Sub 30 and second! Crazy man

A strong Blitz and little competition in the main race, this was to be their year.

And in 48 of the 50 Southern 80s, it would have been enough.

Arkham became the third team in the history of the Southern 80 to run the race in under 30 minutes, finishing the race in 29.56.

The problem — TR had finished just minutes before, 34 seconds faster.

For most ski racing teams, this would be utterly heartbreaking.

Falling agonisingly short despite producing your best run.

But the team was hanging their hat on their incredible time.

‘‘Anybody who breaks that 30 minute mark is having a read hot go,’’ skier Clancy Vaughan said after the race.

‘‘We thought we would have had it with that time, so hots off to TR, they produced an incredible effort and nothing can take that away from them.

Both skiers — particularly new Arkham skier Jake Ellery — were elated to have been a part of history.

‘‘This team have been doing this together for a while,’’ Ellery said.

‘‘This team they kept pushing for this, and for me as a new skier in this team and a first time superclass skier, to be around this team has been huge for my learning.

‘‘To be a part of this race is something we all aspire to do, and to produce a time like that is something we are never going to forget.

‘‘You can’t not take your hat off to TR for what they have achieved today, but we are just stoked with what we have achieved.’’

Vaughan said the race would give great confidence to the team.

‘‘We have proven to ourselves what we are capable of, and now we will see what comes next for the team.

‘‘It becomes a challenge at this point to see if we can get better, produce better times and come back and win the race.’’