One of the country's largest and most competitive annual ski races started at Coronet Peak yesterday when the Intercollegiate Ski Association of Japan presented the Air New Zealand FIS Southern Cup Race Series 2009.
The series, featuring GS and slalom, regularly attracts some of the strongest ski racing fields of the southern hemisphere season - even more so this year with the Winter Games NZ, which officially open tomorrow, and the Winter Olympics on the horizon.
Snow Sports New Zealand alpine director James Lazor said most races had full fields, translating into some of the most competitive races of the season.
Top New Zealanders, as well as some of the world's best-known international ski racers, would be "charging hard" to lower their FIS points before the Vancouver Olympics, Mr Lazor said.
The New Zealand team was led by Ben Griffin, Tim Cafe and Angus Howden.
The series began yesterday morning with a women's GS and continues until Saturday.
Canadians took out the top three places at the end of the women's event yesterday, led by Marie Michelle Gagnon with a combined time of 1min 44.70sec, followed by Genevieve Simard (1min 45.14sec) and Larisa Yurkiw (1min 45.83sec).
The top New Zealand woman yesterday was Alexandra McGlinn, in a combined time of 1min 50.85sec, finishing in 17th place.
The men's competition was dominated by the Swedish contingent, with Andre Myhrer finishing in first place (1min 42.70sec), followed closely by Hans Olsson (1min 43.02sec).
David Donaldson, of Canada, was in third place at the end of racing yesterday, with a combined time of 1min 43.40sec.
The top finishing New Zealand man was Cafe, of Queenstown, in 14th place, with a time of 1min 45:08sec.
The Air New Zealand FIS Southern Cup Race Series ends on Saturday with the 2009 Black On Track Party, an annual celebration of ski racing in New Zealand which also serves as an important fundraising event for the ski racing community, organised by the Snowvision Foundation.
Ski Racing NZ was planning to announce a new partnership with NatureZone and the Aotea Group, New Zealand's largest tourism retailer, Mr Lazor said.
