KAC Race Report 2005
Sponsored by Solar Springs Health Retreat
What a day! The 2005 KAC has to go down as one of the really good ones! Whether by good luck or good management (a goodly amount of both?) the race was held in pretty good weather. A window of opportunity presented itself and was gladly taken. The weather forecast of the previous few days had predicted the worst conditions that anyone could imagine.…100km/hr winds and snow down to 300m. Thankfully this passed us by and race day dawned windy but not impossible.
Due to the weather predictions and prevailing conditions a jury meeting was held, and after much deliberation it was decided to go ahead.
The weather basically held off for the race, which was held in sometimes blustery conditions with visibility being variable.
Nearly 200 competitors ran the course, which was an excellent turnout considering not only the conditions on the day, but the atrocious weather that had been predicted. All the participants finished in great spirit and for the first time in many years all those who started, finished! What a fine bunch!
The race was won by Ben Sim (for the fifth year in a row), in 25 min 27sec, with Mark Van Der Ploeg 2nd, 14yr old Alex Almoukov 3rd, just 4secs ahead of dad Nick!
The first woman home was Alina McMaster in 30min 26sec, with Sally Cunningham 2nd, Michelle Macfarlane 3rd and Camille Melvey 4th (remarkable considering Camille skied classic not freestyle).
The first classic skier to finish was Camille Melvey, and she just flew along the course, finishing a long way in front of our own David Hislop, with Warren McCourt the 3rd classic skier home.
The Martini Trophy was won by Cooma Ski Club, the Geoff Nott Trophy by Nick Almoukov, and the Carl Bongers Trophy by D. Laporte.
The KAC once again was the club with the most finishers (26). Andrew Carruthers was the first club man home, followed by Brian Pert, with Richard Steele third. Kerry Fyfe was again the first woman finisher for KAC, followed by Christine Lee, then Georgia Hislop.
The x-c fraternity within our club just goes from strength to strength, well done everyone!
Full results are available at www.kac.org.au
The post race party (made possible by our sponsor Solar Springs) was again a great event hosted by Stillwell Lodge, and capping off the many prizes on offer was the major prize of a weekend for two of total indulgence at Solar Springs Health Retreat, in the idyllic setting of Bundanoon.
There were some core changes to the behind the scenes organization of the race this year. These have resulted in vastly improved efficiency and skill in the administration and publicizing of this event. It is a year round effort and we are so lucky that Sue Clark and Di Cree in the KAC office have agreed to shoulder these responsibilities. The committee would like to take this opportunity to thank Sue and Di. We have no doubt that their efforts will result in the race going from strength to strength in the future.
As always the success of this wonderful event due to the tireless work of so many terrific people. There are too many to mention and I am scared that I may leave someone out. Thank you all so very mSuch.
It is also worth noting that due to the thoroughness with which we organize The KAC Ski Race, we received resounding compliments from both Jindabyne Police and National Parks, who were both very impressed.
The race date for next year is Wednesday 9th August 2006.
Hope to see lots of club members and their friends.
Safe skiing,
Martin George
Convenor The KAC Ski Race
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