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Cross Country Ski Championships August 17-21, Falls Creek, Victoria |
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Cross Country Ski Championships August 17-21, Falls Creek, Victoria |
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Press Releases- Race Results |
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August 11
Australian 15/30km Championships (Perisher Valley)The 15 and 30 km events were held seperately from the rest of the Australian Championship events because it was agreed that the long distance events would remain with the Snowy Mountains Classic citizen race for three years in a row. However this year because of differing techniques the citizen races and the championship events started at different times. Unfortunately the timing was not quite right and the SMC events started at various times while the men's 30km event was still lapping, leading to the top skiers having to ski through packs of citizen racers. This was not an ideal situation for a championship event.
Women 15km Classic
Two loops of an alternative Perisher Valley 7.km which used the first part of the 10km loop then parts of the original 7.5km loop and 2.5km loop. Camille Melvey broke away soon after the start, with all the women spaced out behind skiing their own individual races, which sort of defeats the purpose of a mass start event. Though there was some see-sawing of time gaps mainly due to differing levels of grip and ski speed, generally all the women slowly drifted further apart. Camille won by 2:08 from Belinda Phillips, with Katie Calder another 49 seconds behind in third place. Rhiannon Palmer took fourth place having double poled most of the race with slippery skis - but fast on the downhills according to Katie. It was then a big gap back to Leanne Laajoki in 5th place, who is slowly finding her skiing feet again after returning to Australia from Finland with new-born baby Suvi.With only two selection races down the top four women have already all qualified for the senior A team. It is very close for the number 1 ranking at the moment, with Katie on 2.32%, Belinda on 2.40%, and Camille on 2.88%.
Men 30km Classic
Paul Murray, Ben Derrick and Anthony Evans broke away from the rest of the field in the first few kilometres, and then Paul Murray was also dropped out the back of the first10km loop. Anthony Evans was looking quite comfortable on his rocket Fischer crowns, which were as fast as Ben Derrick's wax skis despite generating a low humming noise on the downs. However Ben put on a burst early in the second lap, and had a 15 second lead as they headed past the 5km loop turn-off. The gap to Paul Murray at this stage was already out to 1 minute, with Matt O'Rourke just ahead of Chris Darlington and Andrew Mock almost in contact in 6th place. Rob Curtis, 4th place from last year's SMC, unfortunately pulled out on the first lap, having discovered that he was not quite over the previous week's flu.The gaps all got bigger from then on, with Ben going on to take his 8th national title and his 4th 30km (including last year's SMC 42km). Anthony scored a pretty good result for a semi-retired skier, at 1:53 (or 2%) behind, and Paul Murray gave himself a good start for making the senior A team again with a 4% result. Darlo finished strongly on the second lap passing up into 4th place and in the end scored a pretty good result for a junior at 6.27% behind thre winner. Matt 5th, Andrew Mock 6th, both under 10%, and Andrew Wynd 7th unfortunately just outside the 10% barrier.
August 18
Australian Sprint ChampionshipsLast minute snowfalls made for very well covered if slightly soft sprint course. During the competitions it alternated between light wind, snow flurries and the occasional patch of sunshine - generally better weather could not have been ordered considering the snow conditions mid week and the forecast gale winds. The 800m loop started across the Falls Creek Nordic Bowl, wound onto the aqueduct and up the Hoppet start, did a 180 and looped down in and out of the Bowl before sweeping around and in again to finish along the same straight as the start. Commentary by Andrew Slocombe, TV coverage by the Falls Creek Snow Show crew Rob Saroff and Elise Goodwin.
