' ' • NOVEMBER, 1 969 - the DHO

ined winner. Jonathan Latimer came first in each
of the three events, Chris Vasey was runner up in
both the ski-ing events and Stephen Vasey in the
swimming. It should not be thought that the
swimming is quite secondary to the ski-ing. The
standard was high, and the competition keen. In
fact, it was an excellent time by Stephen Vasey
which enabled him to come second in the combined
instead of Chris. The girls raced in the same races as
the boys, but in the swimming had only to do one
length. The first and second girl in the same three
events were Wendy von Allmen and Linda
Ballantyne.
This year, as last, our trainer was Uli Schwabe.
Uli deserves a special word of thanks not only for his
excellent management on and off the ski slopes, but
for the trouble he has taken to qualify himself both
as a trainer and as an expert in the physical training
now an essential part of ski teaching.
It seems to me also that the D.H.O. Guardian
Angels make a special point of attending the summer
course. They provide for us our good friends the
Chilvers who look after us so well in their hotel in
Celerina. They ensure that Ros is there with her
eagle eye. They conjure, with Ros's help, splendid
picnic lunches out of the air. They inspire Rob
Ireland to get the girls to wash up. They must also
be fairly good mechanics, as the not unused vehicles
of Ros, Uli and Mrs. Latimer provided unfailing
transport. On the whole too, they gave us good
weather and snow conditions. Finally they have
arranged for an excellent camp site not far from the
Corvatch lift, whereby keen campers can finance a
ski-ing holiday with an unusual measure of
equanimity.
COGGINS REPORT
Pat Waller and Sarah Myles write:
HE Coggins did not get under way until late
TDecember as most of them preferred to spend
Christmas at home, but by the New Year, we had
about twenty.
Pat Waller was in charge of the Coggins, with the
assistance of Alan Askings, Bridget Mabey and
Sarah Myles. There were four classes, Alan taking
the top, Pat the second, Sarah the third, and Bridget
the fourth. The Coggins were, on the whole, much
younger this year and, consequently, the trainers had
quite a handful particularly as the classes increased
in size.
As usual, it was extremely hectic at the beginning
getting the Coggins into correct classes, issuing
stripes, sorting lunches, apart from such hazards as
two foot high Coggins negotiating three foot snow
drifts! Lunch, which was a chaotic performance,
took place as usual in a special room behind the
Gaststube of the Scheidegg Hotels. Thanks must go
to the trainers who manned their posts in turn.
The races commenced on the 5th January with the
Family Race for the McLaren Cup, which was won
by Sir George and David Pollock. The slalom and
giant slalom were held on the 6th and 7th January
respectively, and there was a practice giant slalom on
the 2nd January. Both these races were won by
Willie Tulloch, who was outstanding and has shown
marked improvement this season, although he did
not ski for a week because of an injury at school to
his leg. David Griffiths took the second prizes in
these races. The girls' slalom was won by Charlotte
Leatham, with Cori Fischer second, the latter going
on to win the giant slalom with Charlotte second.
Cori, in so doing, also won the combined with
Charlotte as runner up.
In the under ten class, Andrew Corcoran took the
boys' prize, and Cori Fischer the girls'. Congratulations
for good ski-ing throughout the season go to
Cori Fischer and Willie Tulloch who did so well in
the races, and also to David Pollock, David Easdale
(who both had to leave before the races), Alan
Butchard, Henry Fischer and Diana Macey. The
courses were extremely well set by Alan Askings.
At the latter end of the season, another class was
formed of younger and not so experienced children,
and this proved to be a great success.
The Gymkhana which was re-introduced this
year, was held on the nursery slopes and inspite of
missing one morning's training, I think was a great
success. The races included musical sticks, a dressing
race, and vegetables in the basket. There was one
slight diversion—the buns for the obstacle race were
ro k hard and resulted in thirty irate Coggins
pelting their trainers in fury with iron missiles!
The Fancy Dress party took place the same
evening as the Gymkhana. The costumes were
absolutely excellent including a scarecrow, Asian flu
and Twiggy's grandmother. Games took place after
a sticky tea and included musical bumps, and
rushing from one end of the room to the other to
see whose behind could burst a balloon soonest!
Thanks must go once again this year to Herr Meyer
for laying everything on at such short notice and
also to Mrs. Mabey for her advice in both the
Gymkhana and the Fancy Dress.
The trainers would like to take this opportunity
of thanking the parents very much for their help
with gate-keeping etc., during the races. They
greatly look forward to next season and hope they
have as much fun this year!
CHRISTMAS TRAINING - 1968-69
Clive Mitchell writes:
HE weather diary of the Christmas training
Tmakes pretty grim reading: December 21st:
heavy cloud and snow; 22nd: rain; 23rd: rain;
24th: cloudy and snowing; 25th: heavy snow.
Parallel slalom cancelled: snow-cats unable to
cope, two twisted ankles (one per person). What did
we get up to? Somewhere between those long
periods of slalom-pole hunting in the snow and
innumerable gliihwein orgies at Scheidegg, the
redoubtable trainers, Rene Sailer, Ueli Schwabe,
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