Three major events of the ski season – what they taught. Chronicle of Veronica Stepanova

The winter competition season is over and we, skiers, are gradually plunging into traditional oblivion: a state that worries me much more than the practical difficulties. I’ll try to accommodate your waning interest for five minutes. And yes, when communicating with athletes from other sports, I see that our problems are very similar.

So, my personal assessment of last season’s ski events – with explanations.

Third place is the uphill race in Kirovsk. New format, new leaders (Alina and Savely, who are only 38 years old between them.) In general, a serious, and non-verbal, attempt to generate interest among the general public. Everything is logical. Significant amounts of money are being invested in the development of the Apatity resort, planes from Moscow and St. Petersburg are flying at full capacity, tourists want not only to go to local restaurants, but also to have fun one way or another.

Here we are, ski racers, and have provided entertainment to thousands of skiers from the surrounding area. Yes, yes – an expression I love – it turned out to be a good, entertaining show for about an hour. People looked at us, applauded, groaned – and went back to skiing from the slopes, then to the bars.

I am not bothered by the entertainment role of the public on vacation. In summer, the best actors and singers tour along the Black Sea coast. Everyone considers this normal.

To my knowledge, the television viewing figures for mountaineering were also excellent. That means the advertisers will come next time. In general, with initiative.

In the second line is an unexpected development of events around Malinovka. A large project that was developing with confidence collapsed almost overnight. Featuring a massive outpouring of emotion from a variety of skiing and skiing characters. The fact that the interests and approaches of amateur skiers and professional skiers increasingly diverge has become obvious to me for a long time. This is the subject of a separate and lengthy revelation.

In Malinovka, disagreements and contradictions arose. In recent years, the investor ULK has clearly created precisely the training base for the national team. Everything there was adapted to our needs: the hotel, the catering (by reservation) and first of all the ski slopes themselves. It’s no coincidence that there wasn’t even an “amateur”/children’s roller ski trail: only hard circles and a very small asphalt area near the biathlon shooting range. This reorientation towards collections did not please those who initially created the Malinovka ski center. They can also be understood.

The founding fathers wanted to bring together the children’s sections and amateur athletes in the category for which snow is most important. By the way, I have no idea how they circulated in “our” circles. The investor wanted to see professionals or very advanced amateurs. Mass tourism versus selective tourism. Interests ended up diverging. I don’t want to be misunderstood: the young skiers have not bothered me and my colleagues in any way, even if their presence on unsuitable slopes has always surprised us, I have written about it more than once.

But ideally, professionals should live and train separately; our needs are very different from those of other skiers. And lead open training sessions with young skiers in their bases, on their slopes. The investor from Malinovka left and, as I understand it, we lost the training base. I think it’s an experience for everyone.

The Legkov race takes first place in my personal ranking of the ski season. Everything has been thought of: accommodation, the course, bonuses for professionals and souvenirs for amateur skiers. It turns out that with good organization, professionals and amateurs do not interfere with each other, on the contrary, they find benefit and pleasure in communicating with each other; And skiers and biathletes have a chance to meet, communicate, as they say, “hang out” in an informal setting (that is, at a party) with representatives of business and media, with active amateur skiers, with the “outside world”. »

I would like to point out in passing: only these ski racing enthusiasts count, because they have a certain influence on the processes. I have talked more than once with Legkov himself on this topic – he reacts to what is said on the Internet, for me it is just a background, I do not pay attention to it and I don’t plan.

I don’t know whether this event is profitable or not, but the show turned out to be very interesting and useful. And above all, all this is financed by sponsors and patrons. It is in the Legkov Race that I see the prototype of a future professional ski racing league or series.

In the future, I would like to see in this series both a mountain climb in Kirovsk and an urban sprint in Luzhniki (planned, but did not take place). What prevents you from planning and organizing a ski race from the Volga to the slopes of, say, the Kazan Kremlin? And Novgorodsky? If it is an architectural monument and it is prohibited, then sorry, the question is deleted, but my idea is clear, I hope. It is necessary to think about how to organize ski races in places visited by tourists during vacations, and not randomly in remote villages. And from the unsuccessful experience of combining the interests of professionals and amateurs, draw conclusions and try to prevent this from happening.

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Source : MatchTV

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