The XC Files

XC - The Australian Cross Country Skiing Website

Winter News 1999

July 28
July 26
July 23
July 18
July 15
July 11
July 5
June 22

July 28

No Tour At Cabramurra
Due to snow conditions, the Cabramurra Tour will not be held this weekend. Instead, a low-key alternative will be held at Perisher Valley on Saturday July 31. The race will be a 15km classic, course yet to be determined, starting from the Sverre Kaaten Nordic Shelter. Registration from 10am, race start at 10:30am.

NSW Juniors results and ACT Junior results now available.
Thanks to the Monaro-Snowy server and the NSW CCC

July 26

Results galore and fantastic skiing conditions

Victorian Championships
Ben Derrick kept his unbeaten status (discounting relays) intact when he cruised to victory in the men's 15km classic event. In fast skating conditions Derrick won in a time of 39 minutes and 15 seconds, nearly 3 minutes ahead of his nearest competitor. Paul Murray took second place, David Hunt was third.

In the women's 5km event, Belinda Phillips took the Victorian title, but not without a fight. Veteran skier Robin Rodd was only 13 seconds behind in second place. For the record, Robin Rodd won her first Australian title back in 1981. Third place went to junior Esther Bottomley, with Amy Hunt a further 10 seconds behind in fourth place.

Full Results

NSW and ACT Junior Championships
Top ranked junior Katie Calder made a clean sweep of the NSW and ACT Junior Championships held at Perisher Valley over the weekend, but not without a bit of a scare from rising junior talent Liesl Redmond. Redmond, the Australian W14 champion in 1998, had the second fastest time in both the NSW 5km skate and the ACT 5km classic. Christie Dowling was third overall in the skate, while Alison McArdle had the third fastest time in the classic.

Michael Wieland showed there is more talent on the way up in NSW when he won the NSW 10km skate comfortably ahead of Michael Evans. However Wieland was out off the action on the Sunday when David College had a tough battle with Michael Evans in the ACT 10km classic race. College apparently missed the skating race due to Powderfinger playing in Canberra on the Friday night. In the end it was College ahead of Evans by just 13 seconds, with Matt O'Rourke taking third place half a minute further back.

Full results are not yet available, but they will be soon.

Birkebeiner Classic
Ben Derrick and Belinda Phillips win the first Victorian classic race. Derrick won by a huge two and a half minutes from Paul Murray over the 10km course, with talented junior James Rickard taking third place. Robin Rodd again placed second to Phillips, 41 seconds behind over 5km, with junior Esther Bottomley recording the third fastest women's time 43 seconds behind Phillips.

Full Results

July 23

Change of Venue for Victorian Championships at last minute.
The Victorian Senior 5/15 km freestyle race tomorrow has been transferred from Lake Mountain to Falls Creek due to lack of snow.

Start time is 11:00 AM in the Nordic Bowl.

Entries taken in the Windy Corner Day Shelter.

Racers must be members of Skiing Australia or their State Association to be eligible to compete.

The Lake Mountain Nordic Team Inc. is organising the event with assistance from Birkebeiner Nordic Ski Club Inc. Contact is Judy Bottomley (03) 57541101.

Birkebeiner Classic Re-Scheduled
The Birkebeiner Classic race which was cancelled last weekend has now been re-scheduled to Sunday July 25.

Start time is 11:00 AM in the Nordic Bowl.

Entries taken in the Windy Corner Day Shelter

This race is NOT part of the Interclub Series.

Contact is Judy Bottomley (03) 57541101.
Thanks to Paul L'Huillier, President Birkebeiner NSC, for this last minute information.

Cooma Races Catch-up
Finally we catch up with the happenings from Perisher Valley over the last three weekends. The Clean out the Cobwebs race was held on the flats of Rock Creek, in two-person relay format with skating technique. Have a look at some pictures from the event on the Snowy server. There are also some patchy results. On the spot XC reporter Al McArdle provided the following wrap-up of the race action:

Tom Landon-Smith lead early from Murph(Pete Murphy) and Matt O'Rourke, and sent Ecco(Paul Eccelston) charging off on the second leg. Murph tagged off to Dave Colledge who performed an enormous face plant and took out Matt O'Rourke, who managed to change to Chris Darlington. Dave chased down Darlo and managed to take the lead after Ecco also face planted. Dave changed back to Murph, who skied like a demon to hold off Tom-Cat and ended up in the foetal position after his great effort. Tom and Ecco lost another place when Ecco crashed again. !st Murphy/Colledge, 2nd O'Rourke/Darlington, 3rd Landon-Smith/Eccelston.

In the women's event the first leg was closely contested by Katie Calder and Christie Dowling, with Katie changing just in front. Alina McMaster quickly took the lead back from Leanne Laajoki. Unfortunately Leanne fell on the last corner, injuring her knee and putting her and Katie out of contention (Only a minor injury, she is okay). Christie and Alina skied on unchallenged to victory, with second place going to the young pair of Sally Cunningham and Madaline Harris.

