![Photo of senior XC team in 2006 Illawarra Interclub races [photo Deb McCulloch]](images/HoriSliceV.jpg)
![Photo of Illabunda Junior Race Team, 2008 [Photo - TDryburgh]](images/2008W_JuniorRaceTeam.jpg)
![Photo of Paige Davis, William Edmonds, Jared Dryburgh ready for Snowboard at the Illawarra Junior Interclub Races 2008 [Photo - TDryburgh]](images/2008W_PaigeDavis_WilliamEdmonds_JaredDryburgh.jpg)
![Photo of Elloise Smith receiving her trophy, Illawarra Junior Interclub Races 2008 [Photo - TDryburgh]](images/2008W_ElloiseSmith.jpg)
![Photo of Charlotte Howden competing in Cross Country, Illawarra Junior Interclub Races 2008 [Photo - TDryburgh]](images/2008W_CharlotteHowden.jpg)
![Photo of Oliver Howden competing in Snowboard, Illawarra Junior Interclub Races 2008 [Photo - Lisa Askie]](images/2008W_OliverHowden.jpg)
The Illawarra Junior Interclub races were held on Saturday 30th August.
The weather was fantastic. We were blessed with lovely sunshine and no wind on a great cover of snow. It just doesn't get any better. Oh yes it does......WE ARE THE 2008 JUNIOR CHAMPIONS!!!!
The Giant Slalom and Snow Board events were contested on the Upper Rollercoaster Race Course at Blue Cow in the morning followed by the Cross Country contest which was fought over at the Nordic track in the afternoon on a fast but tough course.
Our team turned up ready to race full of the passion and grit that they are renowned for. We had four skiers going around in the junior ranks for the last time this year before heading for the seniors next year. Thomas Williams, Emma Gracie, Katherine Smith and Broden Condran all performed extremely well in their last junior campaign. They are good role models for the younger generation coming through. They guided their young troupe into battle as well respected leaders.
Thomas and Emma both competed for the seniors as well this year which is very common for sixteen year olds to give them a taste of senior competition.
Both did very well and they will both be valuable to our senior team for many years.
The recruitment phase continued this year with William and Lara Edmonds joining the team. They participated in all three disciplines and should be very proud of their efforts. William was inspiring. His determination to rise from the sick bed and race speaks volumes for the ethic he possesses. They both blended in well with the team and posted some credible results. They will both be very important to the team next year.
Another youngster joining the team was Asher Fitzgerald who looks like following in his mother's (Kate) and uncles (Brendan) footsteps in racing for Illabunda. He produced some good results and was unique with his trademark blue light helmet.
A special thank you to the parents / helpers who provided me with great assistance on the training and race periods. Also thank you to our Illabunda managers, Luanne and Matt who looked after us with fine food and great hospitality.
Thank you to all of the Juniors who trained and raced for the club in 2008. I hope they all had a great time and enjoyed the team spirit of the club. They all performed very well and I look forward to seeing them in 2009.
Once again our team was congratulated for team spirit at the Interclub presentation and were very recognisable in their team shirts which matched their performance. Red Hot!
We at Illabunda, continue to enjoy a very good relationship with Rhythm Snow sports at Cooma. Mick and Rolph kindly donated many items for our presentation night as well as the benefits we enjoy when hiring our equipment on each venture to the snow. Let's show our appreciation by continually supporting Rhythm in the future. Tell them you're from Illabunda. Special thanks to Nick who is always very courteous and attentive when it comes to our hire equipment.
Illabunda's results in the Illawarra junior Interclub 2007 were as follows:-
The Illawarra Interclub Race results also determine our own Illabunda results. These are as follows:-
The Illawarra Junior Interclub races were held on Saturday 1st September in brilliant sunshine.
![Photo at 2007 Junior Races [photo Terry Dryburgh]](images/2007WJuniorRaceTeamF.jpg)
Our considerably young team turned up ready to tackle their more fancied rivals from the big budget clubs but were certainly not intimidated.
The Giant Slalom and Snow Board events were contested on the Upper Rollercoaster Race Course at Blue Cow on a testing layout with softening snow in the morning followed by the Cross Country contest which was fought over at the Nordic track in the afternoon on what was described by experts as a tough course.
