|
Mike Summerill, TSSSA
Christina Binsbergen, SMC race coach and course setter, maintains the course
Joel Clegg, 2nd Junior Boys
Lee Boon, 3rd Junior Girls
Demme Simpkin, 2nd Senior Girls
|
JUNIOR SKI RACING & TRAINING
TONGARIRO JUNIORS RACE AND INTERCLUB EVENT - WHAKAPAPA 6 SEPTEMBER 2014
Tongariro Ski Club is hosting a junior race at Whakapapa on Saturday 6 September.
The race, to be held on the main Valley race course, will be for skiers and boarders 17 years or younger on race day. There will be awards for the fastest girls and boys in the following age categories: Under 18, Under 16, Under 14, Under 12, under 10 and under 8.
There is also an interclub trophy for teams of 4 who are members of the same mountain club, with the fastest 3 times counted. We want to be as inclusive as possible, so there are no requirements for a nominal girl or boy or any set age groups to be in the team, other than all being under 18 on race day.
Entry fee is $80 per team of four or $25 per person. There is a prize giving at the lodge from 4pm, entry by tickets in the race packs for racers and a parent or supervising adult.
We know there are many children who are too timid to go through the full race course, standing at the top of the course and skiing through is daunting. We allow these children to have a parent or other adult to ski in front of them through the course. The child’s time counts and they have the achievement of knowing they have done the course, and hopefully next year they will feel confident enough to enter on their own. There is a box to tick on the entry form and these entrants will go through the course at the end.
For those entering into the North Island Secondary Schools event, this will be good practice for the GS prior to the race day.
For those that have been in the NIPS this will be another chance to go through a course again, or for the young ones, the full valley course.
This is the 2nd year for the race. We had a fabulous day last year with 124 entries. Photos are on our facebook page, Tongariro Juniors Race.
The entry form is attached and also available on our website, or you can also register your interest with me by return email with your name and mobile number. I will then be able to keep in contact with any details, especially on race day. However entries can also be done on the day at the Knoll Ridge Café from 9.30am, where payment will be done and bibs allocated.
Further details including rules and entry forms are on our website, tongariroski.co.nz or contact me or Stuart, Tongariro Club Captain on clubcaptain@tongariroski.co.nz.
Please forward to anyone you think may be interested.
Regards
Tongariro Ski Club
Linsey Churton
Stuart Ewington
linsey.churton@gmail.com stuartewington@hotmail.com
027 417 5810
021 707 596
The Taranaki Secondary Schools Ski/Board Champs,
Wednesday July 23
John Neeson FDMC and Kev Rowlands Spotswood College help at the start, Lenny Binsbergen the forerunner
RESULTS & IMAGES - SNOWBOARDING
(no JUNIOR GIRLS snowboarding entrants)
Snowboarding 2014 - Taranaki (SENIOR GIRLS)
name/school/placing/1st time/2nd time/total time
Nora Mueller SB Stratford 1 40.89 39.36 80.25
Taylor Willets SB Spotswood 1 43.70 38.00 81.70
Emma Rattenbury SB NPGHS 1 43.65 42.57 86.22
Tui Wright SB NPGHS 3 45.00 45.90 90.90
Annie SophieWillen SB Spotswood 3 47.64 45.48 93.12
Olivia Smith SB Spotswood 4 54.10 49.20 103.30
Meg Parsons SB Spotswood 2 48.28 58.20 106.48
Alex Ngaia SB NPGHS 4 102.45 73.80 176.25
Stephanie Lina SB NPGHS 2 120.00 70.48 190.48
Nora Mueller, Taylor Willets, Chana Perry SMC Race Coordinator, Rhys Williams SMC President
