November 29th, 2006 – The Viessmann FIS Cross-Country World Cup events in Aosta and Cogne (both ITA) will take place as planned on Friday, December 8, and Sunday, December 10. The Italian Winter Sports Federation (FISI) together with FIS and the Local Organizing Committee today gave the “green light” for the Sprint races in free technique in Aosta, situated in north-west of Italy near the Swiss and French borders, and Distance competitions in Cogne (25 km from Aosta).

Due to the limited amount of snow, the competition program in Cogne will be changed from the planned Pursuit races to mass start Distance races over 15 km in the classical technique for the ladies and 30 km for the men.

“We are happy that despite the precarious snow situation all over Central Europe we will be able to return to the traditional Italian winter sport resort of Cogne after a break of 4 World Cup seasons. In addition, we are pleased to stage, for the first time, a World Cup competition in Aosta, the main city in the Aosta valley.

The races can be delivered according to the schedule thanks to great determination and efforts by the FISI and the Local Organizing Committee. The snow for the races will be transported from snow depositories in the alpine ski areas in the whole region. We are looking forward to a nice World Cup weekend,” says FIS Race Director Cross-Country, Jürg Capol.

More information: www.marciagranparadiso.it

Preliminary starting times:

Friday 8th December 2006 – Aosta
– 16:00 Qualification Sprint Ladies/Men (1,2 km)
– 17:30 Sprint Final – Ladies/Men (1,2 km)

Sunday 10th December 2006 – Cogne (Aosta)
– 09:30 15 km Classic Mass Start – Ladies
– 11:00 30 km Classic Mass Start – Men