IAWLS General Assembly

Szklarska Poreba, March 5, 2010

President’s Report

This report summarizes the actions undertaken by the Executive Committee after the previous report submitted to the General Assembly in Lienz, January 17, 2009.

1) Relations with the Members

Membership
At the end of 2009 we had 330 individual members and one associated member representing 28 countries.

Advice for Skiers
The Advice concerning a few races was revised; the date of the latest revision is shown under each chapter. We again solicit our members: the value of the Advice depends very much on your input. Do not hesitate to send us criticisms and suggestions for improvements. The members of the IAWLS Executive Committee are experienced WL skiers; we can find the right places with blinded eyes and therefore do not see things that newcomers often discover.
The committee receives quite often requests for information in various languages about travels, accommodation, race characteristics etc. We always answer as quickly as possible.

Race Reports
During the past season we again managed to publish a report on every WL race on our website. Usually the reports are accompanied by pictures taken by participants from within the race. The latest report was on Kangaroohoppet 2009.

Website
The website contains, of course, the Advice, the race reports, the letters to WL and the official information on General Assemblies. In addition our webmaster Bengt has inserted a number of articles on items such as
  -reports on members who are assiduous WL skiers,
  -stories about funny adventures/encounters,
  -a study of the most assiduous WL nations,
  -reports on XC ski events other than WL, the latest was on the Lapponia Week.
A few articles were submitted by IAWLS members whom we thank. We think that our members have appreciated these articles that brought regularly a reminder of snow and winter during the endless summer season. We invite again our members to submit their stories for publication. They may concern your unforgettable experiences in WL races and travels, or any other adventures relating to sports such as hiking.

Race Evaluation Questionnaire
Last year we announced a Race Evaluation Questionnaire that is now available on our website. It makes it possible to send to the committee comments about any race. The committee expected an avalanche of race evaluations but we must state that we are disappointed: we received relatively few of them. This new feature seems to have escaped the attention of most members. We draw your attention to this important tool. It allows you to be active in your association. At the end of the season the committee will make a synthesis of the comments and report to the members and the concerned races.

2) Relations with WL and WL Races

The letter of March 2009 to WL
The text of this letter is visible on our website, a summary is given here. We picked out five points that had arisen recently.

Race results
In harmony with what the WL General Secretary expects from the races, skiers wish that the race organizers issue the race results in a format enabling easy exploitation by multiple criteria, preferably Excel.

Confirmation of Registration
All races should use one of many possible systems to confirm registration within a reasonable time, say two weeks.

Unified Application Form
Some degree of uniformity would be useful. One item is to provide space for a list of previous results in the same race (if this is not automatically recorded in the race’s data bank) and in other WL races.

Time Limits for Slow Skiers
We propose that all WL races calculate the time limits so as to allow slow skiers to finish the race. Tentatively we propose the average speed of 7.5 km/h.

Markers for Slow/Fast Skiers
It sometimes occurs that when there are 3 classic tracks, all of them are clogged because everybody does not respect the recommendation to use the right hand track if they are not overtaking. The innovation introduced by Vasaloppet in 2009 was interesting: all along the course there were posters reminding this recommendation. Good idea for other WL races.

Relations with WL Races

The new WL race Bieg Piastów was well organized. Not only the IAWLS Committee but also many individual skiers wrote a letter of appreciation to Bieg Piastów. Some details such as the internet registration and payment need to be improved and are already handled by the organizers.

The WL calendar shows that American Birkebeiner organizes an Open Track event. However, the date coincides with Dolomitenlauf. We suggested that a better date would be one week earlier when no other WL event takes place, or one week before Birkie. Birkie answered that the date is dictated by other events in the region and being too stretched to make it the weekend before Birkie.

We wrote to La Transjurassienne and mentioned several points highly valued by the skiers: the new classic race appreciated by Nordic skiers, the excellent arrangements at the College des Rousses for the start of the 50/54 km events, good arrangements at the finish. Proposals for improvements included the creation of a Challenge for skiers who participate on both days, and two major points: suppression of the bottleneck in the climb to Le Risoux and more reliable bus time tables. The race organizers thanked us for these proposals that they are taking into consideration. The Challenge has been set up for 2010.

It is superfluous to repeat the lauds of skiers on Marcialonga’s attractive features. This year we pointed out to three points that need consideration. The entry in the start boxes was very slow due to a checking procedure that seems totally unnecessary. Marcialonga is the WL race with the highest number of overtakings; a rethinking of the seeding system seems necessary. Too many skiers skate in the final 7-8 km, a shame in a classic race. We suggest that the race posts some “enforcers” along this portion of the track.

Jizerská Padesátka’s ideal start, good tracks and WL’s best pasta party are appreciated. In the 30 km race the first food station was too far (later the organizers apologized for this inconvenience due to the failure of a snowmobile). There was some interference between the 25 km race and the 50 km race after their junction. Finally, we recommended that results be published in Excel format or compatible.

Gatineau Loppet has very few features that could be improved. A few slow 53 km skiers complained about the interference from short races; however others considered that it was a pleasure to see so many children in the last few km and that it was not difficult to change tracks. The location of the College should be better documented for newcomers.

Dolomitenlauf has now a rich offer: two Silver races and two Gold races. Heated tents in Obertiliach and the big sports hall in Lienz were appreciated as well as the comfortable and free bus transports. Points needing improvement: website and registration procedure. The bib pickup procedure needs to be redesigned to suppress the long lines that formed. We also wish better documentation in the printed brochures. For the future, with increasing numbers of participants, a seeding system and a wave start may prove necessary.

Vasaloppet’s prestige does not alleviate the skiers’ frustration about the antiquated and unfair mass start. We wrote an Open Letter to Vasaloppet on June 9, 2009. Vasaloppet’s Sport Chief answered on June 30. His answer can be summarized by two claims: a) the majority of skiers is happy with the start and, b) it is not possible to change the start for technical reasons. However, VL will reconsider the situation after the 2010 race. During the autumn IAWLS conducted an opinion poll on Vasaloppet’s start. It showed that 84.5 %¨of the skiers do not like Vasaloppet’s start and want them to adopt a wave start or the Ideal Start.  On November 30 we wrote again to Vasaloppet. First we communicated the result of the poll, then we argued about the technicalities. Nothing is impossible if you acknowledge that there is a big problem with the start, that consequently it must be changed, then the solutions are found. We finished the letter by the statement: Yes, you can! Vasaloppet acknowledged receipt of the letter, thanked us for the proposal and stated again that they will keep the question open and decide after the 2010 race.

3) Composition of he Executive Committee

The Executive Committee had ten members during the reporting period. I wished to retire one year ago but decided to run for re-election on the insistence of my colleagues. After this year, that was my tenth year in IAWLS, I will retire. Bengt Karlsson, Piotr Szkarlat, Minoru Matsuyama, Boris Petroff , Thomas Huber and Jacek Jaskowiak have made one year of their 3-year term. Christophe Joanblanq has made two years of his 3-year term. Colin Addison and Lars Vagle have finished their 3-year term and run for re-election.

According to the Statutes, the General Assembly elects the Executive Committee Members and the Executive Committee elects the officers. From the General Assembly in Szklarska Poreba the officers are:
President            Jacek Jaskowiak
Secretary             Bengt Karlsson (he is also our webmaster)
Treasurer            Boris Petroff           

The President
Hannes Larsson

This page was last revised on February 4, 2010