June 25, 2014 (Riva del Garda, ITA) – The biggest decision which the assembly of the Annual General Meeting (AGM) had to take this year was for sure the one if each of the four races, which applied to become an Associate Member of Worldloppet, should be included in the family! After each of the races had the possibility to present itself in front of the 16 Worldloppet members, the assembly gathered to discuss each race individually.

However, it was soon clear that each race already has the level required to become an Associate Member of the Worldloppet Ski Federation and that everyone would be happy to have the four races (Merino Muster from New Zealand, Marchablanca / Ushuaialoppet from Argentina, Vasaloppet China from China and Fossavatn Ski Marathon from Iceland) join the big family of Worldloppet and long distance skiing!

Therefore, the four races were unanimously accepted into the Worldloppet family.The four new Associate Members have, with their joinining of Worldloppet, the right to attend the AGM each year, to voice their opinions about any Worldloppet matter and to stamp passports. However, they do not have any voting right during the AGM. If, in the future, the races reach the minimum requirements for a full membership, they can obtain this one at that point in time.

Some more information on the four new races can already be found on the Worldloppet web page.

Other Worldloppet Decisions and Discussions

Besides the admission of the four new races, the members of the Executive Committee had to be elected for a new four year period. Each region, composed by the races within this geographical area, appointed their candidate and the assembly passed the proposals. The new Executive Committee will however not look very different from the last one as all members have been reelected. For Northern Europe it’s Juha Viljamaa (FIN, Finlandia Hiihto), for Central Europe Annette Lamy-Chappuis (FRA, La Transjurassienne), for America and overseas Dennis Kruse (USA, American Birkebeiner) and for Eastern Europe Kinga Jaworek (POL, Bieg Piastow). The newly elected will meet for the first time in October for the traditional Autumn Meeting.

Promotion of Worldloppet and its races has been the main focus during this year’s AGM besides the election of the new Executive Committee and the admission of the four new races. Different approaches were discussed and evaluated. The task of creating merchandise products for Worldloppet, including a special line for Worldloppet Masters was given to the new Executive Committee while the production of a special Worldloppet leaflet, which will include the basic and most important information of every Worldloppet race and which shall be delivered to racers before the season through different channels will be examined by a special task group, lead by Franz Theurl from Dolomitenlauf.

With two new races in the Southern Hemisphere, the idea of forming a special “Southern Hemisphere Series” came up and will be discussed in the next weeks and months by all races involved. Surely an interesting concept for all skiers keen to explore winter during Northern Hemisphere’s summer!

Like during the AGM last year, special working groups were formed again to tackle special questions in more detail with those specially interested in these topics. After deep and very interesting discussions, the groups got back together to present the results in front of everybody. The four groups included “Cancellation issues-on how to prevent cancellation, what to do if cancellation can’t be avoided”, “Media – a common look and feel for WL and its races”, “Promotion – how to get people involved” and “Rules – common ways of handeling specific things”. In each group, ideas were handed back to the races which will now be discussed on each race organisation level.

FIS Marathon Cup Updates

Already the afternoon before the AGM, all FIS Marathon Cup races came together to evaluate the last season and to talk about the upcoming winter. Next winter, the FIS Marathon Cup will include nine races, with four in classic and five in skating technique. When having a look on the calendar (which can be found here), one can see that the Engadin Skimarathon (SUI) will not figure as the final anymore. A new race has entered the cup with the Ugraski Marathon in Russia (Khanty Mansisk) which will be a 50km FT race to be held the first weekend in April!

A 26min highlight TV production from each race which will be diffused by EBU has also been confirmed for next season.

Aside

After long and itensive meetings, the delegates of the 16 + 4 member races had the pleasure of experience the special hospitality of Trentino’s part of Lake Garda by enjoying a boat trip from Riva to Torbole and back, including a walk through the little village of Torbole, as well as a visit to the wine production site and cellar of Cavit, a long term partner of Marcialonga, in Trento, followed by a dinner at Lake Toblino in the fantastic location of Maso Toresella, offered by Marco Benedetti, the President of the Tourist Office of upper Garda Lake and Trentino.