Volume
49, No. 6, April 20, 2006
By
MAJ Murray Nelson
Navy
skiers helped the ADF’s alpine team keep the Swiss and British services honest
during a major meet in Switzerland in February.
Competing in the British
Services International Alpine Ski and Snowboard Championships, the ADF raced against
the three British Services and the Swiss Army team.
After competing in the
RAF championships beforehand in Austria and a solid two-week training session,
the team moved to Crans Montana in Switzerland.
Crans Montana was seeking
certification of their race course for the World Cup circuit, so they went all-out
to provide a top quality racecourse and a professionally run event.
The championships
had exclusive use of the course that catered for all four ski events; the Slalom,
Giant Slalom (GS), Super G and the Downhill.
The first race was the big
one, the Downhill, and tested the nerve of the racers with some very fast sections.
The mandatory speed training and the race itself gave the team confidence
for the remaining races.
LEUT Steele Morgan, improved dramatically during
the activity, and helped keep the ADF team’s score competitive. LCDR Ian
Napthali managed consistent clean quick runs that kept the pressure on the British
competitors.
Both Navy skiers had not raced a Downhill before, but managed
times not far off the British and Swiss racers who had considerable experience
in this high-speed event.
Although the ADF finished behind the British
and Swiss teams, the experience was invaluable.
“The whole activity
was a great experience for our team members. Apart from the standard of racing
we experienced, our guys were impressed by how welcome the Brits made us feel,
and also the profile of the event, which was attended by their service chiefs
and CDF,” MAJ Nelson said.
The 2006 single-service alpine championships
will be conducted from July 30 to August 5 and the ADF championships from August
6 to 11.
