November 28, 2012 – SkiTrax recently caught up with Chantal Lachance, Vice President of Gestev Inc., organizer of the inaugural FIS Sprint Cup in Quebec, City. LaChance and Gestev President, Patrice Drouin, have been staging events at Mont Ste-Anne, QC, for over 20 years including two UCI Mountain Bike World Championships and countless UCI MTB World Cups. Gestev and their outstanding team are renowned for always putting on amazing events feature plenty of good fun and entertainment as well. This will be another world-class show, that promises to be too good to miss.

Everyone is thrilled and excited to come and watch this historic World Cup weekend in Quebec. How did you first go about getting the World Cup with FIS?
Chantal Lachance: At the annual FIS Congress in Sprint 2010, we had discussions with FIS and Cross-Country Canada in order to position Québec as a world cup stop. It’s important to mention that the success of this bid is a combination of many factors for Québec to host such an event – the track record of the city and the event producer Gestev, Alex Harvey performing on the international scene, the presence of legendary Pierre Harvey, and Gestev has been being staging events with FIS since 1997, etc. All of these factors had a positive influence on the decision by FIS.

You must be very proud to have secured the World Cup, but know that it represents a lot of work.
CL: Yes, one of the biggest challenges of this event is to be able to make enough snow in downtown Quebec City at the beginning of December. The clock is ticking as the snow making experts have been dealing with mild weather in order to achieve the 10,000m of snow needed to build the 850m long course. This past weekend however, we were able to meet our objective of snow making, which is great news. In case of milder weather, we have other options up our sleeve… but let’s see how fast winter will show up!

The venue seems incredible, a perfect place for racing – what do you think about it?
CL: It was designed with television very much in mind. Sprint Québec will wow crowds gathered in front of the National Assembly by the thousands, eager to see the 150 athletes from close to 20 countries in action. The pictures will really be something special with the National Assembly in the background. We also developed a step down of 30cm and we think that it will be a challenging feature on the course.

You must be expecting very big crowds, any idea how many might come for the weekend on racing?
CL: Yes, we are expecting more than 50,000 visitors on the Sprint Québec site from December 7 to 9. Fans will feel the action and speed that urban sprints deliver while enjoying the beauty of this unique patrimonial and UNESCO environment such as the Parliament hill along the famous Quebec fortification.

Chantal, with such a crowd, where will people park or access the venue each day?
CL: The visitors will park in the public parking lot as usual during the events in Quebec City. Of course we planned the track with the idea of allowing the crowd to see their champions close to the course and accessibility has been on our mind while thinking about the whole project.

Will there be ticket sales?
CL: All the events are free. People can come on site and watch the race and they can visit our Sprint Quebec Village for free and learn more about the cross-country skiing industry. But if someone wants to encourage local ski teams, there is the possibility to buy a ticket in the corporation lodge – all the info to come this week on our website).

What things might we expect at the venue such as amenities, entertainment, etc.?
CL: At 10 a.m. on Friday, December 7, the Sprint Québec Village at Place George V will open its doors to the public. Young and old will be able to meet industry specialists and winter sports fans and take part in a host of activities at the hydraSense Family Zone. Children age 9 to 12 can take part in free Iniski to learn the skating technique with Rossignol professionals. And local microbrewery Archibald will be there for adults in search of a refreshing beer. Then the weekend will end on a high note on Sunday, December 9 with the amateur event Sprint Québec Open fuelled by Chocolate Milk, the final event of the weekend with cross-country skiers of all stripes invited to tackle the World Cup course in a race against the clock. Divided into categories according to age and ability, the participants will get a chance to see how they do compare to their favourite athlete from the Canadian national team in the race of their lives!

Will you be having live TV or sending a broadcast overseas?
CL: Yes, TVA Sport will be live from 14h-16h on December 7 and from 13h-15h on the 8th. CBC and CBC Sports will also be live on site.  We will have more hours to come from CBC after the event. International TV is showing interest, but for now we don’t have confirmation of any crews attending. We will also provide the live feed to Infront, our distribution partner that will deliver the feed to broadcasters throughout Scandinavia and Europe – the world feed live for live or non-live broadcasts.

With the Canadian team doing so well the last years, and especially to have the great local skier Alex Harvey racing, it looks like it will be a great experience and one not to be missed.
CL: Exactly Peter.  Alex will have an incredible reception from his fans that’s for sure. Here is a what Alex said about the event. “It’s going to be a fun event, that’s for sure. I can’t wait to compete in front of my home crowd.”

I hear that given the closeness to Canada, many people from the USA are planning to attend.
CL: Yes for now we have a few media from USA that confirmed their presence during the event to follow the US Team.

Finally, how should we direct people who want more information about the big event?
CL: The public can visit our website www.sprintquebec.com and follow us on Facebook (facebook.com/sprintquebec) and Twitter (twitter.com/sprintquebec)

Thanks so much Chantal and best wishes to you and the entire team on a great week of racing
CL: Thank you.