The Clean out the Waxbox Cooma Waltz was held on the follwing weekend in even dodgier race conditions. Again the sprint relat format was used, but this time as it was supposed to be classic technique and double polling was the preffered option. Without Al McArdle on assignment race coverage is quite limited. Apparently Chris Darlington won, it is unclear who his partner was. Katie Calder and Camille Melvey were the fastest female combination.

The Cooma Open brought out the worst weather of all. Fog, sleet, wind, not even the mail man was out. Race organiser Klaus Pinkas reported that a vote was necessary to decide what to do.

We sat in the shelter and had a vote whether to have a skiing race, running race, or to just sit around eating hot dogs. Actually eating hot dogs won, but then we thought we should do something more active so we had a running race.

Anthony Evans won the running race comfortably ahead of Nick Almoukov. Sally Cunningham was the first women finished. For further results, go the Snowy server and scroll down. To fully appreciate the conditions, have a look at some pictures from the day. It has been rumored that the Cooma Open may be re-scheduled for this coming weekend. The snow is apparently pretty good so go down for the weekend anyway.

July 18

Races cancelled at Falls Creek.

The Birkebeiner Classic and Ski Di Femme at Falls Creek were cancelled this weekend. The decision was made early Saturday morning when it was judged that wind and rain on the relatively exposed Mt Mckay loop would make it extremely unpleasant for both race officials and racers.

The rain at Falls Creek has now turned to snow (midday Sunday), fingers crossed for a big dump.

Cooma Open?? No news yet.

July 15

NSW Championships moved to August 7.

Poor snow conditions in Perisher Valley have forced the NSW Championships scheduled for this weekend to be postponed. The NSW Champs will now be run as a pursuit start in classic style in the afternoon after the ACT Championships on Saturday August 7th. The men's 7.5km pursuitis expected to start at 2pm, with the women's 5km race pursuit at approximately 2:30pm.

Club officials are still planning to run the Birkebeiner Classic and Ski Di Femme races at Falls Creek this weekend. The race course will be moved to the Mckay road loop, and the start delayed. Information will be displayed on the notice board at Windy Corner.

The Clean out the Cobwebs and Clean out the Waxbox Cooma races at Perisher Valley on the previous two weekends were both held as sprint relays. The formidable combination of Peter Murphy and David College were heard to have starred in the skating sprint relay, while Camille Melvey and Katie Calder were impressive in the classic event. The Paddy Pallin Junior was also held successfully last weekend. Don't hold your breath but results may be available at some time.

July 11

Another Victory for Derrick but Birkebeiner too Strong

Ben Derrick(WSC) added another victory to his tally for the season when he won the Snowgum High Plains Tour at Falls Creek on July 10. Derrick was unchallenged after the first kilometer, and won again by nearly a minute and a half to Finn Marsland(BNSC). Leon Spiller(WSC) took third place in a sprint with Canadian John Westall. Belinda Phillips from the Lake Mountain Nordic Team won the women's event, only 5 seconds ahead of team-mate Deb Godsmark. Leanne Laajoki of Canberra was third. In the 5km event, Birkebeiner junior skiers continued to shine, with Daniel Van Der Ploeg and Abbey Grimmer both winning comfortably. Senior skiers should again take note - Daniel was sitting behind Leon Spiller when he turned off to the finish shute, and Abbey was ahead of Belinda Phillips. Full results should be available by Monday on the Victorian Cross Country Committee site.

In the Snowgum Victorian Interclub Relay Championships the annual battle between Wangaratta Ski Club and Birkebeiner Nordic Ski Club resumed. While full results for the Victorian Interclub Series are still to be calculated, it seems likely that Birkebeiner will take the honours in this opening round of the Interclub Series. In the hotly contested open men's 3 by 5km relay, Wangaratta went in as favourite after strong performances in the High Plains Tour. However a sizzling first classic leg by Paul Murray(BNSC) put Wang on the back foot. Michael Evans(WSC) was able to take in only 10 seconds on promising junior Duane Butcher(BNSC) on the second leg, which left Ben Derrick with about 50 seconds to take in on Finn Marsland over the last 5km. Derrick put in the fastest time of the day, but the finish line came too soon and Birkebeiner took victory. In the open women's 3 by 5km event, the Lake Mountain Nordic Team claimed their first ever relay title. Belinda Phillips, Amy Hunt, and Deb Godsmark were too strong for the Wangaratta team of Kate Spiller, Bree Lambert and Lynn Cranage. Birkebeiner Nordic Ski Club placed third. Again, full results should be available soon on the Victorian CCC Site. Of note, 36 teams from 7 clubs competed

A special thanks to the Falls Creek Management Committee and Falls Creek Ski Lifts for preparing the weekend's race tracks on the Mt Mckay circuit at short notice.

Waiting again for results from Perisher Valley. Look again later in the week. This time I promise.

