European Status Marshals 2011

[Jani Soderhall]

Not knowing what the formalities of this election actually are and despite all the current uncertainties for 2011, I think we should start selecting European Status Marshals for 2011. I know Rob, Donald and Steve has recently proposed that they take that job, in addition to taking on the entire BOD, but in my opinion it's probably wise to spread this duty on to yet other persons, not to load too much onto a few.

Like previous years we need three skaters to take on this job. I've gathered a list of candidates, that have showed interest in this topic. If you're on the list and you don't want to be a candidate for this job, let us know and I'll take you off the list.

Current candidates:

- Rob Ashby, UK
- Donald Campbell, GER
- Gustavs Gailitis, LAT
- Ricardo Damborenea, ESP
- Petr Janousek, CZ
- Guillaume St Criq, FRA
- Petr Pletanek, GER

So far that's a fairly good distribution of participating countries. Sweden and Switzerland were both part of the last years status marshals, so maybe it's OK that none of them have any candidates this year.

I'll update this post as discussions continue and then call an election on Nov 1, open for one week until Nov 8. Anybody can vote - all registered skaters on this forum, because this election will be held in the EU forum, which by definition is open to all.

Comments and suggestions please.

/Jani

[Peter Pletanek]

Independent of the next ISSA/BOD organisation, it will be helpfull to know the "Job description" of the function Status Marshal.
I also would like to know the duties/responsibilities and also the rights/privileges if there are some.
I think, this informations could also be interesting for other ISSA members.
Thank you in advance

[Jani Soderhall]

What does a status mashal do?

- Determine which event gets which status


How should this job be done?

- Review of status applications (are there still any?)
- Announcements of statuses
- Follow up on the events (ie were conditions respected etc)


Considerations to be taken into account:

- Geographical distribution
- Calendar distribution
- Yearly distribution (to avoid the same events/countries always getting the same, and others getting nothing)
- Consideration of previous years events (good/bad)

Let me know if I overlooked something.

/Jani

[Fabian Bjornstjerna]

Maybe a contact person per country could be a help for the marshals?
Just a thought..

/ Fabian

[Donald Campbell]

good one fabian
that's one of the features we want to implement for next season anyway.
either the organization of the country-if there exists one-or a solid contact person to work with the bod and marshals.

[Peter Klang]

Bra initiativ. Orkar du hålla i röstningen.
Tänk bara på att kandidaterna måste vara medlemar i ISSA.

YF
PK

Remarks from Peter Pletanek:

The Transalation from Swedish to English is

Great initiative. Do you feel like arranging the voting?
Do remember that the candidates must be members of the ISSA

PS: I have deleted the other crap

[Jonathan Harms]

I like these ideas, too. I would also like to share another idea. Part of the status marshals' job should be (in my opinion) not just approving or disapproving race/status proposals, but actually making regular contact with race organizers both 1) before approving the status request (to clarify details that are unclear or incomplete on the request--which happens a lot) and 2) after the status has been granted, to help make sure the organizer follows through on the promises he/she made in the status request.

Organizing even a small race is a lot of work, so a partnership between the organizer and the ISSA can be very helpful. I agree that race organizers should ultimately be held accountable, but I also think they should get as much help as possible, including from the ISSA. And a friendly phone call or Skype call every now and then is a great way to provide that help.

This is something I had hoped to do in 2010, but obviously it didn't happen. I have, however, been talking with Marcos Soulsby-Monroy of the Texas Outlaws about his plans for next year's Texas Sizzler race, and Marcos has been very receptive to the idea of someone "checking in" with him to discuss how things are going. I think other organizers might also appreciate this sort of thing--especially if the conversations emphasize problem solving, i.e. how to get things done.

Perhaps the status application could also be made more detailed, or perhaps someone could develop a timeline or checklist for the organizer and status marshal to use. If needed, I am willing to help with either or both of those tasks before next year's season starts. But in the end, I think a friendly conversation every now and then can be a great help to both race organizers and the ISSA.

[Sam Gordon]

Rob Ashby UK gets my full support.

Now, seeing as Hog Hill 2011 is the only announced race with confirmed date in 2011, I guess that we are in the running for World Championships, European Championships, UK Champs and every outlaw status that we can muster.

or an 'Announcement' status would be a good start!
With whom should we get in touch regarding the 2011 race calendar, site sponsorship and general administration?

Sam

[Jani Soderhall]

With whom should we get in touch regarding the 2011 race calendar, site sponsorship and general administration?

The race calendar will be organized by Peter Pletanek like in 2010 I hope.
The site sponsorship should be called for by JBH (does he watch the EU topics?)
General admin - hmm, might be me, might be the BOD, depending on what the question is.

/Jani

[Peter Pletanek]

The maintenance of the 2011 calendar can be done by me, no problem...
Except something wrong will happen here, what is not worth to put some energy in.

