WMRA Council Meeting 23rd January 2010 Monte Carlo
WMRA Council met as usual at the beginning of the year in Monte Carlo on 23rd January. Many discussions took place and some important decisions were taken,
WMRA President Gozzelino underlined the important fact that besides the World Championships, four Continental Championships were held in 2009 and also a Commonwealth Championships, a Balkan Championships and a Youth International. WMRA Council will also explore the possibility of adding a relay international event to the WMRA Calendar in the future.
" "The President confirmed that WMRA policy was strongly opposed to doping in our sport and he thanked IAAF for its important support in this area.WMRA Council discussed proposals to change some parameters of the technical aspects of Championship events such as race distances for men and women becoming the same: WMRA Council confirmed that the race distance for men and women should remain different for many reasons, both technical and organizational. 7 WMRA Council members were in favour of this decision (and one abstention). WMRA Council concluded to study the regulations in more detail for Championship mountain races and to present its recommendations to the WMRA Congress.
WMRA Council unanimously appointed Adrian Woods as Organisational Delegate and Tomo Sarf as the Technical Delegate for the 26th WMRA World Mountain Running Championships to be held in Slovenia in the city of Kamnik on 5th September 2010.
There was currently no official application received for 2011. Any Countries interested in hosting this prestigious event should contact a member of the WMRA Council.
5 races had been chosen for the 2010 WMRA Grand Prix Series including the World Championships.This was considered an adequate number of races because it was a very busy calendar. The races selected will be the Grand Ballon race in France, 2 races in Austria, Mayrhofen and Ebensee and 2 races in Slovenia, Kamnik (World Championships) and Smarna Gora.
An important decision was taken to organize a meeting in Kamnik with the Local Organising Committee's LOC of the most important mountain races in the world with a view to discussing a new format for the Grand Prix series for 2012! WMRA hopes to receive cooperation from National Athletic Federations and from LOC's of these events.
The 7th WMRA World Long Distance Mountain Running Challenge regarded as one of the WMRA's premiere racing events will be incorporated in the famous Pikes Peak Ascent, Colorado, USA on the 21st August 2010. The WMRA Council appointed Adrian Woods as its delegate for this event.
The 8th WMRA World Long Distance Mountain Running Challenge was awarded to Podbrdo, Slovenia. The event will take place in June 2011 and the 2012 race has been awarded to the organizers of the Jungfrau event in Switzerland. Raimondo Balicco (Podbrdo) and Wolfgang Munzel (Jungfrau) were appointed by Council as delegates for these events respectively.
Another strong bid was sent by the Swiss LOC of the Zermatt event for 2011 but unfortunately this was unsuccessful on this occasion as it would have been a clash of dates with the European Mountain Running Championships to be held in Bursa, Turkey on the same date. WMRA was also keen to develop the long distance mountain running event in different countries and the 2012 event had already been awarded to the Jungfrau race in Switzerland to celebrate its anniversary. WMRA hopes that in the Zermatt race will host this event in the future.
Wolfgang Munzel was appointed as WMRA delegate for the 9th WMRA/WMA Masters World Mountain Running Championships to be held in the town of Korbielow, Poland on the 28th August 2010. Many aspects of the event were discussed by Council especially with regard to deciding on the ages of competitors.
The 10th WMRA/WMA Masters World Mountain Running Championships 2011 were awarded to the town of Arte Terme, Italy and Raimondo Balicco was appointed as delegate for this event and also for the 5th WMRA Youth Team Challenge 2010 which will take place in the Susa valley in Sauze D'Oulx on Saturday 26th of June.
An excellent bid had also been received for the WMRA/WMA Masters event from Janske Lazne in the Czech Republic. The event had previously been awarded to the Czech Republic in Dolni Morova in 2008. Whilst unsuccessful on this occasion the WMRA Council were grateful to the LOC for their interest and would be happy to consider their application again should they wish to apply for a future event.
WMRA Council appointed a small working group including Adrian Woods (Chair), Tomo Sarf and Galia Puhaleva to work together with the President and review the WMRA Constitution and the World Championship rules. It will present its proposals to the WMRA Congress for approval in September 2010 at the World Championships.
WMRA are very grateful for the support of Norma Hughes who will once again coordinate the publication and printing of the 2010 Newsletter.
In 2010 WMRA Council, led by new President Bruno Gozzelino and with the support of IAAF, looks forward to working towards continued growth in our sport, further worldwide participation, and opportunities for athletes and administrators to share ideas and their love of mountain running.
,
From Left to right:
Carlos Cardoso (IAAF Cross Country Committee Member), Erhan Basoglu (WMRA Director of Marketing), Raimondo Balicco (WMRA Director of Competition), Adrian Woods (WMRA General Secretary), Wolfgang Munzel (WMRA Director of Organisation), Bruno Gozzelino (WMRA President), Pierre Weiss (IAAF General Secretary), Nancy Hobbs ( WMRA Treasurer), Otto Klappert (Chairman IAAF Cross Country Committee), Tomo Sarf (WMRA Director of Development), (Galia Puhaleva (WMRA Council member - female reserved position). Photo by Norma Hughes:
"