Our little tackers not only looked the goods in their team attire but performed admirably on all fronts and did us proud with their efforts.
![Photo at 2007 Junior Races [photo Terry Dryburgh]](images/2007WJuniorRaceTeamE.jpg)
Lauren Egle Marshall skied her last race for the Juniors this year but also raced for the Seniors as a 16year old. She has served the Juniors well over the years and showed that she will be a force to be reckoned with for years to come by being crowned 2007 Female Combined Champion in the Senior competition.
Ben Dryburgh also heads to the Seniors next year after a very successful reign in the Junior competition. Ben had to unfortunately miss this year's Junior races due to other commitments.
Thank you and good luck to both of them.
![Photo of 2007 Junior Snowboard Team [photo from Terry Dryburgh]](images/2007WJuniorRaceTeamH.jpg)
The recruitment phase continued this year with Oliver Howden joining the team. Oliver padded up for all three events and did well.
I would like to extend my thanks to the parents / helpers who provide me with great assistance on the training and race periods. Also thank you to our new Illabunda managers, Luanne and Matt who looked after us with fine food and great hospitality.
Thanks to Vicki Smith, who because of her fabulous effort with designing the results program last year, received a plea to assist the Snow Country Club this year. She saved the day again. Well done.
Thank you to all of the Juniors who trained and raced for the club in 2007. I hope they all had a great time and enjoyed the team spirit of the club. They all performed very well and I look forward to seeing them in 2008.
We at Illabunda, now enjoy a very good relationship with Rhythm Snow sports at Cooma. Mick and Rolph kindly donated many items for our presentation night as well as the benefits we enjoy when hiring our equipment on each venture to the snow. Let's show our appreciation by continually supporting Rhythm in the future.
Illabunda's results in the Illawarra junior Interclub 2007 were as follows:-
The Illawarra Interclub Race results also determine our own Illabunda results. These are as follows:-
Terry Dryburgh, Club Captain
This year was always going to be a bit of a struggle to seal three consecutive titles in a row after losing three of our top performers of last year to the senior ranks. However the never say never attitude of the Illabunda juniors was on our side and a very credible second overall result was achieved.
As we all know, the season was a poor one, with not quite enough snow for the juniors to exhaust themselves on the mountain after coaching sessions and fine-tune the techniques learnt.
The training week was held in early July with all three disciplines on the agenda. The Perisher Blue race coaches ensured our kids received the best tuition possible on our limited budget. The snowboard training was popular again with even more participation this year from the girls and the younger ones. The future looks good in this department with a certain keenness to do well evident within the camp.
The Cross Country training received it's usual "do we have to?".."yes we do!" start to the week but to their credit the kids did very well on those skinny, hard to control excuses for skis. Two of our ex juniors, Liam Zeller and Jonathan Williams were kind enough to provide tuition in this area.
We welcomed some new blood into the team this year and these future stars performed admirably and should be very proud of themselves.
The time has come to farewell this year's junior captain Alexandra McCulloch from our junior roster as she has come of age and is off to the seniors. We thank Alexandra for her contribution over the years. Good luck Alex!
As a bonus this year, one of the GS Race coaches, Dave Bale, attended our lodge one evening free of charge and gave our charges a lesson on how to tune up their ski's for racing.
This gave the kids a real buzz and proved to us that Dave has a genuine interest in seeing the student's he coaches, do well in racing. Or maybe he was just enjoying drinking my beer???
Illabunda was the host club for the Illawarra Interclub Races in 2006 and were held on September 2nd. I would like to thank everybody who had a hand in the entire process, from the organising, to the execution on race day. Well done parents! A special thankyou must go to Vicki Smith who re-wrote the record books with time spent in front of a laptop with a goal of rewriting the results calculation program that all clubs seem to have issues with each year. Thankyou Vicki. Thanks also to Bob McCulloch who ensured his back-up program kept Vicki's results honest. Debbie McCulloch out did herself this year by transforming the lodge with her Snowman theme, covering the place in balloons and streamers and piñata's for the kids to belt the hell out of, for a lolly bag. Poor Snowman.
