Snow Sports NZ - Alpine selects New Zealand's 2010-2011 New Zealand Ski Team‏

9/07/10

WANAKA, New Zealand – 6 July 2010 – Snow Sports New Zealand – Alpine  today announced selections to the 2010-2011 New Zealand Ski Team.

Invitations to be a part of the team were sent to 10 Men and eight Women Alpine athletes who had met the New Zealand Ski Team criteria.

The NZ Men’s Ski team will be led by 2010 Vancouver Olympians Ben Griffin (Ohakune – Ruapehu Snow Sports) and Tim Cafe (Queenstown – QAST).  Griffin is New Zealand’s No. 1-ranked Super G and Giant Slalom athlete, while Cafe put in a solid performance over the past season with 19 top ten finishes. He placed 38th in Super G at his first Olympic Winter Games.

“The progress in their performances and their results demonstrate that both Tim and Ben have strong futures ahead of them,” said SSNZ Alpine Manager James Lazor.

In addition to the two Olympians, a group of young talented athletes:  Adam Barwood (Queenstown – TCRA); Willis Feasey (Twizel, Cardrona HPC); Finlay Neeson ( Taranaki – Ruapehu Snow Sports); Nick Prebble (Christchurch – Team Hutt); Jamie Prebble (Christchurch – Team Hutt); Harrison Steedman (Queenstown – QAST); Leighton Winsloe (Wanaka – Cardrona HPC) and Andrew Wylie (Queenstown, Cardrona HPC) also join the team.

Seven of these athletes have elected to train under NZ Ski Team’s Men’s Head Coach Nils Coberger. Winslow and Feasey are training with Cardona HPC and Barwood is training with the Treble Cone Race Academy.

The NZ Women’s Ski Team is led by Sarah Jarvis (Hamilton – Ruapehu Snow Sports). Jarvis is the NZ National Alpine Champion in SG, GS and SL and has been one of the country’s best performers over the past few years.

Joining Sarah are teammates Lucie Tait-Jamieson (Auckland – Cardrona HPC), who secured the ANC bib for Super G and a 2nd in Giant Slalom at the 2009 NZ National Alpine Championships and Allie McGlinn (Christchurch – Team Hutt/Treble Cone Race Academy), who had a 2nd in Super G and 3rd in Giant Slalom at the NZ Nationals.  Both women have stepped it up a notch. Three Queenstown athletes are training with QAST  (Harriett Miller-Brown, Charlotte Newbold and Taylor Rapley); Taylor Smith will train with Cardrona HPC and Emily Wright is training with Team Hutt.

Snow Sports NZ - Alpine has organised training blocks for the Women’s team at Mt Hutt and Coronet Peak, to be run by Ian Maclean.  All Women’s Team members are entitled to participate in these blocks.