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Remarks made by a few of the competitors:
Here is a brief race report for those who couldn't make it to Switzerland.
It rained all weekend, but the race was inside the mile long tunnel, which has just been built.
There was a GS type course on Saturday (approx 30 cones), Hybrid offset course on the Sunday (about 40 cones) with about 8 straight at the end. Penalties at .1 per cone (unlimited) and 1.5 for a DQ. Standard best of 2 qualifying runs and then bracket of 32. The event had sponsorship from Snickers and others, lots of banners and a good PA system. There were over 50 racers.
The tunnel had a good slope, a lot like the constant slope at the Catalina Classic. The courses were also similar to those at Catalina.
We had start gates similar to the FCR ones, but each lane was individually timed. This meant you could leave the gate later and still win. This confused the spectators, as the first one over the line was not always the fastest. I was used to getting fast starts on the FCR gates and in retrospect I would change my tactics when times are individually timed
for each course.
Interestingly, the fastest 4 qualifiers ended up in the round of four, on both days. Many races were won by hundredths of a second after cone counts.
On Sunday the constant rain outside caused high humidity and a wet slick track inside. You could see wheel tracks in the wet, like at West Virginia. Four-wheel slides occurred often, and a few people were injured in practice. Some choose not to race on the slick surface. I expected to fall and padded up accordingly. The slippery surface meant more cones where hit as the wheels slid, and this had a big effect on the outcome of races.
Overall a fun race in a unique location, with many countries represented. We also had a few thousand spectators enjoying Slalom racing for the first time. The only US entrant Sharon Sidlo skated hard and made lots of new friends! Congrats to Jani from Sweden (and European Champion in the 80's) for pulling the double header, a feat not often accomplished!
That was a blast! I had a fantastic weekend and it looked like everyone else did too. Qualifying 24th on the Saturday was better than I'd hoped for and being able to meet and watch so many good skaters was inspiring for the future.
To Chris Hart, Erwin, Maurus and everybody who's names I've forgotten who helped organise this super weekend, a massive THANK YOU, THANK YOU and once again I THANK YOU!!
It was great to meet so many new people and meet up with so many OLD faces.
So many great things happened this weekend I can't possibly remember them all. But what I will remember most is the excitement in Big Steeve's voice and permanent grin in finding out he had qualified 24th in what I think was his first contest.
My personal highs were using a start ramp for the fist time and braking with my foot, a very new experience for me after 27 years skating. You learn something new every day.
The Tunnelrace is over and I will feel my muscles for probably the rest of the week!
It was a blast and I feel sorry for everyone who missed it. There are a little more than 50 people in the whole world who will have the lifetime memory to have participated in a skateboard race in a Tunnel! It is very doubtful that there will be more....so think about what you have missed!
Course details:
Saturdays giant slalom course was 27 cones.
Sundays tight course was 39 cones.
Each course was approx 100 meters long.
Saturdays cone space was between 2.5 and 4.5 meters, not too much offset, flowing setting to keep the speed.
Sundays was 1.70 to 2.0 meters. The 8 cones straight at the end was meant to produce an exciting pumping finish sprint
The slope of the road was 3 degrees.
Sharon Sidlo, USA
Fantastic Race!! Congrats to the Tunnel Race Winners and to every racer that competed.
Great job: Edwin from Bowl Construction, Chris Hart at Airflow Skateboards, Mauris at Indiana Skateboards, Chris Eggers for 2 super fine race courses, Francisco "Polly" your awesome, MC your English was beautiful, Courry, Vivian, Yvonne, those that swept the course and all that helped.
Wanted to thank you all for making my holiday in Switzerland one of the best sk8 trips I've ever had. Blasting down the tunnel with all my race mates is still giving me goose bumps.
It was an honor to represent the USA in Slalom Racing. Thank you NCDSA Slalom Family for gifting me with this awesome sk8 trip. Hope to see you all at Mad Cows Boarder Cross in August 2003.
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