The after race presentation was a success and we were very pleased with the favourable feedback we received on the venue, the organisation, the hospitality our club showed to the visiting lodges and the team spirit our kids demonstrated while decked out in their team shirts. Three cheers to all of you!
Thankyou to the committee, whose continued support of racing within the club ensures that the racers receive the valuable, necessary training required to achieve the good results and fly the club flag.
And last but not least, thanks to Jochen and Suzette who padded up again this year to face one of the toughest, but most enjoyable I'm sure, periods of the season, surrounded by youngsters to keep them on their toes. They're dearly loved by all!
Rhythm Snow Sports at Cooma continued their support of the Illabunda Juniors in 2006 by once again looking after us with discounted ski equipment hire and by providing us with many valuable items of ski gear and clothing for the kids to pick from in the after presentation draw from the hat where each child is a winner. Rhythm support us!!!! Let's support Rhythm!!!!
The GS and Snowboard races had to be moved from' Upper Rollercoaster' to the 'Blue Cow Race Course' due to poor snow cover but the weather was fine which makes it far more enjoyable for spectators and the competitors. The tough course proved to all, that concentration was required from start to finish and any lapses here meant crash!!! The Cross Country course was only decided on the morning of the races and pretty well had to be held in the only place that had enough snow, which was up amongst the trees to the east of the Piper T-bar. It was still a very testing course.
The Illabunda team once again did us proud and demonstrated that the coaching they receive during the season is appreciated and pays dividends. The talk on the street is that everybody is keen to do well next year with more kids wanting to hop on the Snowboard and Cross Country skis and add to their GS talent.
Illabunda's results in the Illawarra Junior Interclub 2006 are as follows: -
The Illawarra Junior Interclub Race results also determine our own Illabunda results. These are as follows:-
I hope all of the Juniors had a wonderful time racing for the club in 2006. Their efforts were greatly appreciated and we look forward to catching up with them all again in 2007.
Signing off for 2006 . . .
Terry Dryburgh
Race Captain
The 2009 Illawarra Interclub Senior races were fought out on August 15th on the popular ‘Upper Rollercoaster’ race course at Blue Cow in fine weather.
We went into this year’s races reasonably confident of a victory due to the strength of our team in the multi discipline format and the depth of which comprises many of our recent junior competitors.
Sixteen year old William Edmonds was eligible to race both juniors and seniors this year and performed very well as expected.
The Snowboard event was run first with Matt Geercke missing out by 0.04 of a second of winning the individual boarding event. However, Matt, Ben Dryburgh and Todd Fairbrother lead our team to victory in the team event for an early points lead.
The Giant Slalom followed with Graeme Williams posting the fastest time at the end of the first run. However a spectacular crash in the second run ended his campaign for 2009. Mick Livermore was also ruled out of contention by a nasty crash in his first run which left him bleeding but far from disgraced as he backed up to post a very fast second run time. Todd Fairbrother, Liam Zeller and Ben Dryburgh with two great runs each, won the GS event for us to further extend our lead.
After lunch, the 2.5 km Cross Country event was conducted over on the Nordic track. We knew that the red hot Maranatha contingent were going to be extremely hard to beat. And they were. Although we played hard we could only manage a third placing in the Cross Country team’s event.
This was still good enough for us to take out the overall Champion Team Trophy which will hang proudly on the wall at Illabunda until next year.
There were some fantastic individual performances from some of our team which will be highlighted in the results listed in this report.
Thank you to our entire Senior Team for 2009. Our team spirit and behaviour at the presentation was outstanding. Go the Bunda!
Thank you to Rhythm Snowsports who equip many of us out for the races and also to Matt and Luanne for their outstanding tucker and effort that they put in for the race weekend.
