Nokia Extreme Competition Concludes At Mt Ruapehu

Nokia Extreme Competition Concludes At Mt Ruapehu Small Makes It Two In A Row

Wanaka's Geoff Small made it two years in a row taking the Open Men's Ski Division in the Nokia Xtreme at Whakapapa yesterday.

Australia's Janina Kuzma also made it two from two by repeating her 2006 result, winning the Open Women's Ski Division.

Poor visibility over Saturday and Sunday meant results hinged on a count back to Thursday's preliminaries. Overall titles were awarded on the basis of the combined score from two runs.

Mt Ruapehu Marketing Manager, Mike Smith said that despite the weekend's weather not co-operating, the Nokia Xtreme was still a great success.

"We had a really high quality field and it was a shame they couldn't display their skills over the weekend. That said, we did enough to produce a good result and competitors had a great time," says Mr Smith.

The snowboarders had their chance on Friday with the Rome Snowboard Challenge. A strong field competed in the "Policeman's" area of Whakapapa's Pinnacles in challenging conditions. Ohakune's Sam Cleary took out the Men's division with Tasmania's Amber Schuecker winning the women's with a stunning second run.

"It was a hard day at the office for the boarders on Friday. The light was quite flat and snow conditions reasonably firm up high. It made for some heart stopping action for the spectators," Mike Smith said.

The Nokia Xtreme is the Southern Hemisphere's most lucrative event of its type with winners sharing $15,000 in cash and $35,000 in prizes. Plans are already underway for the 2008 event with the prize pool expected to be even bigger.

ENDS

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