For 2012 and beyond all age classes will change by one year. Instead of the age being taken on December 31^st of the previous year, age will be taken on December 31^st of the current year. In addition, a new age category of U23 will replace the current U25 age class.

This means that juniors skiing in the U20 age class in 2012 must have been born in 1993 or 1994. Athletes born in 1992 will move into the U23 age class. A full summary of the age categories for 2012 and the rationale for the change is included in the following document.

2012 Age Class Change

Any queries regarding these age class changes can be directed to Finn Marsland via finn.marsland@gmail.com

Kangaroo Hoppet Entries Open

Hello everyone,

Autumn is here and it’s time to dust down the skis and get ready for winter.

This year’s Kangaroo Hoppet will be our 22nd and will see some changes to the course from previous years, to give the track more reliable snow cover.

Online registration is now open. Log onto http://www.hoppet.com.au and click on the “Register Now” link.

Mount Beauty Half Marathon

This year’s Mount Beauty Half Marathon is on Saturday 19th of May. There is a choice of 21.1 km, 10 km or 3 km events. It’s a chance to get up into the mountains in autumn, a beautiful time of the year in the Kiewa Valley. As always, there be refreshments at the start/finish area, hot showers available at the adjacent swimming pool, and all runners will be in the draw to win a new bike at the presentations. Information and entries on-line: http://www.mtbeauty.com/halfmarathon

This run is the first event of the Great Alpine Challenge, Australia’s longest triathlon. (The three events are spread over five months!) A run, a ski (the 42km Kangaroo Hoppet or the 21km or 7km events) and a ride (the 55km Mitta to Mount Beauty mountain bike ride held at the end of October).

More details about the ride will be available later in the year.

Please help us stay in touch by notifying us if you change your postal address or your email.

If you would like to be removed from our email or postal lists, please advise.

Warmest regards
Helen
Race Secretary
<info@hoppet.com.au>

]]> http://ausxc.com/2012/04/30/2012-kangaroo-hoppet-online-entry-open/feed/ 0 banooer http://ausxc.com/2012/04/20/level-2-coaching-course-canberra-may-2627-and-falls-creek-june-30-july-1/ http://ausxc.com/2012/04/20/level-2-coaching-course-canberra-may-2627-and-falls-creek-june-30-july-1/#comments Fri, 20 Apr 2012 02:40:58 +0000 AUS_XC http://ausxc.com/?p=1635 ]]> A Level 2 Cross Country Skiing Coaching Course will be held this year on May 26/27 and June 30 / July 1. The first weekend will be at the AIS in Canberra, while the second weekend will be at Falls Creek. More information is available in the course flyer linked below:

• 2012 Level 2 Coach Course

The Level 2 Course is designed for coaches working at state or national level. The pre-requisite for the course is Level 1 accreditation. Interested applicants for the course should contact the course organisers via the contact information on the flyer.

Women's Sprint Finalists - Photo by Warren Feakes

Full results in PDF format:

• 2012 AUS Rollerski Champs – Hill Climb Results
• 2012 AUS Rollerski Champs – Sprint Results
• 2012 AUS Rollerski Champs – Mass Start Results

The weekend racing opened with a 2.2km Hill Climb in classic technique on the back side of Black Mountain. The top seed, van der Ploeg started last in the interval format event and posted the fastest time of 7:55, just five seconds ahead of Jono Lineen, also from Canberra. Victorian junior Damon Morton took third place overall.

Phillips’ winning Hill Climb time of 9:13 was also five seconds ahead of second placed Ashleigh Spittle, but three seconds short of the women’s course record set by Trnka in 2011. This year Trnka had to settle for third place, 22 seconds behind Phillips.

Sunday’s racing took place on the Stephen Hodge Criterium Circuit at the Stromlo Forest Park. In the Open Men’s 1.2km Sprint Alex Gibson from Melbourne recorded the fastest qualifying time, however in the head-to-head A-Final Roberts made a break over the top of the first hill and was never caught. Mark van der Ploeg outsprinted Gibson for second place. In the women’s final it was a close race between Phillips the fastest qualifier and Trnka, with Trnka taking the win by about two metres.

In the Open Men’s 7.2km Mass Start event Roberts broke away on the first downhill and never looked back, leaving the rest of the field to battle it out for second place. 2006 Winter Olympic Biathlete and current NSW cross country skiing coach Cameron Morton and Gibson switched the lead of the chasing group for most of the race, until a broken ski forced Morton out of the race. Gibson went on to take second place ahead of another Canberran athlete Ben Barr. Gibson was Australia’s male cross country competitor at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck in January.

Trnka and Phillips skied together for the first lap and a half of the Open Women’s 4.8km Mass Start event, then Trnka started to steadily pull away and went on to win by 34 seconds. Phillips comfortably held on for second place, while Ashleigh Spittle outsprinted Jill Colebourn from Sydney for the remaining podium place.

A relatively small sport in Australia, rollerskiing is predominantly used by cross country skiers here as a cross-training alternative when there’s no snow. However in Europe rollerskiing is a competitive sport in its own right, with World Championships and a World Cup series held annually.

Note: There were some significant differences in rollerski type and wheel speed – the results include the rollerski brand for some of the athletes however not all the wheel types were recorded.

