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STARTING OFF down a course of several gates and jumps pro skiers still manager to
reach the bottom within a few thousandths of a second of each other.

it isa quiet sunny Sunday
morning high up on a

mountain in the middle’ of

the Okanagan Valley.

The whole scene is crisply
outlined by the reflection of
sun on snow and all is
stillness and light.

It ts the perfect scenario
for either a Christmas card
or a tourist photo of
beautiful B.C.

Suddenly the reverend
atmosphere is broken by the
sound of Jimmy Buffet. the
Patron singer of Flortda.
beaches and sand, singing
about sharks.

The Labatt Pro Challenge
ski race and media event has
arrived.

For just one weekend, last
weekend, Big White in the

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Okanagan was transformed
into a media event of North
American-wide proportions
as the world pro ski tour
moved in for its seventh
event of the season.

And everybody -_ the
skiers, promoters, media
and especially Big White,
loved it.

Because for one glorious
weekend a medium sized

Story by

Photo's by

and pandered to in the way

that media people expect to
be treated. .

Fhere were more Labatts
personnel present than the
proverbial swarm of locusts
and they all acted as if their
sole purpose in life was to
keep the media happy.

Everybody was hustling to
make this event work and
there must have been a lot of

PAT RICH
GILL SHAW

resort looking to go big-time
became the focus for the
entire continent of
glamorous” ski-bums = and
even the common horde can
view the whole thing later on
the Wide World of Sports.

But the sad thing is that
world pro skiing has not yet
made it as an_-— sport-
entertainment event and the
names of the top skiers are
nowhere near as commonly
known as those skiers on the
World Cup circuit.

And it’s not for lack of
trying.

Pro ski racing 1s ready
made entertainment,
because it has’ glamour
(handsome foreign skiers),
excitement (skiers racing
over jumps at break-neck
speed), greed (thousands of
dollars in prizes) and scenery
(Beautiful B.C.).

And the organizers know
that it ts far more profitable
to woo the media than to
attract live spectators, so we
were flown out, ac-
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shattered nerves when the
number one skier on the
tour, Austrian Andre Ar-
nold, was eliminated from
both the slalom and grand
slalom events in the first
round.

Only several outstanding
performances by American
Lonny Vanatta who moved
from second to first place on
the tour saved the weekend
from being dominated by
absolute unknowns such 4s
Gunnar Grass! and Stephan
Heinzsch.

For the reporter, there are
two ways lo cover an event
sach as the pro challenge.

You either spend ali day
out on the course, noung
carefully what happens in
each race and interviewing
each racer as soon. as
possible. Or you can sit in
the V.1.P. lounge imbibing
huge quantities of free beer.
picking up the race results
when they are pholo-copied
and waiting for the = oc-
casional skier to come your
way so you can interview
him.

I took the middie course
because it is just not
practical to cover pro-skung
using the ‘gung-ho’ method

Most of the races are
decided by less than a
hundredth of a second so
unless you really know your
skiing there 1s little to gleen
from each race except for
who won and who lost

For the skiless reporter
this is hardly an incentive to
trek up and down a rather
sheer snowy slope several
times a day keeping eyes in
the back of your head to
make sure a reckless three-
year-old) on sharp skis
doesn't mow you down

To the Unfit

If you just sit
You won't quit
Being untit.

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