Maccabi Jewish Snowsports after first big snow dump of the year

By Paul Fleiszig, Ajax Ski President 

The Australian Maccabi Jewish Snowsports Championship took place on Monday 29 July at Mt Buller.

The race was held on Skyline on a fresh snow after the first big snow dump of the year. The conditions were cold and foggy. We had the biggest field in many years with 101 skiers and borders competing across seven age groups, including open events. There were some very close races!

We had great support from most of the Jewish schools. Mount Scopus, King David, Yavneh and Bialik all participated as well as children from non-Jewish schools. We also had a cohort of parents and grandparents compete. The stand out skiers were Sarah Orner and Anthony Jolson who were the fastest female and male skiers respectively across all divisions. Sarah was the fastest age group skier in the competition while Anthony won the open men’s race.

Two perpetual trophies were awarded for the most outstanding performance by a female and male racer. The Debbie Grace Memorial Award for the outstanding female skier across the competition was awarded to Tali Small who improved her time between runs by almost ten seconds. The Ajax Ski Club Founder’s Award was won by Finn Rogers, who had the biggest winning margin in his division in the competition.

The evening before the race we had a couple of great community events. The social event for the younger kids was at the Mt Buller AirZone on Sunday evening and a special meet and great was organised for the senior kids with the coach and two athletes from the Australian Winter Olympic Aerial Skiing Development Program. Coach Danny Geiger introduced Elise Coleiro and Reilly Flanagan who have both competed at international events and are targeting the next Winter Olympics. They gave us all an insight into their remarkable journeys, and then stayed for dinner and challenged some of the kids to table tennis and pool. We also had a cocktail party for the adults at Ajax Ski Club, with over 80 attendees. The presentations were held at the Ajax Ski Lodge on Monday evening, with over 100 kids and parents enjoying the Club’s hospitality.

The event was organised by the Ajax Ski Club in conjunction with Auscamp. A special thanks goes to Michelle Coppel from Michael Coppel Theatricals who was the major sponsor again this year.