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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Vol. 38, No. 18. July 23rd 1975
Sports
Sports
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Sports
Ski Racing
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Each year, in August, on one of our mountains - about forty student skiers gather to try out their skills by passing through a series of flagged poles on the' slopes. Racing is an extension of recreational skiing which is becoming increasingly popular, and the participants are a mixture of good skiers and those who merely take part for the variety of experience it offers.
The student body which promotes this event is the N.Z. University Ski Council, whose President is responsible to the N.Z.U. Sports Council which provide standards and funds to support tournament. The tournament has two main divisions - the teams events and individual performance scoring. The teams have four women and four men from each university. Scattered within these teams are top university skiers who often are ranked highly in the National Award System These are supported by a group, the majority of whom are trying out racing for the first time - hurling themselves between the flags by rolling, sliding and screaming with the sheer exhiliration of the whole thing thing. After the teams events there is a totting up to see which team managed to stay upright for the longest period of time. The final calculation is made at the tournament dinner which takes place in an appointed ski lodge. The scene is usually an open log fire and a warm wine mixture. The whole event is a combination of good skiing, poor skiing and socializing. Without any of these ingredients, it would not be a varsity tournament.
The more serious side of tournament is the individual performance scoring of top racers. In the last few years there has been an upsurge of support given to our racers by the N.Z. University Ski Council who have recently established firm links with the main National body - the N.Z. Ski Association. This Association is responsible for the running of all the main ski events in the country the Coronet Cup, the North and South Island Championships and so forth.
With this newly established link our top university skiers will have awards offered to them so as to make their achievements nationally recognized. The top awards for individual performance are N.Z. University Blues. These are equivalent to the All-American Ski Awards in the U.S. and the F. I. S. awards in Europe. Other individual awards are given by each University. Victoria University for example, will award a V.U.W. Blue to any of its participants who meet certain criteria.
The 1975 Ski Tournament is to be held at Mount Hutt. Participants will be living together in the large Forestry Hut at the bottom of the mountain. Any overflow will live in caravans pro-vided by the organizers, the Canterbury University Ski Club. Day passes will be down to a dollar a day, and accommodation costs down to a minimum. The whole event this year is attracting a greater deal of interest and it is expected that it will be well covered by the News Media. Credit must go to Chris Chambers and others from Canterbury and Dave Smith of Auckland who is President of N.Z. Ski Council. At the present time the V.U.W. teams have not been filled. If there are skiers on-campus who might like to hear the details, would they contact:
Ian Talbot,
V.U.W. Tournament Selector
Day Phone: 43-220
Night Phone: 863-348
If you have friends who you think might be interested, would you give Ian Talbot a ring, so that he can contact them. This will be a super-cheap ski event, all travel arrangements will be coordinated by Ian Talbot - so it should be an easy week.
Tournament August 18—22
Varsity Rugby
Victoria University Rugby Club is second only to Upper Hutt in the number of teams entered in the regular Saturday competitions.
With six serious' training teams and eleven 'social' teams, last week saw the senior A team displaying the form that has made them top in the Wellington Club Competition.
In the first game of the second round for the Jubilee Cup at Athletic Park on Saturday Varsity A played Naenae Old Boys for a decisive win (25-12). Within the first fifteen minutes Dan Fouhy charged through Naenae's defences to score a try which was converted by G. Wallis. Although Varsity was not too successful in the rucks they were able to run the ball and were on consistent attack ..
Both sides were awarded penalties for some scrappy play near each opponent's goal line. Centre, Dan Fouhy, made a couple of good moves one of which allowed Peter Garty to score, but with a fairly strong wind, the conversion was missed.
T. Dowries scored Vic's next try which after being converted brought the half-time score to 19-3.
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Barry Britten. Wayne Nichols and Roger Drummand — The line-out.
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Mike Collins, Mack Johnson, Peter Smith (doing the pushing), Rick Green (making sure Vic gets the bail), Barry Britten, No 4 Roger Drummand, No 8 Wayne Nichols and Roger Miller.
With the wind behind them Naenae charged into attack in the second half and got a penalty after some further scrappy play by Vic. After Naenae lost the ball while on attack, Graham Willis took possession and showed his speed making a dash from half way to score under the posts which he also converted.
Although the standard of play deteriorated and there was poor passing and tumbling on both sides Vic were too strong for Naenae who were only able to score from two more penalties, which left the final score at 25-12.
This week Varsity faces stronger opposition in the form of Marist Hutt Valley, the main game at Athletic Park which starts at 2: 45. This will be an important game in that it will determine in part it Vic will go on to play Petone in the final for the Jubilee Cup later this season.
Club Reaffiliations
The following clubs have yet to be re-affiliated to the Students Association for 1975.
- Badminton
- Netball
- Cricket
- Golf
- Judo
- Motorcycle
- Rifles
- Ski
- Swimming
- Tennis
Forms which require signatures of twenty members of the association can be collected from the association office. If these clubs do not bother to reaffiliate shortly they will not be entitled to club grants and may even be taken over by the Students Association.
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Graham Wallis showing the form that has made him Vic's top point scorer this year, supported by Mike Collins.
Photos and Story - Kevin Wright.