Brilliance at Mount Buller
CONTRASTING conditions last Monday and Tuesday on the slopes of Mt Buller ski resort made for an intriguing 2019 chapter in the almost three-decade history of the Maccabi Snow Sports tournament and the Australian Jewish Inter-School Snow Sports Championships.
CONTRASTING conditions last Monday and Tuesday on the slopes of Mt Buller ski resort made for an intriguing 2019 chapter in the almost three-decade history of the Maccabi Snow Sports tournament and the Australian Jewish Inter-School Snow Sports Championships.
“There was sunshine and ice-topped snow which made for very fast conditions on Monday, and the next day it was very foggy and there was softer, wetter snow, but that comes with the territory in the Australian Alps,” coordinator Paul Fleiszig, from AJAX Ski Club, said.
“There was a terrific atmosphere on both days, and it was an incredible opportunity for Jewish skiers of all standards to come together and experience competing in snow sports racing, complete with Olympic-standard official timing.”
More than 60 competed in the Maccabi Snow Sports Championships, presented by Maccabi Victoria, AJAX Ski Club and Auscamp with the support of major sponsor Michael Coppel Theatrical.
Highlights included a thrilling senior (high school) giant slalom skiing competition, with less than a second separating the six fastest finishers. Moriah College’s Netanel Manoy posted a combined two-run time of 50.31 to win, with Leibler Yavneh College’s Jonah Bell finishing just 0.10 of a second behind him.
Bialik College’s Lili Cooper had a super tournament, posting a time of 51.08 seconds to become the fastest senior female competitor, the sixth fastest skier overall, and the winner of the girls’ Division 1 (senior high school) competition.
Super siblings Jasper and Clover Rogers also shone in Division 5 (year 3 and below), winning the boys’ and girls’ titles respectively.
Another standout was Faith Green, who was the overall winner in the junior section of the tournament, and also the fastest female and the girls’ Division 4 (years 4 and 5) champion.
In a good sign for the development of Jewish female skiing, three out of the top five fastest junior skiers at the Maccabi Snow Sports Championships were girls.
In snowboarding, Jakob Sperber was the Division 1 winner, Raphael Behr was runner-up, and Jason Hirsch came third.
In the 25th annual Australian Jewish Inter-schools Snow Sports Championships – sponsored by Arnold Bloch Leibler – there were more than 150 competitors representing Bialik College, The King David School, Leibler Yavneh College, Moriah College and Mount Scopus Memorial College.
Mount Scopus was crowned the overall champion for the second consecutive year, and also won the primary school division, while Moriah College won the secondary school division.
SHANE DESIATNIK
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