Women Sprint
The qualifying time trial to rank the skiers for the finals used a different start on the aqueduct to avoid crossovers in the finish straight. The top four women were consecutively a second apart, Esther Bottolmley fastest then Belinda Phillips, Katie Calder and Rhiannon Palmer. Camille Melvey was another 2 seconds back, then it was 5 seconds back to another three skiers all within 1 second; Sally Cunningham, Abbey Grimmer and Megan Greenleaf, the latter a USA junior skier who made a last minute arrival from Melbourne where she is studying for 6 months. Jacinta O'Neill fell in the finishing straight but still managed the 11th fastest time.In the first quarter final Esther had a relatively easy run through, however Jane Scheer got up to knock out the higher ranked Megan Greenleaf. There were no upsets in the rest of the quarter finals, with all the other top seeds progressing through. But the action started to hot up in the semi finals, with Esther, Camille, Jane and Rhiannon in the first final, and Katie, Belinda, Sally, and Abbey in the other. Esther was fast out of the start, then Camille took the lead up the Hoppet start. Rhiannon lost contact as they came down into the bowl again, leaving the two out in front to go through to the final. However instead of easing up in the final straight Esther went all out to the line passing Camille in the last few metres and so getting the pick of lanes in the final. In the other semi Sally came from the outside lane to hit the front up the first hill, almost colliding with Belinda in the process. Katie was hot on their tails along the aqueduct, passing Sally on the left as Belinda tried to on the right, and this time there was carnage as Sally's pole went between Belinda's legs bringing her down. Katie started to extend her lead out the front while Belinda fought to get back to Abbey Grimmer. Sally remained clear in second place and so progressed with Katie to join Camille and Esther.
The final. Esther was fastest out again, and managed to get a small break while the other three jostled for position. Katie finally got through and was almost on the back of Esther around the top turn, but then a huge stack gave Esther an unbeatable lead. Luckily for Katie, Camille and Sally had got tangled up behind, and she just managed to get up to speed again before the other two caught up. Esther had the final straight almost to herself as she went on to claim her second Australian Sprint title (there have only been two!). Katie hung on for second ahead of Camille, though was clearly disappointed with her fall and banged her pole on the snow in disgust while crossing the line. In the B final Belinda won ahead of Rhiannon, Jane Scheer third.
Men Sprint
Fredrik Aukland was very impressive in the qualifying round, finishing 2 seconds clear of Paul Murray who had the second fastest time. From there only 8.5 seconds seperated 2nd to 17th place, with Andrew Mock missing out on the final 16 by just 0.2 of a second. Some surprise times came from national team coach Finn Marsland with the 6th fastest time, 1995 national junior team member Gregor McLennan in 9th, and biathlon blast from the past Lindsay Bridgeford (recently returned from Western Australia) in 15th.The competition was already pretty fierce in the quarter finals, with Gregor and Andrew Wynd knocked out by Aukland and Ben Sim, Bridgeford and Chris Darlington knocked out by Murray and Derrick, the two Japanese skiers knocked out by Morton and Magaharan, and Nick Almoukov and Matt O'Rourke knocked out by Marsland and Butcher.
In the semis it only got tougher. Aukland lead out in semi final number 1, followed closely by Magaharan, Sim, and Morton seeming to struggle with one pole dropping back to 4th. Aukland broke clear, and behind Morton worked hard to get into 3rd place and onto the back of Magaharan as they headed back into the bowl. Then Magaharan made a bad tactical error, letting Morton through on the inside and subsequently giving him the lead into the final straight. The big fella (Ronan) tried hard in the straight, but Morton was having none of it and progressed with Aukland to the final. In the second semi Murray snatched the lead from Marsland out of the start, leaving Butcher and Derrick to fight it out behind. All four were in contact up the Hoppet start, and then Murray made a slight gap as they took the top corner. But then on the downhill Marsland glided free from the other two and back onto Murray's tail. Butcher and Derrick tried in vain to bridge the gap, but it was Murray and Marsland into the final.
Aukland tried to resume his dominance in the final with a lightening start, however Murray was not going to give out without a fight and stuck to his back like glue. Marsland settled into third place ahead of Morton, who subsequently tripped himself up and out of contention. The front two made a small break around the turn on the Hoppet start, but Marsland's skis brought him back into contact down into the bowl. All three hit the finish straight within a few metres, but it looked as if Aukland would hold on for the victory. However Murray pulled out an amazing turn of speed in the last 40 metres, edging past the Norwegian with several metres to spare andthrowing his arms into the air on the line as he too scored his second Australian Sprint Championship.
