Tom Mathias Memorial FIS Slalom – Mt Buller 05-06 August

By Steve Lee
All Photos provided by Fun Photos – Mt Buller

Australia’s Michael Rishworth won the first day of competitoin

What’s the Tom Mathias Memorial?
Mt Buller held the first leg of Australian’s FIS ski racing series, which is international open level racing. Two slaloms were held on the summit at Mt Buller over 2 days and some fantastic competitive slalom skiing was seen. The Buller FIS Slalom races have been renamed the Tom Mathias Memorial Cup. Tom a Mt Buller skier, Buller club member and junior national team member, tragically succumbed to secondary cancer from a melanoma. His mother Julie attended both days racing and was present to awarded prizes at the presentation ceremonies.

Hi Caliber Slalom Skiing
It was two days of very hi caliber slalom skiing under pretty tough conditions. Day one was raced in mild temps and the general snow pack was very soft, not a great recipe for slalom racing that is best held on hard to icy slopes. Hats off to the Buller race crew, coaches and parents that put in a huge effort to set, salt, (salt or fertilizer when added to wet snow hardens the surface for a better race surface) and maintain what turned out to be a good race course.

Day two saw much better conditions, still mild but again the race crew did a stellar job in preparing an even better race track for all the competitors. It was also a much better day with no fog through the race period.

Strong International Field
The field had many internationals along with Australian national, regional and mountain club teams. International skiers came from Europe (east and west) Scandinavia, USA, Canada, Israel, Great Briton and Greece.

Olympic Qualifications

At the pointy end of the field the podium positions were hard fought. Day one saw an emotional win by Aussie Michael Rishworth who was a very close mate of the late Tom. It’s never easy to win a ski race of this caliber and the emotion of the event certainly added a complete extra layer challenges for the Aussie team to overcome. Michael skied beautifully to a personal best result in international racing. Skiing to 15.81 FIS points gives him a borderline Olympic qualifying result. If he can back that up with a second result of the same level he is likely to get a start in Vancouver-Whistler at the 2010 games which would be a massive effort on his part.

Second place was Aussie team mate Bryce Stevens who also skied a career equaling best with 25.21. International skier Joery Van Rooij took third.

Bryce Stevens

Van Rooij

The Women’s Event

While not quite as strong a field of internationals as seen in the men’s, the women had a good bunch of young up and coming talent from Australia and overseas. Again the podium was hard fought over and had a mix on International and Aussie skiers.
First place was taken by Martina Dubovska of the Czech Republic, followed by two Aussies Emily Bamford second place and Elyse Timoshenko , both Mt Buller local skiers.

Martina Dubovska of the Czech Republic

Australia’s Emily Bradford

Day Two
The second day turned out much better with good visibility and a generally firmer snow pack. With all the work from day one the race track was in great shape and two excellent runs combined for a good race.

Women’s Day Two
In the women’s the run of the day was from Mt Buller’s Tomi Cruise. One of the best slalom runs I have seen from an Aussie woman since the Zali Steggell days. Unfortunately for Tomi she could not hold onto the second run to consolidate the result. In a repeat of day one the women’s top 3 were again Martina Dubovska of the Czech Republic, followed by Emily Bamford and Elyse Timoshenko .

Martina Dubovska won both women races.

Australia’s Elyse Timoshenko grabbed third in both races.

Day Two Men’s
In the men’s the Aussies could not back up there first day success and take out the overall prize – the Tom Mathias Cup. Winners on day 2 were, Joery Van Rooij , Niklas Rainer SWE , Braden Harden USA .

Van Rooij of the Netherlands on his way to victory on the second day.

Niklas Rainer of Sweden

The Cup Winner
The Tom Mathias Cup went to the fastest combine results in the men’s event over the two days racing. Winning the cup with a 3rd and 1st place and very consistent skiing was
Joery Van Rooij of Holland who very graciously accepted the inaugural trophy from Tom’s mother Julie Mathias.

Overall Winner of the two days of competition Van Rooij of the Netherlands won the inaugural Tom Mathias Cup, presented by Tom’s mother Julie Mathias.

Click here for a full result list from the two days racing.

Next Stop on the FIS Tour – The National Champs at Thredbo
With the FIS series off to a good start for season 09 the tours next stop is Thredbo for the National Champs and two Giant Slaloms and Slaloms kicking of Monday the 10th of August. That is followed by the ANC cup at Hotham from the 17th.

You’ll find more FIS race coverage exclusively here on Mountainwatch.com.