I will start the next week with the necessary layout

thanks
Peter

[Jani Soderhall]

Peter,

I have prepared a new forum for you and while I was at it I did some general site maintenance (moving some forums, merging two rules forums, changing moderators etc).

Thanks for your support!

/Jani

[Sam Gordon]

Thanks for the fast reply, gents.

As regards race status, the existing form is already similar to a technical job application. I have shied away from completing the form because of its cut and dry approach. You HAVE to have X and Y before consideration. A dialogue with status Marshalls in tandem with a basic application form might be a better way to go. For example, at Hog Hill there is the capacity to have an audience, but because it is not on a public thoroughfare or central town location, is unlikely to draw an audience.

We lost a sizeable amount of money at the last event because, despite advertising early and the open promise of racers to come along, just one International competitor turned up. Fear of wether and closeness to a late-sanctioned Worlds were amongst the reasons given for non-participation. We run the event as a race AND freeride by way of cost damage limitation and because we do not have the availabilty of a secondary interior race location such as that in Grenoble. This year we were one of the few European races not to be blighted by rain.

Is there a way, such as being part of a race series not including the regular monuments, that might benefit attendance of the less typical, but still good, events?

Sam

[Petr Janousek]

Jani, thank you for my nominating a candidate of the status marshal. Whether I am elected or not, I would write that the status marshal won´t can assigned statuses unless the status marshals don´t know how (what statuses). The current rules for 2010 year are still statuses Major, Main, Prime ... The current BOD proposed change of statuses Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, Level 4 on this website. I think it would be good put in order it as soon as possible. It should be the first work to do for new BOD. Without this will be continued state of uncertainty.
My opinion is: Old statuses (Major, Main, Prime, Basic) are better then new statuses.
If we will retain the old statuses the rules aren´t necessary to change and Corky´s software is ready for the calculation of world ranking. Otherwise BOD will have to do all again.

[Jani Soderhall]

Whether I am elected or not, I would write that the status marshal can't assign statuses unless the status marshals know how (what statuses).

Peter,

I am aware of this complication but I think we need to carry on with the elections anyway. I trust the status marshals to handle the uncertainty in an appropriate way and adapt if needed.

I have set up the elections using the 7 candidates above. The election is open for 7 days.

I'm doing this as the moderator of the European forum to make sure now in time for the 2011 season. I hope you are all in agreement that we sort this out in an informal way. If the BOD is against this process, that's in their right and we'll hand it over to them.

/Jani

[Petr Janousek]

O.K. Jani...

[Jani Soderhall]

Just so you all know. I have access to who's voted where, so if you make a mistake and vote once too much or you mess up otherwise, just drop me a line and I'll try to sort it out.

/Jani

[Sj Kalliokoski]

I assume that one person should vote only for 3 candidates? or did i missed it already mentioned somewhere or what
Another silly question is should/could persons outside of one region be allowed vote for marshals

[Jani Soderhall]

I assume that one person should vote only for 3 candidates? or did i missed it already mentioned somewhere or what
Another silly question is should/could persons outside of one region be allowed vote for marshals

Yes, vote only for three candidates. Don't do anything at all on the other elections.
Yes, as it's all open, even non-Europeans can actually vote. Hope it doesn't matter. Also, we always have some Americans visiting, so maybe it's not so unfair that they also vote. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this election works even if it's not foolproof in any way.

/Jani

[Jani Soderhall]

Reminder:
The election will be open for another 3 days, until Friday the 12:th noon (Paris time).

Thanks to all who have voted. Any more voters out there? Make your voices heard.

/Jani

[Peter Pletanek]

Jani, so when is the election ending now? on Nov 13, noon (Central Europen time) ?

[Jani Soderhall]

This is the correct statement, I have edited my post above which was incorrect:

The elections are open for 7 days until Nov 12, noon (Central Europen time).

[Jani Soderhall]

Donald and Rob just declined to take on this task for 2011, so that leaves only 4 in the election for 3 positions:

Current candidates:
- Gustavs Gailitis, LAT
- Ricardo Damborenea, ESP
- Petr Janousek, CZ
- Petr Pletanek, GER


Declined nominees:

- Rob Ashby, UK
- Donald Campbell, GER
- Guillaume St Criq, FRA

/Jani

[Jani Soderhall]

The votes have been cast. Thank you all. The following three obtained the most votes.

Elected EU Status Marshals 2011:

- Ricardo Damborenea, ESP
- Petr Janousek, CZ
- Peter Pletanek, GER

Assistant Status Marshal:

- Gustavs Gailitis, LAT

Declined nominees:

- Rob Ashby, UK
- Donald Campbell, GER
- Guillaume St Criq, FRA

/Jani

[Ricardo Damborenea]

Communication to EU Riders from the 2011 EU Marshals

Your newly elected EU Marshals would like first to thank you all for your votes and the trust they imply. We will try our best to deliver to your full expectations.
And second, we wanted to tell you that we have already started working, so a number of decisions have been made.

