2003 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-80metersą10m, 60mą10m, 45mą5m (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)            [ See Minutes of 2002 meeting. ]

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