ItalyMASTER SCI ALPINO
Mauro Azzalea, Head Master of the Valle d'Aosta Winter Sports Association (Asiva), tells Neveitalia about the North West Circuit Master Cup.
Friday 16 March 2018 10 minutes reading time
What is the North West Cup Circuit?
The Valle d'Aosta-Piedmont-Liguria interregional circuit is reserved for the Master / Seniors / Youth categories of all the National Committees with Giant Slalom (9), Special Slalom (1) and SuperG (2) competitions distributed in six stages of which 2 in Valle d'Aosta, 3 in Piedmont and 1 in Liguria. It was established in the 2016/2017 season and therefore we are at the second edition; unfortunately we lost in this second edition the sponsor "Acque Minerali Lauretana" that had accompanied us in the first experience, but we hope to find new ones for the next season.
How was the idea of ​​establishing a Circuit whose competitions are held in three different regions?
There has always been an exchange of presences among the three Committees in the various competitions that find space in the calendars, so it was easy to agree to find a common sporting and competitive interest that would allow us to find ourselves more continually in our challenges. compete on different tracks and not only on those close to home that you can now go with your eyes closed. But to give impetus to this idea is also the current regulation of the Italian Masters Cup that, especially we valdostani, we contest for the abstruseness of its content: we believe that doing so many "selection" competitions in the various Committees and then accessing the final phase is very reductive at a technical / competitive level; each Committee organizes a certain number of competitions to allow its athletes to qualify, but most of the times they are competitions with very few participants, categories with one / two / three classified. There is no comparison with the national reality but only and exclusively with the athletes of the house.The most important news was the idea of ​​appointing a technical supervisor to ensure maximum uniformity of the races, viewing the tracks and collaborating with the various technicians of the companies organizers: too many times we competed, even in the Italian Cup, with tracks that were good for the Baby categories or super fast like the World Cup, minimizing the fun that is at the base of our passion. So the decision to make a small Circuit alternative in the expectation of future developments if the National Commission finds new ideas.
Are athletes willing to move from one region to another despite the costs?
Here is the crucial point of our times: costs. Today skiing is almost prohibitive to most, being able to do more than one trip a month is now almost impossible to limit the mileage to travel is already a good way to encourage not to abandon this great passion of our sport. In our case the range of action is around 300 kilometers for the less fortunate. The more they do many less, so the trip takes place in a single day without having to add costs for various overnight stays. It does not facilitate us that the tolls to reach the Valle d'Aosta as well as to cover the Valle di Susa are the highest at national level, but we can always aggregate between friends and save cars with a single occupant.In Valle d ' Aosta then there is little propensity on the part of the Plant Companies to welcome the master athlete, who is not recognized any advantage on the cost of the skipass as it happens in other Piedmontese and Ligurian locations or nationwide. Despite this, between a mugugno and the other, we manage to carry on our idea.
What are the locations where the races are held?
In this edition the Valle d'Aosta locations chosen were Champoluc in December and Torgnon in March. In Piedmont the stations of Bardonecchia and Alagna in January and Prali in March, while for Liguria we chose Frabosa in Cuneo. Unfortunately this winter we have created some problems due to the frequent bad weather that forced us to renounce to three Giants ( Bardonecchia 2 and Alagna 1) in addition to the only slalom on the calendar in Alagna with its combined. We hope that the last stage of Prali can be held regularly.
Which of the three regions is the one with the highest number of participants?
The geographic conformation undoubtedly facilitates Piedmont, which is larger and has a pool of high-level skiers compared to the Valle d'Aosta and Liguria. However, to the rankings in hand today, before the last two races, the AOC Committee presented 42 athletes, the ASIVA 38 Committee and the Ligurian Committee 31: clearly we are not satisfied, 111 athletes present while in the first edition the presences were attested around 160 units. Without any doubt it has influenced the withdrawal of the original sponsor of the Lauretana.
What is the relationship between the Northwest Circuit Master Cup and the Italian Cup?
No relationship in terms of regulation. Only two matches were made to exploit the organization, in Alagna at the end of January and with a reduced program for bad weather, and in Torgnon at the beginning of March.
How is the Master situation in Liguria, Piedmont and Valle d'Aosta?
As I said before, we are generally falling as presences, we are in my opinion conditioned by national regulations that produce regional calendars that are too crowded with competitions. We live many concomitances every weekend so it is increasingly difficult to make "numbers" with the participants. It is also true that we are the referees of the situation being able to choose the races in those locations that give the maximum guarantee that the fun is guaranteed with well prepared slopes, competent trackers and good reception, which never hurts.The master then is also subject to physical conditioning, we are not very young and even the slightest injury requires prolonged shooting. Fortunately there are not so many cases but they are not to be underestimated. Certainly the involvement of new sponsors could certainly give new life to the expectations of the most and make sure that the passion can feed them. We'll see.
For more information on the North West Cup Circuit, the Pianeta Master website will be published
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