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BAOC to Host 2012 Ski-O World Cup Events?
The BAOC Board is currently considering a proposal to host one of the four 2012 Ski-O World Cup events, but the BAOC Board, which is largely composed of non-skiers, would like to hear from the BAOC ski-O community about their thoughts of this proposal and the volunteer possibilities. If interested in learning more about these possibilities and speaking to the people who are working on this, we urge everyone to join us at Tahoe XC after the Day-6 ski-O event this Saturday (Feb. 5) in the lounge of the ski resort. We also welcome online discussion [on the BayONet (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/baoc/)], especially by those who cannot come in person to the discussion at Tahoe XC. We need to hear from you.
To bring everyone up to speed, the IOF has requested that we consider submitting a bid to host one of four Ski-O World Cup events in 2012. The proposal would be to have it happen during our normal Sierra Ski-O Champs event that happens at the beginning of February each year (the perfect timing for the IOF). With that in mind, we have the current plans in our proposal:
- 7 days of ski-O events with the following:
- 2 days of U.S. Champs on the first weekend at Bear Valley (attracts the North American skiers)
- 1 or 2 days of demo ski-O events at Tahoe
- 3 days of Ski-O World Cup just before and on the second weekend (Tahoe Donner, Tahoe XC, and possibly ASC)
- Course setter leads are as follows:
- Bear Valley (U.S. Champs) – Probably Julie Raymond
- World Cup events – Greg Walker (U.S. Ski-O team), Ken Walker (U.S. Ski-O team ESC), and probably Neil Hunt
- E-Punch team consisting of
- Rosemary Johnson (BAOC) (manages BAOC ski-O champs E-punch)
- Ed Despard (CSU) (has managed E-punch for A-meets and U.S. ski-O champs)
- Trinka Gillis (BAOC)
- Jeff Lanam (BAOC)
- Doug Berling (RMOC) (currently helping with ski-O E-punch
- PR team led by Alex Jospe (U.S. Ski-O team) (develop communication bulletins, web pages, press releases, etc.)
- Probably to include Nancy Lindeman (BAOC) (she had to leave the Sierra Ski-O Champs early for illness, so we haven't talked yet)
- Starts managed by Sharon Crawford (manages all our Ski-O starts since 2007, and is very familiar with starts at international competitions)
We are including U.S. Champs events at the beginning of the Sierra Ski-O Tour (the proposed name of this event) to attract North American skiers to the event. We don't feel that this will deplete our resources, because the people who would be working on this set of events already create events that are at least as good as anything used in U.S. Champs events.
Even before planning for the Ski-O World Cup, it has been my intention to utilize ski-O talent from outside the club so that orienteers could collaborate and learn together how best to design courses and run various ski-O functions. Various other people have offered to set our courses over the last few years (Marie-Catherine Bruno offered but declined when she was given the Canadian Champs, Max Suter has designed courses at ASC, and Greg and Ken Walker have designed courses at Tahoe XC and ASC). We've also long ago turned over our starts to Sharon Crawford, Doug Berling, and Shirley Donald. We would continue this effort with the World Cup by combining responsibilities between BAOC, other U.S. club members, and members of the U.S. team. Our hope is that in the end U.S. Ski-O makes some big steps forward.
We are also inviting BAOC members who haven't been in our past ski-O events, but who have experience with our other functions, to join in on this effort.
The U.S. Ski-O team has asked today that a portion of the proceeds go to funding the team in exchange for their offering their very significant expertise and services at our events. OUSA no longer funds the team, so this has become an important means of their raising the funds that they need to compete internationally. In the past, they have made this offer for the U.S. Champs back east, and received a significant portion of the proceeds. Given that this is a combined effort on the part of BAOC and the U.S. team (and both would be needed to make this a successful venture), I'm recommending to the Board that BAOC and the U.S. team split the profits 50–50 for the 2 or 3 World Cup events (not for the entire 7-day event) after accounting for expenses.
We do need to make our bid for this event soon, so this discussion needs to happen as soon as possible if we are to move forward. Although the deadline for making bids ended a week ago, Carl Fey (the senior controller in the U.S.) is open to a slight delay (the IOF is very interested in having the U.S. involved in its international ski-O competitions — this could help present the sport as an international sport deserving of a spot in the Olympics). Please, if you have questions or concerns, let us know. We have a great group here at the 2011 Sierra Ski-O Champs that can address the issues as they come up at our events or online. We look forward to hearing from you.
Thank you,
BAOC Ski-O Director
(February 3, 2011)
Notes from Meeting February 5th
After people had completed their courses (while I was finishing my late course), Greg Walker started a discussion with about 20 people about the World Cup possibilities. For the portion that I attended, much of the discussion was about what our plans were, but there was plenty of talk about concerns that some people had. Questions raised had to do with how seriously the IOF would take our bid, would this be like the earlier situation surrounding the recent JWOC bid, how responsible were we going to be for housing, and what expenses were involved.
- As for the IOF and OUSA, Greg pointed out that the IOF is extremely interested, and they are urging us to make a bid. And a couple OUSA board members are very excited about the possibilities, and offering ideas and help.
- Concerning the JWOC bid comparison, Greg pointed out that this is not JWOC. Ski-O World Cup does not have anywhere near the same requirements, especially because it is not focused on minors. Many of the arrangements made for JWOC and foot-O events do not need to be made by the organizers. For example, we do not have to provide housing, but we can direct participants to creditable housing opportunities (we already have a cabin rental agency to recommend, and there are further away possibilities in or near Reno for inexpensive housing).
- As for expenses, there certainly would be expenses, but I mentioned that we need to do an early assessment of the revenue and expenses before budgeting for expenses like publicity. This part of the discussion I found informative — there will be some expenses that will have to be covered, such as housing an IOF official/controller. Fortunately, the daily entry fees for World Cup events are very substantial to help cover those expenses. In any case, we agreed that we need to figure all the line items of expenses and revenue to plan our budgets.
- I also found out some interesting ins and outs on registration:
- International registration is less online and more by mail.
- Fees are often best paid in cash upon arrival (fewer transaction fees paid to banks).
We had four or five U.S. team members present (plus a member of their steering committee), and they were very interested in offering their help and expertise. Allison Crocker was recruited for PR work to be done with Alex Jospe.
Please, if you were in attendance, let the BAOC Board know about your impressions or concerns as they will be voting on a motion to move forward with a bid on the World Cup and U.S. Champs in 2012. I saw a great message from Vlad today — it had lots of valuable information about things that we need to do soon to make this a successful venture. We welcome your input — it helps in many ways.
Many thanks to all the eager orienteers who attended the event today and all week (we've had good attendance at all of our events this year despite the slow economy). Given the great course work done by our course setters, I believe everyone has gotten more than their money's worth, and there has been a lot of collaboration and team building for the future.
BAOC Ski-O Director
(February 5, 2011)