria lost 0-1 to Otago in the morning and went down 0-2 to Auckland in the afternoon. Tuesday morning saw a very good game which Victoria lost to Canterbury 0-2. Later that day Victoria took the wooden spoon by losing 0-3 to Massey.
Leslie Gilbert as the, goalkeeper was Victoria's representative for the N.Z.U. team which drew with Manawatu 2-2 on Thursday afternoon.
—W. Gulbransen
Smallbore Rifle Shooting
Vic's team, although gaining a higher score than in the last two years, were still unable to break Canterbury's 11 year hold on the ICI Shield, and also had to concede 2nd place in the closest competition for many years to an infinitely improved Massey team. The margins of ten points and three points in 2,400 possible were evidence that had our more experienced shooters maintained their standards as well as our newcomers, victory could have been ours. Vic shooters K. McGregor. B. Cossar, G. AdIam and I. Cossar contributed to a North Island, victory over South Island Universities, and G. Adlam and I. Cossar gained N.Z.U. team selection, with B. Cossar as reserve.
There is no doubt that even if our team came home empty handed, we enjoyed ourselves and gained valuable experience for next year at Auckland.
G. Adlam.