Nora Mueller
Snowboarding 2014 - Taranaki (JUNIOR BOYS)
name/school/placing/1st time/2nd time/total time
Reef Raumati NPBHS 5 39.22 38.72 77.94
Joel Clegg NPBHS 1 37.77 41.43 79.20
Corban Williams NPBHS 3 41.60 49.40 91.00
Joby Hintz NPBHS 2 45.77 46.32 92.09
Zac Reid FDMC 1 47.60 44.79 92.39
Liam Matuku NPBHS 4 51.61 46.46 98.07
Riely Smith Spotswood 1 86.08 70.12 156.20
Zac Patterson Stratford 1 120.00 75.20 195.20
Joel Clegg, Corban Williams, Reef Raumati
Reef Raumati
Corban Williams
Snowboarding 2014 - Taranaki (SENIOR BOYS)
name/school/placing/1st time/2nd time/total time
Charlie George SB FDMC 6 37.73 39.45 77.18
Jack Parsons SB NPBHS 1 38.40 39.10 77.50
Dean Vickers SB NPBHS 4 40.25 38.05 78.30
Ricardo Lucibella SB NPBHS 3 41.60 42.50 84.10
Jonte Hine SB NPBHS 7 41.70 42.41 84.11
Caleb McQuay SB Stratford 1 43.90 41.62 85.52
Wade Sutton SB FDMC 5 43.94 42.61 86.55
Zach Distin SB FDMC 5 45.17 42.62 87.79
Lachlan Brewster SB Spotswood 2 43.85 44.00 87.85
Adam Klenner SB NPBHS 6 44.32 44.52 88.84
Dylan Arlidge SB Opunake 1 42.75 46.62 89.37
Cameron Sharrock SB FDMC 1 43.81 46.90 90.71
Michel Jacquet SB Stratford 3 46.03 46.03 92.06
Israel Finnigan SB FDMC 8 48.72 46.93 95.65
Colby Wall SB FDMC 3 44.54 53.16 97.70
Henry Smith SB NPBHS 2 51.62 47.64 99.26
Mark Bryan SB FDMC 7 51.55 48.38 99.93
James Burroughs SB Stratford 2 58.01 65.30 123.31
Josh Hunger SB Stratford 5 80.00 72.70 152.70
Tom Hopkins SB FDMC 2 44.11 120.00 164.11
Jack Parsons, Charlie George, Dean Vickers
Charlie George
Dean Vickers
Ski-ing 2014 - Taranaki (JUNIOR GIRLS)
name/school/placing/1st time/2nd time/total time
Poppy Mitchell NPGHS 1 31.40 31.09 62.49
Tessa Keenan NPGHS 2 33.66 32.74 66.40
Lee Boon NPGHS 3 34.85 33.83 68.68
Frances Nicholls NPGHS 4 38.15 36.34 74.49
Sophie Kerrisk SHGC 5 38.96 59.00 97.96
Poppy Mitchell, Tessa Keenan
Poppy Mitchell
Tessa Keenan
Ski-ing 2014 - Taranaki (JUNIOR BOYS)
name/school/placing/1st time/2nd time/total time
Jack Boon NPBHS 1 29.86 29.23 59.09
Gian Padrutt Stratford 2 30.18 29.37 59.55
Daniel Cleland NPBHS 3 31.49 31.48 62.97
Tom Sampson NPBHS 2 33.15 33.96 67.11
Sam Street FDMC 4 36.94 35.56 72.50
Drew Wood NPBHS 4 38.43 37.65 76.08
Jack Boon in the course
Gian Padrutt
Daniel Cleland
Ski-ing 2014 - Taranaki (SENIOR GIRLS)
name/school/placing/1st time/2nd time/total time
Meyer Neeson SHGC 1 28.48 28.12 56.60
Demme Simkin NPGHS 2 30.72 30.98 61.70
Claudia Fleming NPGHS 3 32.59 32.73 65.32
Angela Burton NPGHS 4 34.75 36.65 71.40
Zoe Holyoake NPGHS 5 36.50 36.42 72.92
Demme Simkin, Meyer Neeson, Claudia Fleming
Meyer Neeson
Ski-ing 2014 - Taranaki (SENIOR BOYS)
name/school/placing/1st time/2nd time/total time
Dean Vickers NPBHS 1 29.14 30.05 59.19
Cole Hareb FDMC 2 30.18 30.68 60.86
Nick Wilson NPBHS 3 31.54 31.30 62.84
Matt Hooper Opunake 4 32.22 30.75 62.97
Jonas Padrutt Stratford 5 31.80 31.77 63.57
Tom Florence NPBHS 6 32.66 31.61 64.27
Connor Lindsay FDMC 7 32.20 32.59 64.79
Max Anderson NPBHS 8 33.34 33.16 66.50
Tom Spencer NPBHS 9 32.97 33.65 66.62
Arnau Mas Dorca Stratford 10 35.60 33.52 69.12
Regan Mitchell Stratford 11 36.02 36.65 72.67
Lachlan Stevens FDMC 12 38.98 38.86 77.84
Lao Vickers FDMC 13 29.84 59.00 88.84
Mike Surrerell TSSSA, Dean Vickers, Rhys Williams SMC President
Dean Vickers, 1st skiing, 3rd Snowboarding
Taranaki Primary & Intermediate Schools Snowboard and Ski Race Day 2014 at Manganui Ski Field (Taranaki)
- review next issue (with action images and results) |
|
|
Feature Article
Yuppie 4WDs...as told by the Dog and Lemon Guide...