This Level 0 course is run by Victorian Squad coaches JC Legras and Allison Stoddart, with assistance from 2010 Winter Olympian Paul Murray and current National Team athlete Georgia Merritt. Training techniques covered include ski walking, ski bounding, ski specific strength and roller skiing. Participants will come away with the latest technical knowledge, skill development progressions and 3 easy to follow lesson plans to help engage and prepare athletes for when the snow starts falling.

More information is available on the flyer: Coaching Level 0 Dryland – Westefolds 2012

Registration for the course can be made online on the Ski & Snowboard Australia Website

Australia’s all-boys team competed in February at the World Junior and Under 23 World Championships in Erzurum, Turkey. For several athletes this marked a return trip to the relatively new venue in Erzurum, and one that proved no less eventful.

Erzurum hosted the biennial World Winter Universiade in 2011. The cross-country venue is located at Kandilli, approximately 35km from the city of Erzurum. The venue lies at a reasonable altitude of 1760m, with the Australian team arriving prepared from an altitude training block in Livigno, Italy.

First off the block for the races was Alasdair Tutt with his WJC debut in the junior men’s freestyle sprint. Tutt placed 85th in the qualification time trial, feeling a little disappointed with his performance but determined to learn from the experience and use this to improve. The under 23 men’s sprint was a good day for Aussie Phil Belligham, who posted a FIS point personal best of 107, finishing 45th in the qualification time trial. Paul Kovacs came through in 60th position. Team mate Callum Watson had an unfortunate start to the events, contracting a form of gastro illness and was unable to leave his room for several days, let alone start in the first event. Thanks to the German team doctor, who was able to give Watson IV fluids, he did manage to start in the second event, though didn’t make it through to the finish.

For the second lot of events, the team’s youngest competitor, Hamish Roberts, took to the track for his first World Junior Championship hit-out. Racing in the junior 10km classic event, Roberts finished in 92nd place in the large field. While three of Australia’s men lined up for the Under 23 15km classic event, Watson unfortunately found he was not yet recovered sufficiently to complete the race. Phil Bellingham was Australia’s first man home in 55th place, 4:58 minutes off the race winner. This earned him a solid FIS point result of 115. Paul Kovacs finished in 62nd place, with a FIS point result of 160.

The final individual event of the championships was the skiathlon, in which the athletes start en mass in classical technique, coming in to a changeover area mid-race to change to skating technique (swapping skis and poles). Four Australian athletes contested the skiathlon events. Mark Pollock finished the junior men’s 20km skiathlon event in 79th place- also his World Junior Championship debut.

All three of the Under 23 athletes started in the men’s 30km skiathlon. With several laps to be completed, these mass start events at a high standard of competition often come with a chance of athletes being “lapped”, or in practicality pulled from the course at a point at which an official decides their being lapped by the race leaders is imminent. While the implementation of the “lapping rule” has been somewhat controversial in recent years, for a portion of the field in longer races involving multiple laps of the same course, it is not an uncommon occurrence.

In the men’s 30km, five athletes were “lapped” during the race (while a further eight athletes did not finish), including Australia’s Phil Bellingham and Paul Kovacs, who were pulled in 54th and 58th positions respectively. Callum Watson was the lucky last skier to avoid being lapped, managing to make it through the stadium in time, though having to stop to alleviate sever muscle cramping soon after. Despite feeling significantly sub-par off the back of his illness, Watson finished the race in 53rd place.

While the majority of the Australian team returned home after the championships, Watson and Bellingham travelled to race their final World Cup events in Lahti, Finland and Drammen, Norway.

Click for PDF version of the event flyer

Saturday’s activities will also include roller-skiing clinics for beginners and a roller-ski training tour around north Canberra. These will start from the Canberra Stadium car park at the back of the Australian Institute of Sport. After lunch the Uphill Time Trial in Classic technique will be held on the Cook Hill Time Trial, on the same 2.2km course used in 2011. The record of 7 minutes flat for the course is held by Chris Darlington, with Anna Trnka holding the women’s record of 9:10. Following the Time Trial, video footage from the event and also World Cup videos from the 2011/2012 season will be shown at the AIS.

The Criterium and Sprint events on Sunday will be held on the Stephen Hodge Criterium Circuit at the Stromlo Forest Park. This 1.2km open loop is nice and wide in comparison to the Bruce CIT car park used in 2011 and should be great for spectators. One loop will be used for the Sprint, with multiple laps for the Criterium depending on the age and experience of the entrants. A BBQ will be held after the events, with all proceeds going toward the Amelia McGuinness Foundation.

Participants can enter at each of the venues on the day.  An entry fee of $10 covers all three competition events; the Cook Hill Time Trial, the Stromlo Sprint and the Stromlo Criterium. Prizes have been donated by Snowgum Wodonga – check out their website at: www.crosscountryskier.com.au

For more information contact National Coach, Finn Marsland on 0408 147 940 or  Event Coordinator, Gen Yan Colebourn on 0419 426 718.

Under 23:

Callum Watson
Phillip Bellingham
Paul Kovacs

Junior:

Mark Pollock
Alasdair Tutt
Hamish Roberts

The Under 23 athletes are fully qualified, while the junior athletes will contest one event each.

For furtherdetails on the events, go to: http://www.erzurum2012jwsc.com/en-EN/HomePage/