PRICEYCentral-BergNews: Junior Team Berg 2010 Junior Thredbo Interclubs

Another mighty Junior Team Berg assembled for the defence of the coveted Lloyd Hughes Trophy, the Holy Grail of Thredbo’s 2010 Junior Interclub event held on Monday 12th July.

Although the season was awaiting a natural fall of snow greater than 10cm, Thredbo’s investment in one of the world’s best snowmaking facilities had paid huge dividends with a superb Rossi Race Course #1, sunny weather but very cold conditions creating one of the best pistes the event could possibly hope for.

The eleven clubs entered this year fielded over 150 keen skiers all focussed on racing their hearts out for their respective clubs, ranging from 5 years old to the senior racers of 18, many of these also representing Australia in various Skiing Australia teams around the world.

The defending champions Junior Team Berg 2010 represented the club with 18 entries this year, 8 skiers in the 11yrs and Under category, 6 skiers in the 12-14 age and 4 senior Juniors in the 15-18 age group.

Returning from 2009 were Bradley and Brooke Hiscock, William and Saskia Ferster, Geogia Reader, Max Lillyman and newbies Finn O’Sullivan and Brodi Clifford in the 11yrs and Under, Harry Price, Sam Payne, Ben Reader, Campbell Clifford and Mitchell Hiscock defending the middle ground 12-14yr group, the frontal attack in the 15-18yr group being lead by Alex McFadyen, Nick Payne together with newbies Georgia and Jack Welsman.

Our U11s performed exceptionally well achieving second place in their division behind Ski Club of Australia’s team, with Southern Alps SC (the “Evil Empire”) a very close third place, followed by Silver Brumby and Roslyn clubs comprising the top 5.

We had some outstanding performances in the Fastest Girl 11yrs and Under with Georgie Reader 5th, Brooke 6th, Saskia 9th and Brodi’s debut in 10th place. We also had a top ten placing in the Fastest Boys 11 Years and Under with Bradley 9th, debut Berg racer Finn just behind in 12th, William 16th and Max 23rd in a field of 34 racers, all very pleased with their results.

In the 12-14 year division, our sole representative Allegra pulled a top 10 with 9th place in the Fastest Girl 12-14 Years, Sam Payne holding up the flag for Berg with a 4th place in the Fastest Boy 12-14 Years. While unlucky Harry and Ben had a few issues at great pace during their campaign for Berg with 13th and 18th places respectively, our newbie racer Campbell represented a fine result coming home with a credible 17th place on his debut in a field of 32.

Stalwart Junior Team Bergers Nick and Alex were joined this year by newbies Georgia and Jack Welsman forming a strong spearhead for Junior Team Berg 2010..Nick converting some years ago from alpine racing to free-rider competition showed his true depth of talent when called upon for Berg bringing home the bacon to snatch 3rd placings in the Fastest Boy 15-18 Years and Fastest Skier 18 and Under. Young Alex had his share of woes this year in both runs and was disqualified for missing the last gates of the course in his first run, notably after a very impressive show to this point; his second run highlighted by a fantastic recovery mid-way down the course. Both Georgia and Jack demonstrated they were certainly made of the right stuff, sussing out the race course in their first runs and then nailing their second runs in a course slower than the first one, Georgia shaving 7secs from her first run and Jack also knocking off almost a second from his first run too.

So tallying up our points from 2nd place in the Fastest Team 11 and Under, 5th in the Fastest Team 12-14 Years and 6th Fastest Team 15-18 Years, we scored 6 points to be ranked 5th place overall in the 2010 Thredbo Junior Interclubs, one point behind Brindabella in 4th, another point behind Pindari taking the bronze, SASC getting the silver with 11 points and the SCA scoring 17points to take the gold.

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