Army takes top titles By LS Yuri Ramsey and
Maj Murray Nelson
Edition 1174, September 6, 2007
All aboard: Army snowboarders on the slopes of Mt Hotham during the ADF Snowsports Championships. Photo by LS Yuri Ramsey
ARMY managed a clean sweep of all four team trophies during the annual ADF Snow sports championships from August 7-9 at Mt Hotham, Victoria.
This year a UK defence force team of one RAF and six Army skiers also competed in the races with the ADF.
First event contested was the Long Giant Slalom on the tight Snake Gulley run, starting at an elevation of 1765m and finishing at 1550m.
A clear day of racing was soon spoiled by clouds rolling in resulting in poor visibility. This, combined with hard-packed snow, made the race challenging for all. The next event was the Giant Slalom and finally the Slalom, which took place in increasingly worse weather.
Snowboarders were also meant to compete in the Bordercross located near the summit of Mt Hotham, but the event was cancelled because of bad weather.
In the men’s event, Navy had the two fastest skiers, but could not put together enough times to compete for the team trophy. The Army skiers, although not as fast as the top Navy racers, had a team with strong depth.
President of the Army Alpine Snowsports Association Maj Murray Nelson was full of praise for the Army team.
“Our guys knew we needed all eight team members to achieve not just a fast time, but to ensure they finished with no mistakes.
The Navy team probably pushed too hard and as a result two crashes and an error in the first race cost them the men’s trophy,” he said.
“Our guys did really well. Team captain Capt Dean Munsie issued instructions to finish with a quick time, not to go flat out and therefore risk a crash. This proved a wise strategy and meant the RAAF couldn’t make up the lead we established after the first race.
“It was a pity the Navy men’s team were out of the comp after the first race. That’s racing – everyone wants to be the fastest, but if you push too hard and make one mistake the team result is at risk”.
Pte Ed Taunton-Burnet again proved fast and reliable for Army.
He was tempted to challenge the two lead Navy skiers (who after the first race were only competing for the individual trophies) but had the discipline to hold back a fraction in order to avoid any costly mistakes and ensure the team time wasn’t jeopardised.
Pte Taunton-Burnet still proved very fast – he managed to maintain a narrow lead over Capt Mike Atkinson, Sgt Rob Dean, and Capt Dean Munsie; any of whom could have taken the Army top spot.
In the women’s event the only real challenge came from the British Combined Services Team.
While the British girls managed to outpace Army champion Capt Claire Baker, they didn’t manage a clean run in every race and Capt Baker’s consistency paid off. She retained the female individual trophies and again ensured the Women’s Army team took home the team trophy.
The Army boarders probably faced the closest competition. Capt Anna Russell led the team and the first race (an extended Giant Slalom) was almost impossible to distinguish if Army had beaten the Navy and RAAF, but a 1-2-3 to Capt Russell, Lt Alistair Court and Cpl Conan Sinko in the second event (Giant Slalom) gave Army the lead.
After a highly competitive three days of racing, Army took the team championships trophies for both the men’s and women’s skiing and snowboarding, as well as the overall team championship. Air Force achieved second in both and Navy took third in both disciplines.
Navy did better in the individual results with Justin Mangan and Brad Vizard taking the top two ADF skiers spots, and Domonic Sims from the Air force taking third.
The individual snowboarding results were led by Army and Air Force. Cpl Conan Sinko and Lt Alistair Court took the top two individual places for Army, with Flt-Sgt Steve Medaris grabbing third overall for Air Force.
