By Sarah Krieg | Images by Eliza Goulding
While many people were relaxing over the mid-semester break, 18 of RMIT’s best skiers and snowboarders geared up and took to Mount Buller for the 2018 Snow Nationals.
The small team put on an impressive effort, finishing fifth overall with the women’s team placing fourth and the men’s team placing fifth.
An impressive performance from Harvey Edmanson in the men’s snowboard giant slalom opened RMIT’s medal haul with a gold medal.
Chloe McIvor held off a determined field in the women’s snowboard Super G to win gold by nearly four seconds.
She also pulled some impressive tricks to win a bronze medal in the rails competition.
In the skiing events, Jared Rodden pulled some of his best tricks to win silver medals in the rails and slopestyle competitions.
Yolanda Fulton-Richmond sped down the course to take a silver medal in the women’s giant slalom.
The team’s daring foray into the world of cross country skiing also paid off.
(L-R) Yolanda Fulton-Richmond, Tori Holyoake, Emily Buckland, Sarah Krieg and Kate Price (front) prepare for the cross country relay in low visibility and high winds (Photo: Eliza Goulding).Despite windy conditions and low visibility, RMIT’s two women’s relay teams persevered to finish second and fifth.
Emily Buckland, Tori Holyoake and Kate Price took out the silver medal in their first cross country relay at the Snow Nationals, and say they’re absolutely thrilled with the result.
Buckland said the result had really encouraged the girls to give it another go next year.
“If this is what we can achieve with minimal practice, imagine what we could do with more training,” she said.
The men’s events also held promise, with RMIT’s cross country star Abe Wright placing seventh in the individual event, and his relay team placing fifth.
Perhaps the biggest success of the week was the RMIT Redbacks’ spectacular result in the Spirit of the Mountain competition.
The Spirit Award is given to the university who, as voted by other teams and mountain staff, had shown the best sportsmanship, and embodied the spirit of Snow Nationals.
In their best result yet, the Redbacks came second, narrowly beaten by ANU.
The team was thrilled with the result, and university team manager Eliza Goulding hopes that this was the beginning of a new era for RMIT’s snowsports competition team.
“Despite being one of the smallest teams out on the mountain, we were still able to pull off some incredible results,” she said.
“I’m really proud of the way that the team has come together to achieve so much this week.”
The RMIT Redbacks finished the week with a haul of two gold, four silver and one bronze medals.
Next year the Redbacks will head to Thredbo for Snow Nationals, where they hope to bring home more gold medals–and maybe even a win in Spirit of the Mountain.