Zagreb: A city race on the World stage
Ski racing has long been the domain of the mountains yet in an effort to widen its appeal and attract more people to the sport, first came the Night race at Schladming amongst other places and then came the City Events, dual slaloms. The race at Zagreb is a Night race and takes place on a small hill over looking Croatia’s capital city. Ever since Janica Kostelic took the skiing world by storm at the turn of the century, this sports mad nation have been an integral part of the tour. Vocal, passionate and supportive, they give the Austrians a run for their money in terms of support.
With the race being run from the Westin Hotel in downtown Zagreb, the racers, servicemen, coaches, FIS Officials and the media all mingle together for meals and social time. Unlike in Soelden for the opening of the World Cup where the media are like a bad smell for the racers, here it is friendly and well natured.
Driving into Zagreb you can feel the effects of the years of Communism and also the seeds of optimism with large hotels and shopping malls. Once I had found the hotel after driving round the one way system and seeing more of Zagreb than I had bargained for, my hotel reservation had got lost in the Ethernet yet my race accreditation had arrived. Weird. The hotel could not have been more accommodating as they let me leave the car in the garage and sent me off up the hill to race with the promise that a room would be found for me by the time I returned after the race (expected to be around 10.30pm).
The women came into town on the first and had their race on the third. With no Croatians racing for the first time in the eight years the race has been run, FIS’s media person, Croatian slalom racer taking a year out to recover from injury, Ana Jelusic was the closest they had to someone on the hill this year. For Jelusic it was a bitter sweet moment: the local media had been hounding her for not racing. After the success laden years of Janica Kostelic on the girls front, the lack of racers on the start list did not go down well.
On the drive in I had started to wonder where the race was held. I could not see anything that resembled a hill and was told that I had a 40 minute bus ride to the hill. A tour bus through Zagreb ensued and then it was up a narrow road and into the hills. Single track and back and forth we went. Yet where was the snow? Lifts? Sub media centre? And then the bus stopped and the rest of the motley crew got off and trudged off into the dark… best follow I thought.
Into the dark and up the hill we went and soon a light appeared. This was the media centre but still no snow and no sight of a lift. As the first run was drawing to a close, I waited about half an hour before following others and making my way up the hill again. I had been warned that we had to go up the hill, down a chairlift and then walk back up for the finish.
So after the girls had raced and then left town, the men rolled into town. Breakfast on the Wednesday was a who’s who of racers and not a single media person was bugging them! For some of the racers, the speed queens, they were off three hours down the road to Bad Kleinkirchheim for the downhill and Super G in Franz Klammer’s hometown. For others it was off to their training bases. For Michaela Kirchgasser it was off to the doctor in Innsbruck with a knee injury. The Austrian team waited with baited breath and the news filtered through in mid afternoon that she was off the tour for three weeks with problems to her right knee: Tough on her seeing as she had just forced her way back on to the Austrian speed team as well. "This injury is very annoying for me right now," Kirchgasser says. "I will use the positive energy from my podium finish and my recent good results to try to come back as soon as possible."
Back at the Westin Hotel on Thursday morning the cavalcade of cars going up the hill for the Men’s race was something to see. 80 racers, ski tech’s, coaches and the media all in one long convoy of cars heading through Zagreb and then up the hill – all at 11.30 in the morning. The look on some of the townsfolk of Zagreb was interesting and the look on the faces of drivers that were the wrong side of the wait was even more bemusing: I am not sure how many of them actually knew or cared what was happening! In the first of the buses, it was interesting to see all the faces as we sped through the town passed the many buildings built during the Communist years that stood next to historical buildings and with new modern architecture alongside ….
With the race winners, Schild and Hirscher, being crowned the Snow Queens and receiving their crowns on a Throne, this was another unique aspect of the race. 18,000 crazy Zagreb sports fans make it up to the hill somehow. They certainly do not go the same way as we did!
If you are looking for something unique and new next year for just after New Year, Zagreb for the VIP Snow Queen races could well be for you…
Next stop Adelboden I hope … Please Mr Weather God let the races happen!
