Snowboard Cross Championships race 1 & 2 decided

A fun couple of days with mixed weather conditions made for interesting results in the first two races of the Snowboard Cross Australian NZ Cup at Mt Hotham today and yesterday.

Day one saw cloudy conditions but a fast track for qualifications and the first race of the Cup. 

Cam Bolton was the stand out making the fastest qualification time, going on to win the men’s race ahead of Adam Lambert and Alex Pullin in second and third.

Georgia Baff was unbeatable with the fastest qualification time, going on to take first place.  She was followed by Michaela Davis-Meehan and SSA Emerging Talent Scholarship recipient, Tina Taylor in second and third.

In the groms category, Kate Rows-Thorn, Rose Rostron and Danielle Manini took out the podium in the first girls race, while Mia Clift, Jess Dickson and Hannah Hall took the podium in the older groms race. For the boys, the podium was graced by three Wills; McCarthy, Melloh and Martin taking first, second and third respectively.  

In the older groms, Will Watson, Max Vardy and Harry Hart were on top.

Day two saw one of the best days of the season for Mt Hotham, with great visibility and 10cms of snowfall overnight.  However, conditions were too soft for racing and the event was delayed an hour while the events team did a great job reshaping the course and hard packing the gates for faster racing.

Close calls made for some awesome photo finishes in the heats, though 2 x World Champion Alex Pullin came up trumps to win ahead of Adam Lambert in second and Matt Thomas in third in the men’s.

In the women’s, Georgia Baff again reigned supreme, though Michaela Davis-Meehan bombed out at the start and Emily Boyce took second and Tina Taylor again in third.

In the groms, Kate Rows-Thorn, Danielle Manini and Rose Rostron were one, two, three, while Josie Baff, Mia Clift and Hannah Hall took the podium spots in their category.  The three Wills held podium in the boys grom category.

 Full props to Jess Bartlett and Kali Thomas who gave it their all and were injured on the course.

Overall a really great couple of days to set the tone for Snowboard Cross ahead of races 3 and 4 at Mt Hotham in August, followed by the first World Cup events for the 2017-18 season in Argentina in September.

See the full results at Mt Hotham

Alexandra Rouse
Ski & Snowboard Australia

See more pics on SSA's facebook page

Images thanks to Good Buddy Photography and Karl Gray Photopgraphy.