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Show Luckand persistence, earned World Cup slot for P. C. by Dave Adler As with most accomplishments in life, Lady Luck played a substantial role in bringing the World Cup to Park City and Utah, for the first time. The truth is the Park City Ski Area, which will host the world-class competition on March 19 and 20, was in the right place at the right time. It's almost that simple, according to Craig Badami, vice president of marketing at the ski area, and U.S. Ski Team information director John Dakin. About three years ago the Park City Ski Area set its sights on luring the World Cup to its slopes, said Badami. "We started talking with officials about what we needed to do in terms of upgrading so that we could get active on the World Cup circuit." This included hosting such events as the North American Trophy Series (NORAM ) and the Junior Olympics in 1984, and the NCAA championships champion-ships in 1982. Despite those efforts, when the International Federation of Skiing (FIS) published its World Cup schedule last April, Park City wasn't on it. But the local effort continued as the Park City Ski Area, Snowbird ul. the U.S. Ski Team combined efforts to lobby the FIS. "In the spring, we noticed a gap in the schedule and the fact that there was a lack of technical races," said Dakin. "We sent telexes to the FIS people after talking to the resort people and the Salt Lake lodging association and asked about having some events held at Park City and Snowbird. "Their initial reply was, in effect, you shoud know what the answer is. They said the schedule is fixed and that it can' t be changed. But we were persistent and talked to people at the FIS about the 11 -day gap between stops in Aspen and Lake Tahoe, and the need to incorporate more technical events into the World Cup." "In May," said Badami, "we submitted a bid, along with Snowbird, for each resort to host a slalom and giant slalom, or really, whatever the FIS might give us. But Serge Lang and Marc Hodler of the committee told us to wait until October to resubmit." The big break came in early October. According to Dakin, "the FIS pulled Lake Louise, Canada, off the bcneuuic and saiu they'd consider having a midweek event in Utah." "On Oct. 5, Harald (Schoenhoar, . director of the U.S. Alpine Program) was given the go-ahead," said Badami. "But the FIS said the event would have to be held at just one site, because the logistics would be easier to handle that way." The FIS decided to give the event to Park City for reasons that are still not clear. "There was probably some sentiment senti-ment for having it in Park City because it's the home of the U.S. Ski Team, and I think the FIS believed Harald would be on hand to supervise things," said Badami. "I think the fact the U.S. Ski Team is headquartered here probably had something to do with it," said Dakin. "But Park City had given the FIS a ' reason to come back since the NORAM races were so successful." "I guess you'd say we were a little bit lucky," said Badami. "We got the slot six months after the schedule had been fixed. Now we've also been faced with doing a year's work in five months." But that's another story. |
