First ski races

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 12, Issue 545, 19 July 1994, Page 9

First ski races

This Saturday and Sunday, 23-24 July, sees the first national points races of the season, being held at Whakapapa. The Evian Mineral Water Giant Slalom Saturday and the Evian Haensli Cup GS Sunday, will be held in the Te Heu Heu Valley. New Zealand Ski Team member, Annika Hay wood, will be the leading competitor, while Kate Reaney a former team member, will be making a come-back . Both Annika and Kate arein the Whakapapa team and are expected to set a fast pace for the up and coming female racers such as Kirsten Stevens and Lizzie Shand (both Whakapapa) and Sharmayne Crawley and Natalie Wignall (both Turoa). Chris Mosaed, Geoff

Small and Todd Haywood will lead the men with promising Euan Howden, Scott Mazey, Layton Thomson and Jesse Teat chasing them. Racing their first national points race are Erica McLeod and Angus Howden. Rhys Boberg (Turoa) who is in his second season of national points should be worth

watching. The Haensli Race is one of the oldest on the mountain and is named after a Swiss ski instructor, now in his eighties, who worked on Whakapapa in the early days of skiing. Now living in Switzerland, Walter Haensli still sends out the bronze cast trophies awarded to the winners.