In the B final Duane Butcher was too strong for Ben Sim, and Big Benny Derrick pipped Ronan Magaharan for 3rd with his impressive lunging technique.
August 19
Australian 5/15km ChampionshipsWomen 5km
Several of the top women were making changes in their wax right up until their start, and Katie Calder received her skis from frantic NSW team mates with about 40 seconds to spare. Esther Bottomley with start number 6 was to complete the 5km loop in just over 20 minutes, however then all the rest of the top skiers came in with a rush, Belinda Phillips, Rhiannon Palmer, Katie Calder, Leanne Laajoki and Camille Melvey all coming across the line within about 40 seconds. All but Leanne successively posted the fastest time, leaving Camille just 9 seconds ahead of Katie with her 27th Australian title. Rhiannon took her second third place (trying to confuse you here) 28 seconds behind, Belinda 4th, Esther 5th, Leanne 6th, and Clare-Louise Brumley 7th only 2 seconds ahead of USA junior Megan Greenleaf. Mishaps out on the course, there may be others however Rhiannon fell after catching and passing Belinda from 30 seconds behind, and only got back to within 10 seconds at the finish. Belinda had also fallen prior to that. Most of the girls had wax similar to Swix VR60, which apparently balled up a little at the top of the course but kicked off without too much trouble.With one race to go Camille now edges out Katie in the national rankings, with two zero percentages compared to Katie's average of 0.39. It is unclear as to whether a countback is required if Katie wins on Tuesday and also has two zeros. However the positions are reversed in the 2001 Continental Cup, where Katie leads Camile 260 points to 210 with two races remaining. With a close race expected again in the 10km on Tuesday, the Continental Cup will likely not be decided until the Kangaroo Hoppet this weekend. Third in the CC standings is Belinda on 175 points, with Rhiannon close behind on 160 points.
Men 15km
Three laps for the men allows for a bit more detail within the race. After the first 10-15 starters lapped Andrew Mock held a slight lead over James Rickard and Paul Connor, however Naoto Yamamoto from Japan smashed all previous times to go nearly a minute clear after 5km. Yamamoto's time wasn't bettered until the likes of Ben Derrick, Paul Murray, and Cameron Morton came through, and even then it was pretty close with Cameron about 10 seconds on Ben, then Paul and Yamamoto another 5 further back. All eyes were then on the lookout for the last starter Frederick Aukland from Norway, who slotted into second 5 seconds behind Cameron. Other notables Ben Sim in 6th place, and Chris Darlington close to Andrew Mock for 7th.The field spread out substantially after the second lap, with Paul Murray the only skier to remain in contact with Cameron Morton - 10 seconds behind. After the race it was found out that Cameron was pulling away substantially on the uphills, but Paul was getting most of the time back on the flats with his powerful double pole. Ben dropped to 38 seconds behind in 3rd place, and Aukland dropped even further to be a minute off the pace. Yamamoto consolodated his 5th place well clear from Ben Sim, with Mockie gaining slightly on Sim and pulling away from Darlo. But on the final lap the race was on between Cam and Paul. A report came in that Cam had Paul in his sights at the top of the course (he started one minute behind), but when Paul came into sight on the aqueduct he was polling like a madman and there was no sign of Cam. Time slowed down (okay a bit of poetic licence here) after Paul crossed the line and the seconds were ticking down on Cam, and then in the last 50 metres when it became apparent that Cam was going to win he gave on-lookers a scare by stumbling on the last corner and nearly throwing it all away. But Cameron Morton took his first senior national title, 14 seconds ahead of Paul Murray and Ben Derrick 1:10 behind in third, Aukland 4th, Yamamoto 5th, Sim 6th, Mock 7th, Darlington 8th.
Cameron was visibly elated to get his first national victory and credited his performance to waxing support from wax-guru Bob Cranage from Snowgum Wodonga and to his wife at home looking after his two kids.
