August 22, 2003

August has been a very busy month of cross country ski racing to date, with plenty of club and junior events and some exciting results in the Australian Championship events. Highlights in the club racing scene include great turnouts and close results for the Hotham to Dinner Plain and the KAC Perisher to Charlotte's Pass, and a record 112 junior competitors in the Lake Mountain Mini-Series on August 10.

The action this weekend moves to Falls Creek for the final competitions of the 2003 Australian Championship, which are combined with the Australian Junior Championship for the first time. Also attending the event is the Victorian Minister for Sport, Justin Madden, who will make the official presentations. Click here for more (could we link to the rest of the article ↓)

The three-day event carnival kicks off with the Junior Sprint events on Friday August 22, continues with Freestyle distance events on Saturday and Classic distance events on Sunday, and concludes with the Junior Interstate Sprint Relays on Sunday afternoon.

The main contenders in the open women's 5km events are KT Calder (ACT) and Clare-Louise Brumley (VIC). Calder made a clean sweep of these events in 2002, however the 22 year-old ACTAS athlete was sick at the start of July and Brumley is leading 2-0 in their head to head races this season, winning both the 10km and 15km Australian Championship events this season. Other podium prospects include Belinda Phillips (VIC), and 2003 Australian Sprint Champion Esther Bottomley (VIC).

The open men's 10km events will be the most hotly contested events on the weekend, with several junior skiers showing the best recent form. 19-year old Daniel van der Ploeg (VIC) is fresh from his victory in the Australian Championship 30km event last weekend, while 18-year old Ben Sim (NSW) won the 15km event at Mt Hotham at the start of the month. However 8-time Australian champion Ben Derrick (VIC) may have other ideas, and Andrew Mock (VIC) will also be competitive. Swiss skier Pascal Grab will be the highest ranked competitor internationally, however his form straight off the plane will be hard to predict.

These competitions are also races 3 & 4 of the Australia/New Zealand Continental Cup Series. This series concludes the following weekend with the Kangaroo Hoppet, the premier event of the season at Falls Creek on August 30.

See the Ski & Snowboard Australia website for results and race reports from each of the Australian Championship events during the season.