Forty years ago, 4WDs were for farmers, soldiers, hunters and the odd explorer. They were listed in most car guides as commercial vehicles, along with pickup trucks and goods vans.
The sight of 4WD on main street simply meant that Farmer Brown had come to town.
Two things changed all that. The 1970 release of the Range Rover saw the birth of a new form of transport: suddenly a small, select few could tow the horse float up the muddy road while they rode up front in luxury.
1970 Range Rover
And the Range Rover wasn't just good looking, it was class-leading when it came to the rugged offroad stuff. This gave it credibility with both the motoring press and the gentlemen farmers who bought them.
It took a while, but the motoring world gradually cottoned on to the idea that the Range Rover wasn't just a fad.
As the stockmarket boomed in the 1980s, Mitsubishi put out the Pajero, which alarmed Land Rover enough to prompt the quick release of the Land Rover Discovery in 1989.
1989 Land Rover Discovery...aahhh, Discovery, the Landed Gentry vehicle of Fendalton ChCh.
The Discovery was a hit with the British Army, explorers and farmers alike, but it also made a big impact on young urban professionals on both sides of the Atlantic, the brash young men and women of the stockmarket boom who quickly became known as yuppies.
Soon many young English (and a few American) stockbrokers' families were driving to the weekend cottage in a Range Rover or Discovery. During the week the husband would drive the Porsche to work while the wife dropped the kids off at the private school in the Land Rover; the Discovery was perceived to be upmarket, practical and a safe way to move families around at a time when many popular cars were deathtraps.
As yuppie 4WDs gained a largely undeserved reputation for safety, their use spread throughout the Western world, until they became the fastest growing segment in virtually all sections of the luxury car market.
The original yuppie 4WDs were genuine offroad vehicles designed for the rich. It was up to America to take the craze into the mainstream.
The 1980s were a manic era that began with depression and ended with a hangover. the 1970s were over and it was no longer fashionable to seek your full potential as a human being outside the mainstream. People who lived in characterless suburbs and worked in offices still wanted to be cool, however.
The American yuppie 4WD is a hybrid of the Range Rover and the redneck pickup truck. As detailed in the book High & Mighty, Ford's researchers discovered that the 4WDs: "offered the promise of unfettered freedom to drive anywhere during vacations.
These customers might have given up their childhood dreams of becoming firefighters, police officers or superheroes, and had instead become parents with desk jobs and oversized mortgages.
But they told Ford researchers that (offroaders) made them feel like they were still carefree, adventurous spririts who could drop everything and head for the great outdoors at a moment's notice if they really wanted to do so...
These buyers knew that most people going into national parks and other wilderness areas had no need for 4WD, and that park rangers discouraged offroad driving in most places anyway.
The buyers knew perfectly well they only had 2-3 weeks vacation a year, and would spend all but a week of it visiting relatives. None of that mattered to buyers...What counted was the fantasy of what they MIGHT want to do during a vacation, and the ability to show their friends and other motorists that they liked to see themselves as."
In other words, they had once aimed for the moon, but now they were settling for a lunar theme park.
The fuel crisis of the late 1970s was over by the 1980s, but America's car manufacturers had largely stopped building the big gas-guzzlers because no one had wanted them a couple of years earlier while the price of petrol was still high.
Therefore, as fuel prices dropped again, there were plenty of buyers for mid-sized American station wagons but few sellers.
Although Jeep never expected the Cherokee to become a yuppie 4WD, they did see a market for an offroad vehicle that would appeal to middle class customers who also had city lives.
Jeep Cherokee
The basic clues as to how to achieve such a vehicle were already there on the Range Rover, so the Cherokee was given 4 doors (most offroaders had 2, which limited their use for families) a passably car-like interior, and even unheard-of features like power steering.
