Raetihi's ski racer in NZ top 3

Waimarino Bulletin, Issue 4, 12 August 1988, Page 15

Raetihi's ski racer in NZ top 3

Raetihi ski racer Chris Mosaed is a successful yet unsung hero of the New Zealand A Team. He has been competing in the Turoa BP Europa FIS series which finished today.

Chris has been in the three man squad for about 18 months, racing in New Zealand, E u rope and N o r t h America. In the Giant Slalom on Tuesday he was placed a respectable 14th place in the international class competition, two places behind team mate Mattias Hubrich. He was racing in the Slalom event being staged yesterday and today. Chris has been racing since he was 14 and at 22 has a few years to go before the normal ski racing peak of 25-26. To his credit he has won the North Island Junior Championships at 14. He is the youngest person to have won the Whakapapa Haensli cup. He came second in this year's Haensli Cup which was run last weekend. Chris took the Southern Districts Championships at 18 and came second (behind his team mate Simon Wi Rutene) twice in the Wiggley Cup at Coronet Peak. At 15 he made the New Zealand B ski team, which was then under the guidance of ex Swiss Olympic coach Andreas Hefti. Along with all the mental and physical training which he says is beneficial, the travelling experiences h e has had while competing overseas with the ski team are a real bonus. Though he does say wistfully that he hasn't had a summer in eight years. He says his warm weather experience has consisted of a week or so in Hawaii or Tahiti on the way home from the Northern Hemisphere. Short term plans for Chris include competing in the FIS races in Australia which follow the Turoa series. The A team return to Turoa to train until October after the Australian trip. In late November they travel to the USA

for more training before the World Championships in Beaver Creek near Vail, Colorado. Chris's goals for his skiing future include winning the National Championships. He is usually within fractions of seconds of his team mates, the more publicised Simon Wi Rutene and Mattias Hubrich. Having a strong B team is important for the whole New Zealand effort, says Chris. His ex Coach Andreas had a B Team of about 15 and an A team of about 810. The Bulletin asked Chris if pressure from younger skiers working to gain a place in the top team was good or bad for the A team skiers. He said it was definitely a spur to do well with the racers training against each other. "It puts the pressure back on us if the B team are doing well," he said. Also he says he gains a lot of satisfaction from passing on skills to younger racers. Chris's parents are proprietors of the Roy Tumer Ski Shop at National Park, w h e r e Chris works when he has time to get away from skiing. Of course his racing experience helps his ability to work in the ski industry but he says ski racing helps everything in some way. He said the team's coach Sepp Brunner was considering training the racers in downhill. Chris says he would be keen to have a go, having tried it last Northern ski season. "It's a very exciting event, if you're good at GS then maybe you could be good at downhill," said Chris. The team coach usually chooses the events the team will race in, depending on snow, points available, chances of success and budget.

Plans other than ski racing include Massey courses, possibly next year for Chris on wool technology, following in his father's footsteps. Hi father, Tony Mosaed, runs a wool broking business as well as the ski shop. "It won't mean the end of ski racing though," says Chris. "I can see myself involved in skiing even after racing." He said he would never drop the sport altogether. "I get a lot of satisfaction from just free skiing," said Chris.