1. National Coordinator role

We believe that we should bring decision making and slalom governance closer to riders and organizers. In that sense, we have created the National Coordinator role. The National Coordinator will act, on one side, as the link of the EU Marshals with each nation’s local scenes. They will support EU Marshals and organizers and riders in their applications, results communications and post-race evaluations. They will also have delegated powers to decide on certain status sanctioning, namely old basic & prime (now regional). On the other side, we want the National Coordinator to become an “ambassador” of slalom in general and ISSA in particular, supporting riders in their associative efforts and “grass root” activities, and organizers in setting up numerous and attractive races.
A number of you have already accepted this role, others are thinking about it and others will be contacted soon by the EU Marshals to be offered the position. We really encourage you to accept the proposal as this is a major change and –we believe- in the right direction to make this sport thrive again.
We will post the names of the National Coordinators as soon as we have all of them on board (next few weeks).

2. Sanctioning scheme and criteria for 2011

Several decisions here, which could be summarized in four:
- Support the merge of Pro/AM into a single Open category
- Link old and new sanctioning scheme. We got a lot of comments showing from a lack of understanding to a full disagreement with the new system. As it’s not our role to come with a new one, we have tried to clarify what are the “correspondences” between the old and the new system.
- Detail the criteria that will be used to assign the different status. A big vacuum existed here and we want to make sure that organizers get in advance a clear picture.
- A number of changes have been introduced, relative to number or races per country and sanctioning process to allow a good balance between having a thriving racing scene on every country and having an “elite” race circuit with high organization quality & racing standards.

We will soon post the full detail of the sanctioning scheme and criteria in an additional post in this thread.

3. EU Marshals way of working

Each of the EU Marshals will oversee and support a number of geographies:
- P. Janousek: Czech, Latvia, Sweden, UK
- P. Pletanek: Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands
- R. Damborenea: Spain, France, Italy

Sanctioning decisions for each country will be taken by the National Coordinator and/or the EU Marshal, depending on the status. In any case decisions for the sanctioning of Major/World Cup & Continental races will be taken as a committee.

EU status Marshals have at least a monthly coordination call. We will also have a monthly call involving National Coordinators during the racing season (April to October).


We urge you to start planning for the next season and start submitting your applications. You can still use the old application form for the time being, but we will post a new one shortly with some minor adjustments. Should you need any help, please contact us. Let’s make 2011 a great racing year!

Thanks to all and regards.

[Ricardo Damborenea]

For sure we will need ISSA BOD input when elected, but as speed is of essence to start organizing the 2011 season, here is the sanctioning scheme and criteria that we plan to apply for 2011.

Again the goals are:
- Link old and new sanctioning scheme.
- Detail the criteria that will be used to assign the different status. A big vacuum existed here and we want to make sure that organizers get in advance a clear picture.
- Allow a good balance between having a thriving racing scene on every country and having an “elite” race circuit with high organization quality & racing standards.


Basic (old)/Regional (new 2010):
ISSA rules
No prize money necessary
As many as wanted by country
Sanctioned by National Coordinator
Printing qualifying times, brackets, results encouraged
Complete Results of all races have to be handed to world ranking administrator latest one week after end of race
Without sanction application forms, but verbal approval by national coordinator
Announcements on the ISSA website at least one month in advance

Prime/Regional:
ISSA rules
No prize money necessary
Ramp start
At least two race formats held
Permits, permissions, and insurance in accordance with local laws and practice
Secondary computer monitors and/or printing qualifying times, brackets, results encouraged
Complete Results of all races have to be handed to world ranking administrator and published in ISSA web latest 4 days after end of race
All public communication (web, press, posters, flyers, etc) should mention this is an ISSA sanctioned event
Max of 2 per country
Sanctioned by National Coordinator
Sanction application forms received at least two months in advance


Main/National:
ISSA rules
Prize money recommended minimum 1000 €uros/US $
Cone judges need to be paid workers
At least three race formats held, one should be Giant
At least three racers categories: open, women, jrs.
Ramp start
Permits, permissions, and insurance in accordance with local laws and practice
Secondary computer monitors and/or printing qualifying times, brackets, results encouraged
Complete Results of all races have to be handed to world ranking administrator and published in ISSA web latest 2 day after end of race
All public communication (web, press, posters, flyers, etc) should visibly include ISSA official logo and mention this is an ISSA sanctioned event
One per country (National Championship of Country X)
Sanctioned by EU Marshall overseeing that Country, based on the proposal of the National Coordinator
Sanction application forms received before the start of the season or at least four months in advance