It was an immediate hit with middle class families.
Ford soon followed with the Explorer, which was first proposed by Range Rover owner Edsel Ford II, but initially rejected as having too limited potential.
After the Cherokee's wildfire success, however, Ford rushed the pickup-based Explorer to the market.
Unrestrained by the safety and fuel regulations governing passenger vehicles, the Explorer was both cheap to build and extremely profitable.
There was another twist to the saga. After Jeep lost a longstanding contract with the US Army in the early 1980s, Jeep's management were looking around for new customers, but there were doubts that the public would buy such a vehicle in sufficient numbers to make fullscale civilian production worthwhile.
However, the marketing whizzkids did a deal with jeanmaker Wrangler, the new Jeep Wrangler became trendy, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Jeep Wrangler
With the teenagers of America buying (and often rolling) Wranglers in huge numbers, there was little incentive to improve the vehicle, so the Wrangler was left largely untouched till the late 1990s and has remained in its own evolutionary blind alley to this day.
The Germans cam late, but they aimed far higher up the food chain with BMW X5 and Mercedes M-Class.
The original yuppie 4WDs were largely the domain of the rich, and the object of quite a bit of envy and amusement - after all, the nearest they got to going offroad was when they were parked on the pavement outside the private school waiting for the kids.
Now every major passenger vehicle manufacturer is earning a significant %age of its total incole selling offroad or psuedo-offroad vehicles that are all clones of one or more of the models above.
But designing a new model costs money and time, so carmakers, rushing to cash in on the offroad lunacy, have simply raised the suspensions of ordinary passenger cars, added imitaion 4WD and reissued them as psuedo-offroaders (in Honda's case, the CRV).
Honda CRV
The common term for this type of vehicle is 'softroader', because its simply not designed for real offroad use.
Every sector of the passenger car market has been transformed by the yuppie 4WD, even the mini car sector, with makers like Diahatsu making 'puppy 4WDs'- tiny passenger cars in offroad clothes trying to gain credibility through a vague resemblance to more upmarket models.
The typically rugged 4WD is now almost a dying breed, replaced by a sea of vehicles aimed at everybody from the very rich to the very poor, but having in common that they appeal to the Arnold Schwarzenegger in us all.
The granddaddy of them all was the now discontinued Hummer H1, 3 tonnes of psuedo-military vehicle, which appeals, according to one of Hummer's salesman, as: "a vehicle for people who want to make a statement."
Hummer H1
The Hummer's basic statement is "FCUK YOU". Hummer's own market research shows that the typical Hummer buyer is vain, insecure, self-centred and has little concern for the consequences of his or her action on others.
The overall yuppie 4WD attitude to safety is also "fcuk you". The basic idea is that "I'm bigger than you, so if we have a scrap, you're going to come off 2nd best."
Not true, unfortunately. Although a yuppie 4WDs massive bulk ensures that it will be the winner in a simple head-on collision with a smaller vehicle, that's often not what happens in the real world.
First, yuppie 4WDs are far more likely to roll than the average car. Second, because they are so bulky, they are harder to handle, so they are far more likely to be in an accident.
HItting a bridge or tree in a yuppie 4WD can be just as hazardous to the occupants as if they were in a normal car.
Sometimes it can be worse.
As an investment, upmarket yuppie 4WDs are appalling - they often plummet in value, and they tend to be on the less-relaible end of the market. Repair prices for the more expensive models are typically at the luxury car end of the scale. Fuel economy is alsoinvariably appalling also. A Model T Ford gives better fuel economy than the average American 4WD.
The 4WD craze was inevitably doomed. America, still the world's largest market for vehicles, is running record deficits, and few people expect this situation to improve soon.
The price of oil has made the larger yuppie 4WDs uneconomic for the average motorist.
With more and more of the world's automotive factories irrevocably geared towards 4WD production, a head-on collision between supply and demand was inevitable.
In place of the larger models, car manufacturers are now selling more pretend offroaders like the Honda CRV, but even those models are likely to go out of fashion before too much longer.
No fashion trends last forever, and too many people have seen the movie An Inconvenient Truth.
***The Dog & Lemon Guide - It's like a Lonely Planet Guide to the world of cars***
|
5 Day Snow Forecast
