Nor'West News: October 07, 2021

8 Thursday October 7 2021
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
NOR’WEST NEWS
‘Skiing will be a lifelong passion for me’
•From page 1
“Just to get there in this
Covid world will be amazing,”
she said.
While competing in Europe,
her aim was simply to make the
most of the experience.
Although she was not looking
further into the future than this,
she had no plan to hang up her
skis.
“Skiing will be a lifelong passion
for me. I would love to juggle
competing and a career.”
She was drawn to compete in
the sport because of the friendly
atmosphere of the competitions,
she said.
“There is a really great group of
girls who are all super supportive
and fun.”
The skiers she looked up to
included New Zealanders Janina
Kuzma, Jess Hotter, and Craig
Murray, and Italian Arianna
Tricomi.
In spite of injuries and
near misses, she believes a day
on the snow is better than a day
off it.
However, love of skiing was not
instantaneous for Ruby. When
Bottle Lake Forest Park’s notoriously hard and fast trails lived up to
their reputation on Sunday delivering fast times in the final round of
the Canterbury Mountain Bike series.
The winning time by former international world cup mountain
bike racer Craig Oliver for the 30km feature race was 1hr 4min.
she was first introduced to it, she
“hated” the sport.
She changed her mind after
picking up on the enthusiasm
of those around her at the
skifield near her family’s holiday
home.
“Skiing is one of our family
sports but skiing with friends
made it more fun and we had
a great group of kids at Mt
Olympus to push each other and
improve,” Ruby said.
Freeride skiing was her
preferred style because of the
creativity it allowed.
“It’s not like in ski racing where
you have a set path and turn
between the gates. You have to
choose your path and what you’re
going to jump off and decide
what trick you’re going to do in
the air — it’s really fun.”
Picking her route to follow was
the most challenging part of the
sport, because of the uncertainty
of how it would work out, but was
also the most rewarding when it
went well.
While in action, she had three
key words on her mind – “focus,
fluid and fast.”
CREATIVITY: Ruby Hewitt
carves a path at the New
Zealand junior freeride
nationals. PHOTO: MARK
BRIDGWATER
Walter Lettink of Mairehau, leads his daughter Victoria,
10, as they prepare for the start the final round of the
Canterbury mountain bike series at Bottle Lake Forest Park
last weekend. Walter rode in the 30km race while Victoria
faced the 15km race.
David Ralston, of Burnside, completes
the first lap of the 30km race on
Sunday. Ralston’s second place finish
in his age group earned him enough
points to come second overall in the
60-plus age group for the three-round
series.
Rob Turner of Redwood competes in the 15km
short course race.
Simon Kristiansen, of Merivale, carries his race number as he heads
towards winning the 15km race. His spirited ride saw him earn enough
points to win the overall 40-49 age group title.
With the end in sight four competitors in the 30km race draw on all
their reserves as they sprint towards a possible top-10 placing. They are
(from left) No 4 Warwick Tuffnell, of Leeston, Sebastiano Broadhead, of
Harewood, (obscured), No 24 Ryan Kuggeleijn and No 199 Aaron Hooper,
of Bishopdale. Hooper beat them all to the line gaining ninth overall.
PHOTOS: JOHN COSGROVE