First-Fiddle McGill

Montreal's McGill University skiers had their dander up. For 29 years they had played second fiddle to Dartmouth. They practiced long and hard, sometimes at night, on Mount Royal's icy slopes. By last week, as one of eleven competing teams at Dartmouth's own Winter Carnival, they were ready to spank Dartmouth where it hurt most.

The first day, red-clad McGill skiers zoomed down Moose Mountain at a breakneck 50 m.p.h. in skiing's most treacherous event, the downhill. They trailed behind Malcolm McLane, Dartmouth's crosscountry and downhill specialist. But in the grueling eight-mile langlauf, McGill sprang a surprise: powerful Karre Olsen, late of the Canadian Navy.

Olsen, with his long stride, managed to shake off everyone but Dartmouth's McLane. The two raced neck & neck through the New Hampshire woodland, along a hillcrest, over rolling meadow. Then Olsen called on his last reserves, forged ahead, won by 14 seconds. But McGill still trailed Dartmouth by two points. All depended on the last event--the jump.

In two previous competitions this season, McGill's dark-horse jumpers had been badly beaten. But off Dartmouth's 40-meter hill, they outjumped everything in sight. Final Carnival score: McGill 568.7 points; Dartmouth 553.5.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.