MEETING OF THE INTERNATIONAL
MASTERS SKI JUMPING COMMITTEE
Held Friday, February 21, 2003 in the Hotel Zakopane
in Zakopane, Poland, in conjunction with the 14th
annual International Masters Competition.
The meeting was called to order at 8:15 pm by Chairman
Alf-Tore Haug (NOR). Present were representatives
from: CZE FIN GER HUN NOR POL RUS SVK SWE USA.
SITE FOR IMC 2004:
Alf-Tore reported that the next IMC will be held
in Reit im Winkl, Germany. Klaus Gunther (GER) said
that the dates are not yet firmly established but
that they will almost surely be during the first
or second week in March. The site has ski jumps
of sizes K-30, 60, 90 meters (the two smallest hills
have plastic).
A few questions followed: Does the site have adequate
snow in march? Answer: Yes. Alf-Tore will make a
site visit and discuss the arrangements with the
hosts. He is happy to be having IMC in Germany because
of the possibility of attracting new Master jumpers
from the Alpine countries (AUT, FRA, ITA, SWI).
It was mentioned that the site is about at the midpoint
between Salzburg and Munich which should make for
relatively easy travel.
SITE FOR IMC 2005:
At present, we have no active candidates to host
the 2005 IMC so we need serious bids. Tim Denisson
(ex-Chairman) presented the list of sites which
have shown and interest during his time in office.
These included Val di Fiemme, ITA and Minneapolis/St.
Paul, USA, but we have no bids from either of these
at present. Ake Saloniemi (SWE) reports that Solleftea,
Sweden is interested. This was the site of the 2003
World Junior Nordic Championships and has a nice
new facility with a full set of jumps (K-20, 30,
50, 80, 115).
It was mentioned that last year this Committee agreed
to consider Perm or Lysva in Russia for 2005. However,
in spite of the wonderful IMC organized there in
1998, some members are concerned about the difficulty
and expense of traveling to the Ural mountains.
In a new development, we find that St. Petersburg,
Russia is interested in hosting the IMC. It was
reported that St. Petersburg has K-90, 65 and about
30 meter hills.
At meeting time, Val di Fiemme was in the middle
of hosting the World Nordic Skiing Championships
and the TV reveals that the smaller hill outruns
cut across the big hill outruns. We must learn more
about this potential conflict before going too far
with this possible host. Alf-Tore will contact the
people at Val di Fiemme. Anton Zapf (GER) mentioned
the desirability of having Austrian jumpers competing
in the IMC at nearby Reit im Winkl. He has friends
in Austria and he will contact them to invite skiers
to IMC 2004 and also to encourage Austria to make
a bid to host IMC 2005. Don West (USA) pointed out
that this job of making contact with masters in
new countries is everybody's job and we should be
conscious of that need at all time.
At the end of the discussion, Alf-Tore presented
the following as a first-choice list of possible
hosts for the next few years:
· 2005 Austria
· 2006 Sweden
· 2007 Russia
· 2008 USA
However, this list is only tentative and we must
be flexible in our planning. And we must not forget
Val di Fiemme as a candidate.
HILLS FOR NORDIC COMBINED IN 2004:
Ake Saloniemi (IMC Head for Nordic Combined) pointed
out that the 30 meter jump in Reit im Winkl is really
too small for our Nordic Combined competition, even
for the older classes. It was pointed out that this
should imply that it is also too small for special
jumping. Considerable discussion ensued, much of
which we have heard before.Guttorm Bakke (NOR, co-founder
of IMC) reminded everyone that official hill sizes
have been adopted: K-80meters±10m, 60m±10m, 45m±5m
(these were officially reaffirmed in the 2002 meeting).
After considerable negotiation, the following agreements
were reached for IMC 2004 in Reit im Winkl: For
Nordic Combined, the 30 meter hill will be used
only for skiers aged 65 and older. For Special Jumping,
the classes on the K-30 will be as follows:
· Ages 50-54, 55-59, 60-64, etc (as high as demand
indicates)
· A single class for jumpers aged 30-49. The intent
is that this class is for resumed jumpers and adult
beginners. Skiers in this class shall not compete
on any larger hill. (We need a good name for this
special class.)
It was pointed out that this decision is made for
2004 only, because of the particular sizes of the
jumps in Reit im Winkl. We can expect to have this
discussion almost every year because every host
has hills of different sizes. Alf-Tore asked Ake
Saloniemi to prepare guidelines for hill size which
might make this discussion go more quickly in the
future. Ake agreed to try to present such guidelines.
OFFICERS FOR THE COMING YEAR:
In the 2002 meeting we elected, for one year terms:
· Chairman Alf-Tore Haug
· Vice Chairman Klaus Gunther
· For Nordic Combined Ake Saloniemi
Alf_Tore said that he is willing to be Chairman
for one more year, but not after that. He said that
it would be very good if we could select a new chairman
from central Europe at our next meeting who could
work to expand our membership in that area. The
three officers above said that, if elected, they
are willing to serve for another year.Other nominations
were invited but none were forthcoming. The same
three officers (above) were accepted for the coming
year by acclamation.
OTHER ITEMS:
Tim Denisson pointed out the importance of having
two active members from each nation on this committee.
Ake Saloniemi suggested that we consider summer
or fall competition on plastic.It was suggested
that this be done on a trial basis this summer perhaps
in Germany or the Czech Republic. We will try it
and see how it goes. The meeting was adjourned at
9:40 pm. Respectfully submitted, Don West (USA).
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