IAWLS Meeting With WL General Secretary Angelo Corradini, January 25, 2007   

April 20,2007

Present: Angelo Corradini, Bengt Karlsson, Hannes Larsson, Robert Palliser, Piotr Szkarłat

Several topics were discussed:

GWLS: The Global Worldloppet Skier title will be on the agenda at the 2007 WL annual general assembly. IAWLS proposes that any race skied since that particular race became a member of WL can be used to count toward GWLS status.  

IAWLS MEMBERSHIP: Bengt reported that there are currently 228 members in IAWLS. Membership candidates can sign up on www.worldloppetskier.com/membership.

RACE CANCELLATION: With the warm weather this winter causing several race cancellations there should be some sort of policy for the reimbursement of the fees paid by racers. This would not necessarily be the same for each race, as it would depend on expenses incurred at the moment of cancellation. But since the skiers wish that the decision on cancellation be announced at least one week before the date of the race, skiers expect that a certain part of the registration fee is refunded. It should be noted that fee refund by bank transfer or cheque is not practicable with relatively small amounts to a large number of individuals. The recommended practice is to consider some form of credit against the application fee for a future entry. Because many overseas skiers are not able to come back to the same race every year, we propose a three year validity of the credit. IAWLS is to submit a written proposal to WL.

MINIMUM LENGTH OF A SHORTENED WL RACE: The WL statutes state that if a race has to be shortened because of adverse weather conditions, it will remain valid for stamps in the WL passport. However, no minimum length requirement is given and that means that even a 1 km race could qualify for a stamp in the WL passport. IAWLS expressed the skiers’ point of view that it was necessary to maintain the prestige of the Master status by imposing a minimum length. We proposed as a minimum 25 km (21 km for races above 1500 m altitude) for the gold Master and 10 km for the silver Master. This is in harmony with what has been done at previous occasions, e.g. an American Birkebeiner shortened to 25 km and a Kangaroohoppet shortened to 21 km. IAWLS will send a written proposal to WL.

SKIER SURVEY RESULTS: Results of our skier survey were discussed with emphasis on the broad skiing experience of our membership and thus the relevance of their comments.

AWLS GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2008: It was unfortunate that this year’s GA was scheduled for the weekend of JP which was cancelled. For next year the possibility of a site at Marcialonga was discussed and Angelo promised to help with finding the room and the equipment.

NEW RACES: There is no possibility of new races in WL for at least the next 3 years.

This page was last revised on September 16, 2007