(Minutes of 2009 IMC Meeting)

2009 Meetings of the International Masters Ski Jumping Committee

The IMC Committee met twice in Ruhpolding, Germany during the 2009 IMC. The first meeting was held on Friday afternoon, March 6, 2009 in the office building by the outrun of the large ski jump at Chiemgau Arena.

Present were seven titled officers:

Klaus Günther (GER, Chairman)
Torbjorn Haugen (NOR, Vice Chmn.)
Anton Zapf (GER, Culture and Communication)
Alexander Diess (AUT, Tech. Expert)
Åke Saloniemi (SWE, NC Chmn.)
Erkki Ahtiainen, (FIN, Asst. Chmn.for NC)
Don West (USA, secretary and webmaster)

Also present were representatives of 14 nations (AUT, CZE, EST, FIN, GBR, GER, LAT, NOR, RUS, SLO, SWE, SWI, UKR (late), USA) and several non-voting guests.
Missing were representatives of Hungary and Slovakia (these two nations had competitors in IMC-XX) as well as five IMC nations which sent no teams to Ruhpolding: AUS, CAN, FRA, ITA, POL.

The meeting was called to order at 3:17 pm by Chairman Klaus Günther (GER) who welcomed the members and guests who were present, and distributed a folder of notes including an agenda, which was approved by the Committee. Klaus then delivered his Annual Report, a summary of the year's activities.

1) Annual report by the president
Like every year of my presidency, the annual report for 2008/9, to the IMC committee.
I would like to start with Taivalkoski, the 19th IMC. Taivalkoski was an athletically competent host. Also culturally they put on a masterly performance. The opening of this 19th IMC was very festive and for that reason I would like to highlight it. Anton Zapf, master of his profession, went above and beyond to put on this unparalleled opening concert at the church in Taivalkoski. I’d also like to say a big thank you to the mayor of Taivalkoski for his commitment and support in this matter. Big praise goes to Tapio and Kari Kolppo for the sports organization.
Also many thanks to Knut who paid back the IMC fees from 13 Norwegian jumpers. Warm thanks to two contributors Joakim and Sindre Helland for sponsoring Anton´s concert 2009.
Alexander Diess made use of the time before Taivalkoski to get Ruhpolding interested in the IMC for 2009. Big thanks to Alexander for his tireless contact efforts with Ruhpolding. Anton and I were often in Ruhpolding. In July was the actual meeting to discuss the details. I also invited the entire IMC board to this meeting. Present at the meeting were: the manager of the Chiemgau Arena, the ski club Ruhpolding, the tourism association, the race leader, the chief of protocol, invitation and competition recording met, Torbjörn, Alex, Anton and I participated on the part of the IMC. All came to Ruhpolding at their own expense. Alexander took part in the meeting although his wife was advanced in her pregnancy and could have given birth at any time. Now Alexander is master over three women. Congratulations again from us.
The opinions on how much the K-20 in Ruhpolding is wanted were divided. After talking to the vice president we came to the conclusion that the invitation has to be written according to the IMC rules and to keep the K-20 in reserve for the K-40 for athletes 70 years old and above. The jury has now the opportunity to decide for this group in case of danger.
The international master summer grand prix from September 18 to 20 with participants from nine nations was an absolute highlight of the summer of 2008. The IMC was officially and excellently represented by Anton Zapf and James Lambert. Anton had a special greeting for the countries in the name of the IMC. Unfortunately I had broken my hip and wasn’t able to be there. I was told that the summer grand prix was again a big success. In the name of the IMC board, special thanks go to Ralf Schnyder for the event preparations that took months and also to Anton for the cultural highlight of the solo soprano of the Budapest State Opera. Two IMC special awards were given in the name of the IMC board for best acquisition and organization and to the oldest participant. The first award went to Ralf Schnyder for the best organization and public relations work in the spirit of the IMC. The second IMC special award went to the oldest participant, Richard Diess from Austria. The awards were presented by Anton. Swiss regional TV recorded the masters and especially Richard Diess as the oldest participant was the showpiece for the IMC masters. I would like to salute Richard not only because of his performance but because of his positive attitude towards the masters. The International Master Committee IMGA/FIS invited the IMC to take part at the master’s World games in Slovenia in 2010. Three members of the IMC board, Torbjörn, Anton, James and Tim Fracnik, one of the responsible people of the games, were in Slovenia for the preliminary meeting in October 2008. The main meeting was in Bischofshofen in January 2009.
The IMC was invited to this meeting by Tim Farchnick and Walter Hofer. I also informed and invited the entire IMC board on the December 31th to come to this meeting in Bischofshofen. Present at the meeting were: Walter Hofer, FIS race director ski jumping, Jens V. Holm, chief executive officer international master games association IMGA and recognized by IOC Lausanne, Switzerland, Harald Herbert, S/committee for masters racing alpine IMGA Kützbühl, Austria, Tim Farcnik, SI sport IMGA host, Slovenia 2010, Anton Zapf, IMC chairman of culture and media München, Germany, and Klaus Günther, IMC president Bayreuth, Germany. The IMGA is associated with the FIS.
The meeting took place in a very friendly atmosphere and an atmosphere of trust. As you know both the FIS and the IMGA would like to invite the IMC to take part at the world winter master games 2010 in Slovenia, using our own IMC rules. These games will be held every four years. Walter Hofer (FIS) emphasized the importance of insurance and liability and would like to support the IMC with such matters. W. Hofer has much experience in this area and has agreed to thoroughly read through the IMC rules and assist on amending any potentially weak points.
I had the feeling that the FIS and IMGA were very surprised by our great organization and the long history. Walter Hofer (FIS) asked Jens Holm to contact Monsieur Kaspar, FIS president, and inform him about the IMC.
The result was the IMC has received a very warm welcome to take part at the World Winter Master Games 2010.
Tim Farcnik offered the following hills to us; K-35, K-50, K-70, K-90 and K-105 in addition. Tim gives us the guarantee that the hills are absolutely safe and appropriate for master competitions.
All hills will be optimally prepared for both training and competition.
I invited Jens Holm, Harald Herbert and Tim Farcnik for a statement of the FIS and IMGA also to have a further meeting in Ruhpolding. These masters’ games will take place at the end of January 2010. The organizers need a prompt confirmation from the IMC, whether we want to take part at these games. For this reason we cannot wait until Ruhpolding in order to make this decision.
I spoke with Harrachov, Stanislav and they have agreed to postpone their wish for having the IMC in 2010 until 2011. I think Stanislav Slavik is happy that we had good contact with Walter Hofer and he will help to strengthen this FIS contact. However, independent of this contact, Harrachov would be like have the IMC in 2011.
The door is open. We, the IMC responsible people, have to decide if we want to go through this door or not in order to become FIS/IMGA members. That was the work of the IMC board 2008/9.
The IMC president says thanks to everybody.