Major/European Championship:
ISSA rules
Prize money minimum 2000 €uros/US $
Cone judges need to be paid workers
Ramp start only
Must include at least three race formats, one should be Giant
Three days event
At least three racers categories: open, women, jrs.
Permits, permissions, and insurance in accordance with local laws and practice
Secondary computer monitors and printing qualifying times, brackets, results encouraged
Complete Results of all races have to be handed to ranking administrator and published in ISSA web latest 1 day after end of race
Specific website set up including advance subscription & payment; travel and access instructions; support & advice for lodging
Meals to riders should be provided by organizer
A media coverage plan should be part of the application
The race organizer is responsible for submitting video, photos, proof of media impact and a brief written report about the event for posting on the ISSA website
All public communication (web, press, posters, flyers, etc) should visibly include ISSA official logo and mention this is an ISSA sanctioned event
One in Europe
Sanctioned by the EU Marshals Committee
Sanction application forms received before the start of the season or at least six months in advance


Major/World Cup or World Championship:
ISSA rules
Prize money minimum 2000 €uros/US $
Cone judges need to be paid workers
Ramp start only
Must include at least three race formats, one should be Giant
Three days event
At least three racers categories: open, women, jrs.
Permits, permissions, and insurance in accordance with local laws and practice
Secondary computer monitors and printing qualifying times, brackets, results required
Complete Results of all races have to be handed to ranking administrator and published in ISSA web latest 1 day after end of race
Specific website set up including advance subscription & payment; travel and access instructions; support & advice for lodging
Meals to riders should be provided by organizer
A media coverage plan should be part of the application
The race organizer is responsible for submitting video, photos, proof of media impact and a brief written report about the event for posting on the ISSA website
All public communication (web, press, posters, flyers, etc) should visibly include ISSA official logo and mention this is an ISSA sanctioned event
One in Europe
Sanctioned by EU Marshals Committee
Sanction application forms received before the start of the season or at least six months in advance
The American continent will host the World Championship in odd years (2011, 2013, 2015 ...), the European continent will host the World Championship in even years (2012, 2014, 2016 ...).



Considerations for Contest Status:
• Venue surface, pitch and surroundings
• Value of prizes and awards. (Which place gets what prize?)
• Venue attractions (Local and regional information about the location.)
• Competitor amenities. (Transportation, lodging, T-shirts, etc)
• Spectators. (Likely attendance, seating, means of attracting, etc)
• Press & Media(Television, newspaper, magazine and other coverage.)
• Equipment (Ramps, timing, crowd-control, display boards, etc)
• Personnel (Conehead experience, organizer’s experience, announcers, etc)
• Number and type of events

Application process:

1. Contest organizer/director fills out the form and requests a sanction level
2. Contest organizer posts request in ISSA web
3. Sends form to National Coordinator, which will either:
a.Ask for more information to be submitted
b.Sanction the event, if sanctioning level is within his attribution and communicate decision to EU Marshal overseeing the country
c.Forward the application to the EU Marshal overseeing his country with a recommendation
4. EU Marshal will either:
a.Ask for more information to be submitted
b.Sanction the event, if sanctioning level is within his attribution and communicate the decision to the EU Marshal committee
c.Forward the application to the EU Marshal Committee with a recommendation
5. EU Marshal Committee will either:
a.Ask for more information to be submitted
b.Sanction the event, if sanctioning level is within his attribution
c.Forward the application to the BOD with a recommendation
6. A named member of the EU Marshal committee will post final sanction decisions on the ISSA web

Please so not hesitate to contact us should you have any question or comment

Your EU Marshals

[Ricardo Damborenea]

You can find the 2011 status sanctioning application below:



https://docs.google.com/document/d/1C89 ... JQL&hl=en#

[Stefano Bellingeri]

I would be pleased to become marshall for italy.
How should I proceed?
Thanks,
Stefano

[Stefano Bellingeri]

...sorry I meant national coordinator.

Ed note: Answered offline. Franco di Giorgio is the appointed 2011 Italian coordinator. /Jani

[Flavio Badenes]

I would kindly request more information as to why giant has become mandatory by the MAIN and MAJOR events, is this conforming the ISSA rules?
The same goes for paid cone judges, this is a major problem in countries were the minimum wages are regulated by law.
If I have to do this here in Holland my costs with cone judges, assuming I have 6 cone judges working 8 hours a day will be around 300 euros per day, 3 day event 900 Euros on cone judges. Plus they are not available. There are no "professional" cone judges, that means we would be paying students to do the job, I foresee a lot of problems.

[Ricardo Damborenea]

Flavio, maybe the right word is not "paid" but "dedicated" (i.e. no the same riders doing cone judging). We'll change it (consider it done).

ISSA rules do not say anything about mandatory races, but we believe "elite" status (ol' major and main) should be a "complete" 3 race contest, including Giant.