Cross country skiers from around the world gathered at Snow Farm NZ on Thursday for the first of the FIS ANC Cup Series races with a strong field of men and women from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Canada and France.
In the men’s 15km Classic Race a tight bunch of five skiers were neck and neck for the first two laps. Eventual winner Tomio Kanamaru (JPN) broke from the group at the bottom of the last steep hill to finish ahead of nine-times Canadian national champion, Robin McKeever and Masaaki Kozu (JPN) in a time of 43:15:20. McKeever has also won two gold and one silver medal athlete 2002 Paralympics, acting as the sighted guide for his brother Brian.
The Japanese skiers have been living and training at the Snow Farm and their altitude training and local knowledge has stood them in good stead. Kanamaru said,
This is my first race of the season and I was very happy to win. We love coming to train at the Snow Farm and enjoy competing against the New Zealand and Australian skiers in these races. Conditions were fast and we had a great group at the front”
First New Zealander home was 18-year-old Andy Pohl in sixteenth place. “I was very pleased with my race and it is just so great to have a race with such high caliber skiers right here at the Snow Farm,” said Pohl. Pohl will race the sprint and freestyle races on Saturday and Sunday this weekend and finish off the season training at the Snow Farm.
In November Pohl will return to Canada for a second season, racing in the domestic USA and Canadian competitions as a build up to the World Junior Championships to be held in Chamonix France in January 2009.
In the women’s 10 km Classic Race, Olympic bronze medalist, Milaine Theriault (CAN) led from the start, winning in a time of 34:39:90. She built up a solid lead after one lap and had extended this to a one-minute lead over Katie Calder (NZE) by the finish. Calder is a recent addition to the New Zealand Cross Country Ski Team after moving from Australia where she has established herself as one of Australasia’s top women skiers. In third place was Sumiko Ishigaki from Japan.
Wanaka 15-year-old Anna Hogg put in a strong performance in the women’s race as an invited participant, keeping pace with the strong Japanese women’s team members. Hogg is a member of the NZ Nordic Sports Development programme and has benefited from the season’s coaching under visiting American coach Alexei Sotskov.
The Series continues this weekend with the Sprint Races on Saturday August 16 and the Freestyle Races on Sunday August 17.
U.S. Snowboarding had an epic 2008 season with veteran and rookie riders bringing in top performances. Riders like Nate Holland (Squaw Valley, CA), Lindsey Jacobellis (Stratton Mountain, VT), Nick Baumgartner (Iron River, MI), Greg Bretz (Mammoth Lakes, CA), Louie Vito (Sandy, UT), Gretchen Bleiler (Aspen, CO), Michelle Gorgone (Boston) and Tyler Jewell (Steamboat Springs, CO) were just a few to hit the podium this past year.
Continue reading ‘2008 Billed a success for U.S. Snowboard Team’
Colorado based extreme skier John Nicoletta lost control and died shortly after a fall after he jumped off a rock during the Subaru Freeking World Championships at Alyeska Ski Resort in Girdwood, Alaska on Friday.
He was 27.
Continue reading ‘Extreme skier John Nicoletta dies during competition’
Leg amputee Carl Murphy from Oxford tested a prototype artificial leg on indoor snow ahead of participating at the Disabled Ski Championships in Copper Mountain, Colorado, last week.
Murphy’s new artificial leg was designed by New Zealand based company Lab Industries using carbon fibre with shock absorbers designed to take the heavy landings involved in snow sports.
I have used it in an indoor snowdome and it performs fantastically, when you land and jump it just absorbs all the shock,”
Mr Murphy told local media.
Mr Murphy took part in slalom, speed slalom time trials and a boarder cross event at the Colorado Disabled Ski Championships.
The 9th edition of the Verbier High Five by Carlsberg wrapped up under sunny conditions and a festive ambiance with professional and amateur skiers and onlookers on Saturday afternoon. Après-ski activities continued at Pub Montfort and by all reports things were still going strong and expected to continue late into the night.
Continue reading ‘James Blunt sees Svindal and Aaufdenblaten win Verbier H 5′
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Vancouver 2010 .
With the end of March, SportsRebel Media Ventures (SMV) Ltd. is happy to announce that it broke an all time record for monthly unique visitors with a whopping 666.78 % to SkiRebel Magazine in March 2008 to the same period a year earlier. This staggering growth was led with incredible traffic increases of more than 2000 % on March 28th alone.
Continue reading ‘666.78% more visitors come to SkiRebel Magazine in March’
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