Angus Howden back to reclaim title

19/05/10

 Wanaka, New Zealand (13 May 2010) - New Zealand’s National Ski Championship title holder Angus Howden is out to reclaim victory in 2010 despite being plagued by injury during his recent three-month training stint in Austria. 

“It has to be said it was a challenging season. I started out skiing pretty well but hurt my back on our fourth day there in early November.”

Howden returned to skiing two weeks later only to injure both his knees in a “pilot-error” induced crash – tearing both medial collateral ligaments (MCLs) and his posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) and hamstring on one side – leaving him unable even to put on a pair of shoes.

“We didn’t have a physio – the team is one coach and three athletes –so it was a fairly slow recovery.  Europe has some quite different ideas about physiotherapy.”

He finished his time in Austria with a further injury to his back and came home in February to a raft of scans and a diagnosis of a bulging disc pushing on nerve.

Now, however the 28-year-old skier is banking on a full recovery and is rebuilding his strength and agility with a varied training schedule including mountain biking, squash, running and swimming. 

Despite being in his final year of a Bachelor of Science majoring in Geology at Victoria University in Wellington, Howden is planning regular trips to Ruapehu and to Queenstown to prepare to defend his National Ski Championship title in September this year.

“It is definitely going to be a busy year – finishing a degree and defending a national title – but it will probably be my last year of competition skiing and it would be a great way to finish.”

One thing has gone Howden’s way – for the coming season he will be able to get to and from the mountain in a Toyota 1.8 GL Hatch from Jucy Rentals. 

Image: Angus Howden with Jucy-sponsored car for 2010 season

Jucy supplied the car to Howden as the winner of last year’s National Ski Championship and has also given Whakapapa’s Sarah Jarvis a car for the season for her title win in 2009.

Jucy CEO Tim Alpe says the car sponsorship is the company’s way of showing that it values the sport and wants to make a tangible contribution to the success of New Zealand’s top ski athletes.

“Skiing is a fantastic sport but it doesn’t attract a large amount of funding or support. This is our way of investing in the future of the sport and hopefully helping these guys to realise the goals they have set for themselves.”

Howden says the car will make a huge difference and “will see some really good mileage over the coming season.”

After the injury-afflicted training run in Austria, Howden wasn’t picked for this year’s team but says even with a spot on the team it is always hard going financially. 

“We’re a non-carded sport, a semi-professional team – so we’re not paid to compete.  It is always going to be an uphill battle for any semi-professional team to compete with the fully-backed professional teams.”

“I do it because I love it and not to get paid but it does add pressure around working to afford the commitment to the sport while still fitting in all the necessary training.”

“The car from Jucy is a real help, as is the support I have been given from business management company Sysdoc.”

Howden, who has been skiing Ruapehu since he was a child, says even the degree he has chosen is a reflection of his love of mountains and of skiing.

“A field trip two weeks ago saw me up on the mountain collecting samples, so whatever I am doing it seems I am never too far away.”

“My main focus for the season is to ski the Nationals and defend my title but even after the competition is over I will still be skiing. After this I thought I might try skier cross.”