Cross Country Coordinator Update - May 2022
Published Thu 19 May 2022
Dear XC Skiers,
Winter is approaching fast and plenty is afoot in the cross country skiing world. At the recent FIS meetings a number of momentous decisions were made that will have significant impacts on race formats at major international events. This included a resolution for men and women to race the same distances, which for World Cup will soon be only Sprint, 10km, 20km and 50km. A brief summary is included in this FIS Cross Country Committee meeting update from FIS. Ramifications for Australian racing will be tackled in due course.
On the local front we have a number of significant changes in the leadership of the sport. Valerio Leccardi, the Australian Team Head Coach from 2017-2022, has left Snow Australia to take up a coaching position in his home country of Switzerland. I would like to thank Valerio for all his efforts in Australia and with the team in Europe over the past six years, and to wish him all the best with this great coaching opportunity.
As an interim step before appointing a new year-round head coach, we have recently called for expressions of interest for a new lead coach at the National Training Centre at Falls Creek. It’s a short time frame, but I’m confident of finding a good solution for the Australian winter.
I would also like to thank Ben Derrick, who is stepping down from the position of Snow Australia cross country committee chair. Ben has been very active in the cross country community since retiring as an international athlete over 15 years ago, including in addition to his committee roles, national and TD appointments, chief of race for the Victorian Junior Championships, and race director of the Kangaroo Hoppet. In the interim former SAXC chair Peter Cunningham will take over as committee chair, and selection committee chair Ashleigh Spittle will replace BD on the executive committee.
Also moving on from SAXC after completing their 2-year terms are athlete representatives Casey Wright and Nic Blackwell, whom I would also like to thank for their efforts. The new reps Phoebe Cridland and Adam Barnett have just been appointed and you can read more about their background in this community update.
In the events front, there are two rollerski races left before we switch over to racing on the white stuff. More information on the full winter race calendar and on the upcoming rollerski events in Melbourne and Jindabyne are included below. If you live in Mebourne or nearby, come along to support the first ever FIS event in a an Australian city on May 28/29.
Okay, enough writing for now, I look forward to seeing many of you on snow before too long.
Finn Marsland
Cross Country Skiing Program Director
In this update:
