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Tawny claims his New Zealand speed record<br />
TAWNY WAGSTAFF<br />
OBLITERATES NZ RECORD<br />
New Zealand Speed Skier Tawny Wagstaff<br />
(Methven, 44) has broken the twenty-yearold<br />
NZ Speed Skiing record, clocking an<br />
incredible 248.610kph at the Speed Skiing<br />
World Championships held in Vars on the<br />
22nd of March. Wagstaff in fact broke the NZ<br />
record twice over the last four days, initially<br />
breaking the twenty-year-old NZ record on<br />
the 20th of March with a speed of 233kph,<br />
then subsequently topping his own record<br />
with a speed of 248.610kph on the 22nd of<br />
March. Wagstaff is now the eleventh fastest<br />
person in the world of all time.<br />
Wagstaff said, “This speed is still sinking<br />
in. Breaking the NZ record was a goal, but<br />
I still want to get as fast as 250kph and<br />
above. I love the intensity and the purity<br />
of this sport, I am constantly refining my<br />
equipment and working tirelessly to perfect<br />
the tuck position. Technically speaking,<br />
everyone can ski in a straight line, which is<br />
why I love this sport.”<br />
Speed Skiing is the fastest unpowered<br />
sport on earth where the athletes remain<br />
in contact with the ground. Wagstaff<br />
has been competing in this high-speed<br />
discipline since 2017. Prior to that he was<br />
a youth Alpine Ski Racer competing in the<br />
technical events but has now found a need<br />
for speed.<br />
The Vars track where Wagstaff broke the<br />
NZ record starts at 2700m altitude, with<br />
a vertical drop of 400m over just 800m of<br />
track. There is a 400m long area at the<br />
bottom for reducing speed and stopping<br />
once they have crossed the finish line.<br />
Speed Skiing is not a sport for the faint<br />
hearted. Wagstaff explained that speed<br />
skiing is not just physical, it has a huge<br />
mental element where the higher you start,<br />
the faster you go, requiring absolute poise<br />
under pressure.<br />
“To ski really fast and do it well is very<br />
hard, and to ski really fast you have to<br />
start high which brings its own mental<br />
challenge. 30 seconds is all it takes to<br />
complete a run. Dropping from the top of<br />
the track in Vars is another world, no one<br />
wants to fall at these high speeds. If you<br />
are lucky enough to walk away from a<br />
fall, at these speeds you will still destroy<br />
your skis and outer shell of your helmet,<br />
damage your suit and you will have burns<br />
and bruising from the snow. On top of that<br />
you then have your mind to deal with.”<br />
Interview withTawny Wagstaff<br />
Age: 44<br />
From: Methven, New Zealand<br />
Home mountain? Mt Hutt<br />
Married? No<br />
Kids? No kids, there is no way I could<br />
afford to do this sport if I had kids.<br />
What you do when you are not speed<br />
skiing? I am a stone mason/bricklayer,<br />
ski racing coach at Mt Hutt (again), and<br />
mountain climber and study part-time both<br />
sports coaching and astronomy.<br />
Firstly, how did you get into speed<br />
skiing? Had a small hiatus from ski<br />
working life as a heli guide and coach and<br />
decided to focus on studying and climbing,<br />
when I came back to skiing I just did it for<br />
my own pleasure, I have always enjoyed<br />
and felt comfortable with going fast on<br />
skis but during this year I just did this<br />
more and more. Eventually, looking into a<br />
potential ski holiday overseas, combining<br />
it with some sort of speed competition, not<br />
knowing at the time about the World Cup<br />
circuit, but a quick search online was all<br />
it took. I remember back to when I was<br />
about 15 seeing an article in the skier<br />
magazine about a world record around the<br />
low 240 kph, might have been about Jeff<br />
Hamilton and I was wondering how that<br />
was possible and how insane that must be,<br />
then forgot all about it after that.<br />
How have you been involved and how<br />
has the sport developed over that time?<br />
I started speed skiing in 2017/18, and not<br />
too much has changed since this time,<br />
Covid was the biggest setback cancelling<br />
many of the competitions, in particular the<br />
main high speed events at Vars for both<br />
2020 and 2021.<br />
After the 2018 season, I had a knee injury<br />
in NZ and missed the 2019 speed ski<br />
season. I came to Europe to race in 2020<br />
halfway through the season as I didn't really<br />
have enough money saved to go earlier<br />
and I was here 2 weeks getting ready to<br />
race for the main event then covid shut us<br />
down so I back home. I returned back for<br />
2021 during covid, no guarantee that the 3<br />
small competitions that were left in Sweden<br />
would still go ahead, and not knowing if<br />
I could even get into Europe or on the<br />
plane in Auckland, let alone the quarantine<br />
situation that I was going to have to go<br />
through on returning to NZ. Uncertain times<br />
but I was not going to miss another season.<br />
60//WHERE ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS/<strong>#238</strong>
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