In the national rankings Cameron Morton now has two zeros and Ben Derrick one, and in the Continental Cup Cameron also leads with 250 points from Paul Murray on 180 and Ben D on 176. Ben Sim is in 4th place on 140 points, just ahead of Aukland on 130.
August 21
Australian 10/10km ChampionshipsMen 10km
Another very close race for the top two positions in the men's event - only a couple of metres apart in the sprint and 14 seconds in the 15km. After 5km it was neck and neck between Cameron Morton and a slightly more revitalised Ben Derrick with another two days recovery under his belt after a bout of the flu last week. 2 seconds was the difference, with Frederik Aukland holding 3rd place and a close batlle thereafter between Gaber Lah from Slovenia, Paul Murray and Andrew Wynd. Ben Sim was further down that expected, however it was discovered that he had broken a pole strap out on the course and was only just exchanging again for two poles the same size as he headed out for his second lap.A report came in that Cameron had opened up a lead of about 12 seconds half way round the second lap, but Ben knew it and was putting everything in. ACT junior Andrew Circosta was one of the first skiers across the line in his best race of the season. Other Australian junior team members including Kieran Step, Duane Butcher, and James Rickard couldn't better his time. Andrew Wynd posted a new best time at the finish, fired up to get a result under 10% after two results just outside the national team qualifying standard. But the time didn't last long as Cameron came flying in to take the lead by nearly two minutes. Aukland settled into second place one behind the lead soon after. Then the clocks were looking for Ben Derrick, needing to cross the line two minutes after Cameron to take victory. It was close, but not close enough, and Cameron Morton claimed his second national title by 9 seconds. Paul Murray was next in, and knocked Andrew Wynd down to 5th place by 2.6 seconds, and then Gaber Lah went 2.6 seconds the other side to take 6th place. Robert Curtis scored his first under 10% result in 7th place, having missed a result in the first two selection races due to illness. Nick Almoukov knocked off his athletes in 8th place, with Ben Sim the first Australian junior in 12th place.
Cameron virtually has the Continental Cup in his grasp now, with Ben Derrick needing to win the Hoppet and Cameron to finish worse than 26th to bring back the 94 point deficit. However it should be a good race on Saturday with Ben Derrick coming back into form and the two stronger international skiers Aukland and Lah skiing themselves into shape.
Women 10km
With Katie Calder winning the NSW 5km freestyle two weeks back by just 9 seconds from Belinda Phillips, and Camille Melvey managing only fourth behind Rhiannon Palmer, it was through that this final freestyle race would be a very close contest. However very early on in the race it was apparent that no-one was going to challenge Camille. After just 2 kilometres she was already 10 seconds clear from Belinda, and Katie was another 10 seconds back. Esther Bottomley was the first through to lap at 5km, but when all had passed Camille had already overtaken Belinda from 30 seconds and was leading the entire field by at least 40 seconds. Rhiannon was in third place about 5 seconds behind Belinda, with Katie in fourth 1:25 off the pace and not looking very happy about it. The margin just kept getting bigger, and at the finish Camille had won her 28th national title by the staggering margin of one and a half minutes. It was a close battle though for second place, and after some to-and-fro-ing Belinda regained her 5 second break on Rhiannon. Katie was fourth, over 3 minutes behind. It was later revealed that Katie had mixed her skis up before the start and skied on Adam Forsdyke("Bolt")'s skis which had already skied 10km in the men's event, and to put it bluntly they sucked. Esther took fifth place a couple of minutes clear of Sally Cunningham, Jacinta O'Neill taking 7th place, a couple of Russian skiers here for the Hoppet taking 8th and 10th place either side of Leanne Laajoki, who fell on ice in the morning before the race and was a tentative starter.Camille and Katie are now dead level in the Continental Cup on 310 points, however it is hard to see Camille dropping points in the Kangaroo Hoppet. It is possible also that Katie may only ski the 21km event, which would give Belinda Phillips a chance to move up into 2nd place in the overall standings.
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 info@hoppet.com.au