NZ's Firefighter's Ski Champs, '92

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 10, Issue 454, 22 September 1992, Page 9

NZ's Firefighter's Ski Champs, '92

Turoa Ski Resort, 24 & 25 September

" Ohakune will be invaded by firefighters this week all ready to do battle for the New Zealand fire fighters Ski champs trophy. Thirty two teams of four racers are taking part this year and they arrive in Ohakune on tomorrow night. This is the fourth year the competition has been held and organising committee member Rob

McCallum said this one is the biggest ever. Ohakune's race team have won the event twice since it began. Volunteer and professional firefighters from all over the north island take part in the event. "Next year is the fifth anniversary of the event and we'll be trying very hard to get people up from the south island," Mr McCallum said. Whilst the emphasis is on having a good time the races are taken very seriously. Competition begins on Thursday morning with everyone having two runs down the giant slalom course which is being held on the Vertigo trail at the High Noon T-Bar. All the times are ordered then on Friday competitors race against the person with the closest time to themselves in a dual slalom down the Yahoo from the top of the Giant chairlift. "It's a great spectator sport and everyone is welcome to come and

watch, "Mr McCallum said. The firefighters don't just come here to ski, there's a big social night at the station on Thursday, so they're hoping there won't be any major call outs. There is an open invitation to those people who support and sponsor the brigade and the event. The prizegiving of the NZ Firefighters Service Shield, carved by local artisan Paul Beckett, will be held on Friday afternoon. But it's not the only prize up for grabs. The slowest team gets something called the FU Coupling trophy. This magnificent trophy is modelled on the so-called FU or reversible coupling which is the device fore firefighters use when two fire hoses need to be joined but someone has run one out the wrong end first. So teams aim to either be really good or really bad if they want to win a prize. There has never been a year when the event

has been postponed or cancelled because of bad weather. "The competition will be different this year because of the bulk snow." Turoa has more snow at the moment than it has ever had since opening in 1978: The Ohakune brigade's ski team this year is; Dale Hemara, Heather Munn, Steve Nation and Dwayne Dixon. .

The Ohakune Volunteer Fire Brigade ask for your cooperation this week in keeping their call-outs to a ' minimum while the ski champs are on. They can't hang a 'gone skiing' sign on the station and would prefer to have no callouts this week. A lot of time and effort by the Brigade has gone into organising this event