Snowboarders on track for Australian NZ Championship series this week

Image: Alex Pullin leads the pack in the 2016 ANC SBX final

The big names in Australian snowboarding will be at Mt Hotham to compete in the first races of the FIS Australian New Zealand Cup (ANC) Snowboard Cross this week, 27-28 July 2017.
 
Australia’s best Snowboard Cross riders Alex Pullin, Cam Bolton, Adam Lambert, Matthew Thomas, Josh Miller, Adam Dickson, Georgia Baff, Emily Boyce and up and coming riders will be on their game and looking to get a head start on their 2018 Olympic campaign ahead of selections in January.
 
The ANC FIS SBX event is a major drawcard on the Mt Hotham and the Southern Hemisphere’s winter calendar, attracting the top snowboard cross riders in the World and giving younger up and coming talent the opportunity to race against the best.
 
Hotham’s own Alex ‘Chumpy’ Pullin, 29, (2 x World Champion/ 2 x Olympian), has won back to back ANC FIS SBX titles in previous years and will be looking to repeat the same success in 2017.  A favourite event of Pullin’s, he said the fast and technical track setup for training and racing meant that Hotham has everything the SBX team need to prepare for the World Cup season and Olympics ahead.

International riders from Japan, Ireland and Thailand will be competing, and looking to challenge for the podium will be 2018 Olympic hopefuls Matt Thomas and Adam Lambert. 
 
Lambert, 19, impressed the ski and snowboard community when he burst onto the 2016-17 World Cup circuit with two top ten finishes, earning himself a spot at the World Snowboard Championships in Spain in March where he finished sixth up against an elite field. 
 
Thomas, 22, led the field in the 2016 ANC Cup semi-final where he was pipped by Pullin in the big final to take second place.  He conceded that it was “doable” to take Pullin, but he had not yet done so in a big final.
 
“To ramp up my performance this year I’ve been focusing on the finer details of my career, my different training options on and off snow and my equipment” Thomas said.

Working alongside the OWIA Snowboard Cross program and the NSWIS program, with the direction and coaching of Jason Clausen, Thomas is combining key skills of his technical training on-snow in addition to his mental game off snow to prepare himself for Olympic selection.
 
Thomas is aiming for a top six World Cup result in 2017-18 season to be in contention for selection for the Games in PyeongChang, Korea.

“It's a challenging goal to reach but it’s achievable. I was very close to retiring near the end of the last World Cup season and after spending a few days at home I decided to challenge my spot back for the Olympics and my career after 2018 and beyond. Over those few days I regained belief that these are all achievable goals.” He said.
 
Thomas will have his first opportunity in the upcoming World Cup in Argentina in September to try to secure his Olympic selection.

His best World Cup result was 13th in Bokwang, Korea in the 2015-16 season, though he has graced the podium four times from the past seven ANCs where, like Pullin, he relishes competing on home soil. 
 
“The best part is having my family and friends there to watch, and definitely being able to share my career with them, especially when I get a good result or two!”
 
“At first it was just dad to watch but it has slowly built with family and friends supporting over my six years competing.” He said. 
 
Unfortunately the World number two ranked Belle Brockhoff will not race as she is recovering from a knee injury, yet hopes to be back on snow in August.
 
Schedule for the ANCs will be:
 
•    26 July - Training
•    27 July - FIS ANC Snowboard Cross Race #1  (plus Aussie Grom Champs Race #1)
•    28 July - FIS ANC Snowboard Cross Race #2  (plus Aussie Grom Champs Race #2)

Following the Snowboard Cross ANC Cup races, the elite snowboarders will turn to a coaching role to develop the next wave of Snowboard Cross riders as part of the SSA Futures: SBX Festival program.

SSA Futures identifies and develops future champions who are progressing in skiing and snowboarding, and this year four programs will run across three locations in NSW and Victoria focussing on freestyle, snowboard cross and one for those with a disability.

SSA Futures: SBX Festival will run 29-30 July concluding with Hotham’s Junior Freeride Series – Rider X event.

For more information and results go to www.skiandsnowboard.org.au.  

Alexandra Rouse
Ski & Snowboard Australia

 
Images courtesy of Karl Gray: Angus Pennington throws it all on the line and crashes into the fence | A tight race for riders in the final.