7th Aug THREDBO Rossi Race Course
Fresh (haha) from their stoush with Silver Brumby the day before, the mighty (read dusty) 2010 Team BERG woke after another successful hosting of the Friday Night Welcome Party with SCA at Berg, this year the theme being political in nature. The Julia and Tony show produced some questionable renditions at the club, I'm sure scarring some people for life!
Nonetheless, what happens on tour stays on tour (and the internet nowadays) and the shame was still to continue out on the hill the following day. Notably, for reference sake - the schnapps flask was dry!!!!!
One good thing going for all the sore heads (read TeamBERG routine race preparation) was that the day was to be an absolute stunner. Picture no wind and a fresh crisp morning to elicit the finest to the top of Rossi 1 for the 2010 Thredbo Interclub Race, this year producing another record number of old wood mixed with almost half the past 2 decades of the WC circuit!! The weigh-for-age competition seems only to be getting more popular with over 220 competitors of all shapes and sizes (condition not relevant) out to do battle once again in beautiful Thredbo.
Our rising stars (see previous blog) Ben Reader and Harry Price were on hand to open up the proceedings with yet another "throwing down of the Gauntlet" and opened the race with some sizzling foreruns, leaving their Dad's searching for the Deep Heat rub - for clearing the sinuses and hangovers more than for peak-performance muscle usage.
TeamBERG 2010 fielded 16 fine specimens this year, proudly led by our recently retired two-timer Olympian Jono Brauer who was working with the TSRC on the other side of the hill but managed to drop by for a couple of runs, all decked out with heavy parkers, vhf radios and other training paraphernalia. The rest of the team comprised a number of TIC stalwarts: Judy Lenne, Brucie Wallis, Nick Reader, Michael Horton, Drew Blomfield,
Paul Manka, John Shuttleworth, Greggie Hutton, Merran Wallis, Steve Brady, David Keith, a welcome back Julie Zwarteveen, Kristiane Price, newbie Ella Darveniza and myself against better judgment and doctors advice ha! What an awesome bunch - it had the "totally ignorant" shaking in their boots.
Anyway - back to the action. Harry Price nailed a first run time of 21.07sec followed by Ben Reader's 21.67sec blinder which really set the chatter amongst the "well wishers" back at the top. Cries of "this will be good", "how much did we have riding in this" etc. etc. etc......... rang out around the two ex-ski team fathers 
Nick and myself as we prepared for inevitable failure to succeed their performances. It was quite confronting that the day had finally arrived where the old majestic, once respected racers were to hand over the reigns, be humiliated and ridiculed by all their "so called" friends, and exiled from the relevant of TeamBERG. But, it will happen to them too one day!
I assumed the position so to speak and trottled out of the start hutte in customary virtual slowmotion perhaps for the last time wondering if either or both knees would be destroyed whilst doing this very stupid but I supposed necessary feat to allow for the changing of the guard to have some worth (not to me I might add). Thanks to modern science, the paramedics and some cunning, I managed to survive a time of 21.48. Of course, I was elated that things didn't end up messy and off to the clinic to see my old mate Steve once again. But the elation was very smartly doused by - "beat you again Dad" from the other side of the finishing area. Hmmmmm......All I had working in my favour was that Nick still had to come down and suffer the same degrading ignominy , at least that's where my thinking had now skewed.
Judy was up next in the TeamBERG lineup and again held up the FFOG honour well and then came Jono! Well, all I can say is that "I taught him everything I know" and "thank G*d he is on our side"! Carrying the radios and all the other non-race friendly garb, he flicked a casual 18.08sec on the finish clock before continuing unstopped past the finish area and straight back to work.
It wasn't long before young (still sub 50) Brucie Wallis, ex-team racer stepped up to the plate. Had Brucie peaked too early - did Bruce understand the word "peak"? Being a choker from way back, and a prominent target of derision and jibe from the gallery, pressure was a plenty in the start hutte once again. With loud hails of mixed good fortune, Brucie took off and settled to finish with a proud 21.08sec time, just being pipped by Harry who now had a sly grin evident on his mug. Truly, our ex-team past days of glory were fast disappearing.
Well it was all up to Nick now to hold up the flag; poor poor Nick. Nick's stomach butterflies looked more like moths when he faced the starters wand, many a thought cascading through his mind as he was about to approach the first gate - did I put on clean underware, will many people come to my wake............ After a big cheer from the crowd in the know, Nick tenaciously forged his way through the gates on the way to the reception committee awaiting his arrival at the finish. And yes - he joined the vanquished albeit still not bad for a FFOG. Ben had that same sly smirk across his face too.And so the day played out in poetic fashion, the generational transitions evident and experienced in all teams, the fellowship and camaraderie second to none.
TeamBERG 2010 and the FFOG Squad had once again shown we have a big ticker, still in the money and walking away with:
- Christiania Cup - Best Overall Racer - 1st Jono Brauer
- Crackenback Cup - Best Race Results on Handicap - 5th Bruce Wallis
- Sir Herbert Schlink Cup - Fastest Team of 5 - 3rd Brauer/Wallis/Price/Shuttleworth/Reader
- Silver Brumby Cup - Fastest Team of 5 Handicap - 3rd Wallis/Brauer/Price Lenne/Shuttleworth
- Berghutte Ski Club Trophy - Fastest Min. Team - 3rd (see above Fastest Team of 5) & Manka/Lenne
- KAC Cup - Fastest Min. Team Handicap - 2nd (see FTof 5 Hcp) & Reader/Horton
- Allsop Cup - Fastest Club U400 Members
- Nekvapil Shield - Thredbo Interclub Race - 3rd
Results & Photos can be viewed via our new website www.Berghutteskiclub.org Media Hub menu
