FIS team inspects Vail/BC for 2013 worlds bid

Vail/Beaver Creek is getting inspected this week, but not in a bad way. The Colorado ski areas — together — form a candidate for the 2013 World Alpine Ski Championships, and this week an eight-member delegation from the International Ski Federation will conduct the official inspection for Vail and Beaver Creek’s World Championships bid.
    Scheduled for Thursday and Friday, the group will inspect the racecourses and facilities for the proposed championships. The team, led by FIS Secretary General Sarah Lewis, will split up duties for Thursday’s inspection, according to the Vail Valley Foundation Vice President of Communication John Dakin.

VAIL/BEAVER CREEK IS GETTING inspected this week, but not in a bad way. The Colorado ski areas — together — form a candidate for the 2013 World Alpine Ski Championships, and this week an eight-member delegation from the International Ski Federation will conduct the official inspection for Vail and Beaver Creek’s World Championships bid.
    Scheduled for Thursday and Friday, the group will inspect the racecourses and facilities for the proposed championships. The team, led by FIS Secretary General Sarah Lewis, will split up duties for Thursday’s inspection, according to the Vail Valley Foundation Vice President of Communication John Dakin. One group will inspect the Vail and Beaver Creek racecourses, finish stadiums and formal awards locations; another will look at sponsor and VIP hotels; and the third group will take a look at various facilities for support functions such as the International Broadcast Center location and main accreditation center, volunteer and transportation center and medical facilities.
    On Friday, all the members of the group will reconvene and the FIS delegation members will listen to a formal presentation, which should give a “broad brushstroke” of what was part of a comprehensive questionnaire that each candidate city had to fill out, said Dakin. “Really [the presentation is to] try to paint the overall picture of the bid and make relevant arguments for the championships to come back to the U.S,” Dakin said.
    Vail/Beaver Creek is the final destination to be inspected. The other candidates are Schladming, Austria; St. Moritz, Switzerland; and Cortina, Italy.
    Former U.S. Ski Teamer Chad Fleischer said there is no better place to hold the 2013 worlds. They have been held in Vail and Beaver Creek twice before, in 1989 and 1999. Fleischer raced in the ’99 World Championships after having grown up in Vail and lived there 21 years.
    “There’s nothing better than racing in front of the home crowd,” said Fleischer, who left Vail after 21 years and now works as a Realtor up the road in Steamboat Springs. “Vail/Beaver Creek is first class all the way. You can ask anyone in the world and no one will argue that fact. … You get the best-of-the-best experience every time you go there.”
    Vail Valley is undergoing a $2 billion to $3 billion renovation since 2002 that should be completed by 2013, which Dakin said will give Vail an added reason for the FIS Congress to pick Colorado in 2013. Current projects include an exterior facelift to The Bell Tower building, upgrades to the Vail whitewater park, streetscape additions and remodels of the Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton Residences.
    “The World Championships is a very special kind of event,” Dakin said. “I think that those of us fortunate to be part of ’89 and ’99 would love to see it come back.”
    Following the conclusion of this inspection, the delegation will compile a report that will be distributed to the 17 voting members of the FIS Council. The vote for the 2013 worlds will take place May 29, 2008, at the FIS Congress in Cape Town, South Africa.
    The FIS delegation also includes men’s World Cup Race Director Guenter Hujara, women’s World Cup Race Director Atle Skaardal and European Broadcasting Union representative Ingolfur Hannesson. In addition to the FIS inspection team, U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association President Bill Marolt, Alpine Director Jesse Hunt, Vice President of Events Calum Clark and Vice President of Members Services and Communications Tom Kelly will travel from their Park City, Utah, headquarters for the two-day event.