FIS races will put Turoa on map

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 242, 17 May 1988, Page 16

FIS races will put Turoa on map

International ski racing is coming to Turoa this winter.

According to Turoa Skifields marketing manager Andy Chapman, the FIS race series will put Turoa "on the map". To be sponsored by British Petroleum, the race series will be called the BP International FIS Race Series and will be held from August 10 to 13. Up to 150 foreign visitors are expected for the event. Among them will be the world's best skiers including many Olympic racers.

The Turoa series will include two men's slalom and two men's giant slalom races. Last week Turoa Skifields explained what is involved in hosting the event at a public meeting convened by the Ruapehu South Business Association. About 50 people were present. Mr Chapman said the FIS series was to be a fore-runner to a bid for a World Cup event probably in 1990 or 1991. Delegates of the In-

ternational Ski Federation would assess the Turoa skifield and the host town of Ohakune to see if they were suitable for a more prestigious World Cup event. "We will have to excel ourselves and say we can do it and that we can do it well," he told the meeting. This meant that the FIS series had to be run professionally and Turoa had to demonstrate it could stage an event of international status. Mr Chapman said the skifield company had been lobbying for the FIS races for more than six months. Ski school director John Ball, now Turoa's director of skiing, had toured Europe and North America over summer meeting international race officials and pressing Turoa's case. Mr Chapman said it was important to note that Turoa simply provided facilities and Ohakune hosted the visitors. It was the New Zealand Ski Association that actually ran the races. Mr Ball showed slides and spoke about his visits to race programmes in Europe and the United States. He stressed that Turoa alone could not make a success of a race series. The town's support and involvement was essential. FIS and World Cup ev.ents held in Aspen, Colorado, were an example. Using slides to

demonstrate what was involved, he said the entertainment and hospitality provided in the town were key features of the race week. An FIS series was really a giant public relations exercise, he said, when racers, officials and hundreds of media people would judge the skifield, its services, the town's accommodation and the facilities. He said Turoa would

need voluntary help to run the series. People would be needed on the skifield, in race administration, in organising and running festivities for the race week, billeting racers, taking visitors fishing and rafting if the mountain was closed, running entertainment and with publicity. Mr Ball said about 6080 racers were expected in Ohakune for the FIS

races with the same number of officials and coaches. Confirmation of specific racing details would be given in June at an FIS conference in Turkey. Mr Ball will attend the meeting. It is believed a women's FIS race series will be held prior to the Turoa programme from August 2 to 5 at Mt Hutt in the South lsland.