The Illawarra Interclub results are as follows:-
The Illawarra Interclub Race results also determine our own Illabunda results:-
![Photo of Terry Dryburgh competing in Giant Slalom, Illawarra Interclub Races 2008 [Photo - TDryburgh]](images/2008W_TerryDryburgh.jpg)
![Photo of Brendan Fitzgerald competing in Giant Slalom, Illawarra Interclub Races 2008 [Photo - TDryburgh]](images/2008W_BrendanFitzgerald.jpg)
This year's Illawarra Senior Interclub races were held on Saturday 16th August and it was shaping up to be a very hotly contested battle up on the Upper Rollercoaster race course at Blue Cow. The snow condition was excellent, the sky was clear but it was very cold and the wind was increasing by the minute.
2008 was a fairly satisfying year for us. We took first place in the Giant Slalom and the Snowboard events and finished third in the Cross Country. These efforts put us in second spot for the overall trophy by less than a whisker. Well done Illabunda!
We welcomed three of our ex juniors to the senior squad this year. Emma Gracie, Thomas Williams and Ben Dryburgh. Thomas was back after a long spell from racing but proved that you can't keep a good lad down. He competed in the snowboard but has hinted at a return to the skis in '09. Emma and Ben are seasoned campaigners and weren't at all fazed by competing against the older opposition. Yours truly even padded up this year for my maiden run down the course in the GS but soon realised that some training next year is a must (see photo). Mick Livermore crawled from his bed after being struck down with the flu but kept reciting the Illabunda creed of never give up. He put it all on the line as usual which inspired the rest of the team to dig deeper. Matt Geerke gave the field a lesson in getting down the hill fast on a snowboard in his first run but was brought back to the field after a tactical error on his second run. The old man of the team, Graeme Williams defied age to post some very competitive times in the GS to finish well up the standings and easily take out the over 50's section. Well done Graeme.
The cross country component of the three discipline series is where we might need to aim up a bit better next year. We came in third in the teams but are assured of a better place next year with extra training planned.
Thank you to all of the Seniors who trained and raced for the club in 2008. I hope they all had a great time and enjoyed the team spirit of the club. They all performed very well and I look forward to seeing them in 2009.
We at Illabunda, continue to enjoy a very good relationship with Rhythm Snow sports at Cooma. Mick and Rolph kindly donated many items for our presentation night as well as the benefits we enjoy when hiring our equipment on each venture to the snow. Let's show our appreciation by continually supporting Rhythm in the future. Tell them you're from Illabunda. Special thanks to Nick who is always very courteous and attentive when it comes to our hire equipment.
Illabunda's results in the Illawarra junior Interclub 2007 were as follows:-
The Illawarra Interclub Race results also determine our own Illabunda results. These are as follows:-
The Illawarra Interclub Championships (Kevin Donegan Memorial Competition) has been held annually for the past 25 years and is a hotly contested competition amongst all the Illawarra based ski clubs. The format is a 3 person team event across alpine giant slalom, snowboard giant slalom and cross country. The team with the best finishes in each wins the Championship. Overlaid across events are individual awards in each discipline and a combined champion award for males, females and over 50.
The key to success is outstanding ability in the three events. The pleasing aspect of the results is the outstanding success of the new members to the Illabunda team, unfortunately displacing some of the older skiers. These racers, Alexandra McCulloch, Liam Zeller, Jonathan Williams, Ben Zeller, Matt Egle-Marshall and Peter McCulloch are recent graduates of the Illabunda Junior Training program which has emphasised articipation in all three disciplines (Alpine, Snowboard and Cross Country).
The results speak for themselves, this year Illabunda cleaned up!:
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Teams Championship
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Individuals Combined The individual combined event rewards excellent skiing across all disciplines. Illabunda racers took out all major places with each racer competing in all three events.
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Alpine GS Teams
Individual - Illabunda had 5 skiers in the top 9, with Liam Zeller obtaining a 3rd in the males. |
Snowboard GS Teams
Individual - Illabunda had 2 boarders in the top 5, with Alexandra McCulloch obtaining 3rd in the females. |
Cross Country Teams
Individual - A very hotly contested event with many current and ex- NSW Ski Team members racing for other clubs. Liam Zeller was placed 3rd in the males and Alexandra McCulloch was 2nd in the females. |
This report provided by Bob McCulloch
Congratulations to all competitors, and thanks to our coaches and officials. Special thanks to Jochen and Suzette for their efforts as Illabunda hosted the championships party this year.
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