IMC president
IMC board January -20 -2009

When Klaus finished his report, he asked for comments.

James Lambert asked whether the agreement that we made to join in the World Winter Masters Games (WWMG) is temporary or permanent.
The answer, from Anton Zapf, was "temporary".

Anton also reported that the K-90 in Planica is not such a good hill and that we should not use it. He said that we should use the K-35 and 50 in Trzic (near Bled) and two big hills in Kranj, the K-105 and a new K-70 being constructed next to the 105.

Back to the agenda, the Committee considered suggested revisions to IMC rules.

This began with a long and spirited discussion of rules for team jumping. Finally the Committee accepted the suggestion of Alex Diess (AUT) that a nation enter just one team unless there are very few teams total (less than ten). Mixed teams would be permitted, and all teams are eligible for medals. No change was made to the guest class (25-29) rule for men, but it was agreed to permit women in guest class down to age 20, but to reconsider this rule if we start getting too many women this way. And the rules for women's Nordic Combined (if we get any) will be just like the men's rules. Financial Report -- our first income was from a head tax at the IMC in Hinterzarten. Recall that because of the difficulties faced by the organizers with the very warm winter, we refunded half of that tax to the Hinterzarten organizers.

The next year in Taivalkolski, the tax was tangled in a problem over the rooms and the room payments. According to the number of entries in 2008, we should have received 2140 Euros but got only 230 Euros. Klaus suggested that we leave this problem behind us and wipe it off the books. The Committee accepted this suggestion.

Expenses paid since the spring of 2008 have used up all of our available funds, and we now await head tax money to be paid by the Ruhpolding organizers. (A detailed financial report should be distributed in due time.)

Anton Zapf tried to dispel the rumors that IMC funds have helped pay for the opening concerts. He reported that the 2006 & 2007 concerts incurred no costs. There were some costs associated with the concerts in 2008 & 2009, but IMC funds were not spent on these. Money was provided by the hosts, the mayor, and the church.

Ake Saloniemi pointed out that he and Erkki Ahtiainen had made several advance visits to Taivalkoski which they paid for personally.

Torbjorn Haugen mentioned a fax-letter from Harald Haber of FIS that suggests that if we associate with FIS, then we must follow all FIS rules. As advantages to associating with FIS, Alex Diess mentioned Insurance and a FIS TD, but pointed out that we must be very careful in this particular decision.

Klaus reported that we have bids from Villach (AUT) and Einsiedeln (SWI) to host a Masters Summer Grand Prix. Decision on this, whether to accept one or the other, or both, was delayed and will be handled by e-mail.