July 5

Derrick impresses in season openers

Shrugging off the label of long distance specialist Wangaratta Ski Club's Ben Derrick held off Finn Marsland(BNSC) by one second to win the Birkebeiner Knockout Sprints on Saturday July 3. Leon Spiller(WSC) finished third in the open final. Ben also had the fastest qualifying time. In one of the hardest fought finals Duane Butcher(BNSC) showed excellent form to win the U18 men category from Nick Grimmer(BNSC). Of note - Duane also had the third fastest qualifying time overall, ahead of former national junior team members Leon Spiller and Andrew Johnstone(WSC). Esther Bottomley(BNSC) held off Narelle Ross(LMNT) in the junior women. There were no women in the open category. Results.

In the Telemark Tour on Sunday July 4, Ben Derrick won convincingly, finishing nearly one and half minutes ahead of Finn Marsland. Amy Hunt(LMNT) also won comfortably in the open women category. Leon Spiller skied a solid race to be third overall and win the U21 men category, ahead of Victorian Junior Squad members Daniel Van Der Ploeg(BNSC) and Adam Foster(WSC). In 5km event 14 year old Abby Grimmer(BNSC) was too fast for her older competitors and won overall, while Mark Van Der Ploeg(BNSC) was the first male home. Full results

Results are also available for the Snowgum Wodonga Mini Series

Unfortunately results from races at Perisher Valley are not yet available.

June 22

Yes, snow on the ground again and only a week or so until the races begin.To bring us up to date before everything kicks off, here's some snippets from around the world from the last month or so.

New Race in Worldloppet Series
Worldloppet now has 14 races in its world series. The Jizerska Padesatka, a 50km classic race from the Czech Republic, will join the Worldloppet next February. As the dates for the Jizerska Padesatka were already set, the 2000 worldloppet debut will coincide with the French and Canadian races. From 2001 onwards it will move to the week before the Dolomitenlauf, and so become the first worldloppet race of the northern winter.

In the tradition of many other worldloppet races, the Jizerska Padesatka brings along a bit of cultural history. It was first held in 1967 as a test race to ascertain the fitness of mountaineers preparing for alpine expeditions. In 1971 it became a memorial to the members of an ill-fated Czech expedition to Huascaran in Peru, who perished in May 1970.

FIS Marathon Cup
Worldloppet Cup out, FIS Marathon Cup in. The point race within the worldloppet race series has changed names, maybe because "marathon" has more international recognition than "loppet". The name change also opens up the opportunity for non-worldloppet races (possibly New Zealand?) to become part of the series. There will be 8 races in the series - this season the races are the worldloppet races from Austria, Italy, Germany, France, Estonia, USA, Sweden, and Switzerland. There was going to be 9 races, because of the inclusion of the Transjurassienne in World Cup, but now there will be only 8 as Norway has withdrawn its race for the 1999/2000 season. This may be due to the 35000 DM prize money required to be part of the cup. What does this mean for the Kangaroo Hoppet? Still in the worldloppet series of course, but to be in the FIS Marathon Cup we need to come up with a pile of money.

Sprints set to hit Olympics and World Championships.
Sprint races have been becoming bigger and bigger on World Cup over the last few years, and now the go ahead has been given for sprints to be included in World Championships, World Junior Championships and Winter Olympics. The format used for these major events will be the heat sprint format - qualifying rounds, and then heats of four for the fastest 32 skiers - over distances of about 1500m and in classic style. For some more information on sprint races, look in the next issue of Australian XC News. There's also some information on the Cross Country Canada Website.

Some excerpts on national teams from other skiing websites:

XC Skiworld - The USA named five skiers to their National Team: Nina Kemppel, Marcus Nash, Justin Wadsworth, Pat Weaver, and up and coming 20 year old Rob Whitney.

Cross Country Canada - Canada have two skiers, Beckie Scott and Donald Farley in their World Cup Team, however they do have another seven skiers in their "Team 2002" development team. Note that Farley was dropped from the team last year, and fought his way back by dominating Canadian racing and achieving his highest ever world cup place of 22nd.

Sweden Ski Federation - Note: In Swedish, something may be lost in translation. Sweden also named a National Team of only six skiers. Notable absences were Niklas Jonsson, Anders Bergstrom, and any women apart from Antonina Ordina. It was noted that Jonsson, Bergstrom, and Annika Evaldsson preferred to organise their own training, and the teams for World Cup competition would be taken from the best skiers at the time.

For the Australian Team, much is waiting on the appointment of a new program manager and national coach (see advertisement ). The positions were advertised in The Weekend Australian and on this website in May, and it was hoped that they would be filled before the National Team camp at Falls Creek starting on July 12.

XC is the official website of the Skiing Australia Cross Country Committee. It is produced with the assistance of the Australian Sports Commission and the Kangaroo Hoppet. The editor can be contacted via hoppet@netc.net.au.