13 March 2002
I FEEL THE NEED FOR SPEED....

After 10 years, the sport of Speed Skiing will be resurected this year with planning underway to hold the North Island Speedski Championships at Turoa in August.

The provisional dates are the 15th - 17th of August 2002 as follows;

Thursday 15th - Course prep & Training.
Friday 16th - Race day.
Saturday 17th - Race day.
Sunday 18th - Contingency day.

The event will be held on the Mangaeueu Glacier, which is situated on skiers left of the High Noon T-bar and under the Girdlestone peak. The track was last used for training purposes in 1991 before the 5 strong New Zealand Speed Skiing Team competed in the Olympic Games at Albertville in 1992. Before that, it hosted a major international competition as part of the 'New Sensations' Games in 1986. Competitors at that event reached speeds of 171km/hr.

For this years event application has been made to DOC for groomer access as the Speed Track run is outside the boundaries of the Turoa Ski Area. This will make the track faster and more smooth than in the past however, as with every speed track every competitor is required to ski-pack the course a number of times from top to bottom.

Unlike other snow sports, Speed Skiing does not seem to have any age barriers. Kalevi Hakkinen is still competing in his 60's and has a top speed of 205.011km/hr. Many of the more experienced competitors for the late 80's and early 90's are expected to enter the event.

Ruapehu Alpine Lifts Ltd is a sponsor of the event and will be arranging additional sponsors, Pukenui Lodge is supplying accommodation for NZ team members and IMS Ltd publishers of Snowco will be donating time and costs to producing artwork, print and web for the NZSSA.

For further information about the event or speed skiing, please contact Chris Gebbie.
If anybody has Speed Ski equipment that they would like to sell prior to, or at the North Island Champ's this year please contact David Scott