Election of Officers- Klaus Günther announced that he intended to end his service as IMC Chairman, and went on to read a prepared statement.

5) Re-elections—election statement
As you know, the work of the entire IMC board comes to an end today. Before this happens I would like to thank all the responsible people who have headed the IMC these past 5 years for their constructive cooperation. I thank all members of the IMC committee and the members of the board, especially Torbjörn, Äke, Don, Anton, Alex and James. We have accomplished a lot in these 5 years in close cooperation with the IMC committee.
The formation of the IMC board, official IMC rules were introduced. Here I would like to thank Kari Kolpoo in the name of everybody for this great professional job. The IMC handbook for the hosts was written, the Corporate Identity and Design was developed. We have introduced classical concert and the a church blessing. We would like to thank Anton for his great work. We have introduced the recruitment class. New in our program is the NC team competition. During my term as president we have added over 12 new countries. We started the international Master Summer Grand Prix with success. I would like to thank Franz Smolina of the Alpenarena Villach,. Also Ralf Schnyder, our IMC chairman for Switzerland, for his great commitment. We met the responsible people the FIS. The board was invited at a meeting from the FIS. The FIS and IMGA were very surprised by our great organization and the long history. Walter Hofer (FIS) asked Jens Holm to contact Monsieur Kaspar, FIS president to inform him about the IMC.
The result was, the IMC was warm welcomed to take part at the World Winter Master Games 2010.
With all of this, we did not only build a solid foundation for athletes and hosts but also opened the doors to internationally known hosts. As you can see here in Ruhpolding! The international attention that we have noticed from ski associations and the media in the last few years will increase in the future. But the condition is, that all country representatives continue in their respective countries with the development of the masters’ movement in the spirit of the IMC.
Guttorm and Earle’s IMC heritage is up-to-date to this day and has remained a great and responsible challenge to this day and all responsible people are aware of this.
Without the support of the board and the entire IMC committee we would not have been able to master this task. I would like to thank each and everyone for that. The IMC now has a solid foundation on which to build the future of the IMC. This is the result of committed people.
Ake requested on the occasion of the official IMC rules discussion in Villach 5 years ago, that the president and the board should be re-elected every two years. That was written into the official IMC rules. And that should we to do today !
I will not take the responsibility for the IMC in the future. I make room for a new president.

For myself, I worked hard for the IMC at the last 5 years. But Ruhpolding was the highlight of negative image for the IMC. Erkki was very impolite and aggressive to the host of Ruhpolding. His rebelliousness in adverse to the host of Ruhpolding was so deformedly that the IMC has now an irreparable damage image. The work of the responsible people of the board from the past 5 years is largely destroyed. Erkki will not work of the spirit of the IMC and for the IMC future he will search allways a way who could to be at war with all representatives of the IMC and the host. Each year the same in the past 5 years and this year was the absolute acme. Allways war that is not what I want, I´ve not time for this. Of that reason I personally think that is time to make room for a new president and I hope that the “New” will work of the spirit of the IMC. I wish the new IMC responsible people a successful IMC future.

A new slate of nominees was presented by the Finland representative, but owing to the lateness of the hour, Klaus Günther suggested continuing this important topic at a later meeting, in order to give all nations time to give it proper consideration. It was agreed to meet again in the Kurhaus, just before the closing banquet, at 7:00 pm on Saturday, March 7.

The Friday meeting was then adjourned.

At seven pm on Saturday, the executive board assembled in a pub room next to the banquet hall in the Kurhaus, but it was very difficult to collect national representatives. Finally, after a general announcement in the banquet hall, when enough representatives had arrived, the Finland proposal and two other very similar proposals were considered. After much negotiation and compromise, a slate of officers was accepted by acclamation.

The IMC Board members so elected were

James Lambert - IMC president
Torborn Haugen - Vice president
Klaus Günther - IMC Advisor
Kristof Gaspirc - TD Ski Jumping "Bled 2010"

The short Saturday meeting was dissolved at about 8:00 pm.

In the days following the 2009 IMC, Lambert named his entire work group, which he announced formally in a newsletter dated March 2009.
IMC Board

James Lambert - IMC president
Torborn Haugen - Vice president
Klaus Günther - IMC Advisor
Kristof Gaspirc - TD Ski Jumping "Bled 2010"
IMC Delegates

Alexander Diess - TD ski jumping
Guttorm Bakke - TD Ski Jumping Advisor conditions and safety
Erkki Ahtiainen – TD Nordic Combined and Competitions
Technical and Organization

Don West - Web Master
Jason Weller - Organization and communication

Respectfully submitted, Don West (USA) [ See Minutes of 2008 meeting. ]

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