Albatross excels at Navy week

LEUT Eugene Cleary HMAS Newcastle cuts a line along the giant slalom course during the 2002 Navy Alpine Skiing & Snowboarding Championships at Thredbo. Eugene was one of more than 60 Navy skiers and snowboarders who took part in the event in near perfect conditions. Photo by ABPH Yuri Ramsey.

The 2002 Navy Alpine Skiing & Snowboarding Championships were held in excellent snow conditions at the Thredbo resort in New South Wales.

With fresh snow falling for the first time in many weeks, more than 60 skiers and snowboarders took to the slopes in an intensive week of skiing and boarding tuition, culminating in the Navy intra-service races at the end of the week.

Competitors came from all ranks and various ships and establishments around Australia with many experiencing alpine sports for the first time.

The racing saw very intensive competition between ship and establishment teams of between three and six members competing in the two disciplines of slalom and giant slalom on professionally set race courses.

There were many outstanding performances during the races, but special mention must go to POEWL Paul Richmond Harman who was awarded the trophy for the ‘most improved’ for the week, and ABSTD ‘Wheels’ Wheeler Cerberus as winner of the prestigious Trevor Reeves Trophy for best exponent of the ‘team-player tradition’ of Navy alpine sport.

In the end, a very strong team from Albatross won both the team skiing and snowboarding events for the third successive year, with the individual Navy men’s champion being SBLT Dan Crocker (Cerberus), female champion POEWL Greer Hase (MHQ) and snowboarding champion LSATV Rick Dorey Albatross.

On completion of the Navy championships, an interservice team was selected comprising male and female skiers and snowboarders and the team travelled to Mount Buller in Victoria to compete in the National and International Inter Service Alpine Skiing & Snowboarding Championships (see report Navy News, September 2 edition).

On the completion of another very successful year of Navy skiing and snowboarding, special thanks must go to sponsors, namely PlanIT Test Management Solutions, all commanding officers who spared their personnel for the competition and most importantly the organising committee, in particular LCDR Adrian Pay.

• By snow reporter, LCDR Jeremy Butler

.