[2005] Region West Atlantic: USA West

[Hans Koraeus]

1. Time to find out who has plans for organizing western American competitions in 2005.
2. Who will be given the US Championships for 2005.
3. Who will recieve what World Ranking statuses for 2005.

I will try to keep this post updated with the current discussion.


World Ranking status proposal for 2005
__________________________________________________
USA West have 1 Major 2 Mains and 3 Primes to set.
[Main] [Main] [Main] [Prime] [Prime] [Prime]
__________________________________________________

Major status subjects (One of the Mains in the West Atlantic regions will get Major status)
[Major] Slalom Week 2005 September 12-18 Morro Bay, California

Main status subjects (2)
[Main] Gorge Games July 16-17 Hood River, Oregon
[Main] High Peaks Drifter August 20-21 Breckenridge, Colorado

Prime status subjects (3)
[Prime] Colorado Cup, June 12-13, Golden Colorado
[Prime] BLR/LCB OUTLAW SERIES VI, June 19, Pump Station, CA (Final Series Title Race w/Awards ceremony)
[]

Basic Status
Texas Cold Fussion Sizzler, February 25-26, Houston, Texas
BLR/LCB OUTLAW SERIES, Pump station, CA
JPL
Colorado Series
_______________________________
- Venice Beach, CA?
- Cascade Slalom Association?
- California Championship Series?

[Gary Fluitt]

My recommendations for race status in USA West are:

<b>Major (1):</b>
Slalom Week, Morro Bay, Sept.

<b>Main (3): </b>
La Costa, CA, June
Hood River, OR, July
US Nationals/HD, Breckenridge Colorado, Aug. 20-21

<b>Prime (3):</b>
Colorado Cup, June 11-12
Cascade Series Final
BLR Pump Station Final

<b>Basic:</b>
Texas Sizzler
JPL
All BLR Outlaw
Colorado Series

If La Costa DOES NOT happen for some reason, one of the Prime races will need to move up to Main. I would lobby for moving the Colorado Cup into the Main category because it is a two-day legal event with no possibility of being busted and attended by 4 World Champions.
The Move of Basic into Prime could be the Texas Sizzler.

Is Texas East or West USA? I would recommend that Texas go with EAST USA as the WEST is pretty heavily scheduled with races already. It should be easier for the Texas event to take a Prime spot in the East.

Also what about this recently annouced Tahoe race by FCR? $300 entry fee could kill this race but we should figure out where to put it in the schedule.

[Hans Koraeus]

Here is the current region limit between USA West and USA East. It's up to you guys to set it up differently if you wish.

[Pat Chewning]

My recommendations for race status in USA West are:

<b>Major (1):</b>
Slalom Week, Morro Bay, Sept.

<b>Main (3): </b>
La Costa, CA, June
Hood River, OR, July
US Nationals/HD, Breckenridge Colorado, Aug. 20-21

<b>Prime (3):</b>
Colorado Cup, June 11-12
Cascade Series Final
BLR Pump Station Final

<b>Basic:</b>
Texas Sizzler
JPL
All BLR Outlaw
Colorado Series

I thought if the west had a MAJOR, then only 2 MAIN allowed?

Gary, unless you know something I don't, there is no event planned for Cascade Series Final which would warrant a Prime status ...

-- Pat

[Gary Fluitt]

Pat,
I don't know about the Major thing taking away one Main. The way I read the list above the Main is a USA thing (not West or East region), leaving three Mains? Maybe I'm wrong.
Gary

[Hans Koraeus]

Yes, Pat is right. The complete text about all this can be read in the World Ranking Regions topic found under the definitions button in the rules section at http://www.slalomranking.com. (I don't know how to link to it directly)

I'll try to make a short overview.
The West Atlantic region is divided into the following sub regions: South America, USA West, USA East and Canada. In total it has been given 1 Major, 6 Main and 7 Prime statuses. (Same as the East Atlantic region with Europe, Russia, Asia and Australia). Actually you could see it as 7 pairs of Main and Prime statuses with one of the Mains to be transformed into a Major. USA has got a total of 5 "pairs" divided into USA West (3) and USA East (2).

Theoretically the Major status could be in any of the sub regions but the World Championship should always have a Major status. If not having a World Championship (like in the East Atlantic region) the Major is most likley to go to the most important competition in the bigger sub region(s) (Being "Europe" in the East Atlantic region and "USA West" in the West Atlantic region).

So, one of the 3 Mains in the "USA West" region will be transformed into a Major status which gives 1 Major, 2 Main and 3 Prime statuses. I have updated the first topic to show this better now. It was not very clear before because it was not yet sure if the World Championships would be in Morro Bay or not this year. Now this is settled.

[Hans Koraeus]

Another thing. This makes "USA West" have the same problem as "Europe". More organizers wanting the Main status than there are Main statuses to give out. It's tough but it is also a competition between organizers. In these cases one can share statuses over two years. One year event A get the Main status and the next year Event B will have it. For the World Ranking this will balance things up correctly since multiple seasons are included.

But remember the World Ranking is handling a World balance (where the local region balance is only a part of it) and is not the only reason to go to a competition. There are many other reasons (like yearly Cups and Series) to travel and compete for important points. So people/organizers should not get too blinded by these statuses. The World Ranking statuses are not the perfect ranking of events on the local region slalom scene alone. It is more important for the out of region skaters traveling (and paying extra for this with time and money) to compete in other regions.

[Hans Koraeus]

La Costa, June 25-26. Main status?
US Nationals, August 20 - 21, Breckenridge, Colorado. Sounds like a Main to me.

With the time advance rule of 3 months for a Main status La Costa has to be decided before March 25.

And if US nationals is a given Main it means a decision weather La Costa or Hood River gets the Main status.

[Gary Fluitt]

Corky,
I now understand the 1 Main event being bumped up to Major, leaving only 2 Main events for US West.

In my mind the US Nationals (Breckenridge) should be a main. The dates are set (8/20-21), as are the venues, though it is not yet on the contest calendar on ncdsa, it is on the contest schedule on this site. It will be on ncdsa in a week or so.

As for the other Main event, I agree it is either Hood or San Diego (since now the La Costa hill is definitely a no-go by the City of Carlsbad).

Both Hood and San Diego events are still under discussion. But March 15 is only 2 weeks away. Is there anyway to extend this deadline to say March 30?

If the deadline is not negotiable, I suppose that Hood will "win" the other Main Event status if Tiger and crew in San Diego don't secure a venue in the next two weeks.

The SoCal crew will no doubt respond to this with "who cares"? about the WR status of San Diego, until the end of the year when the points are tallied and the event is considered Prime. Then the bitching and moaning will begin.

[Gary Fluitt]

Corky,
The US WEST Main events are rapidly approaching but I haven't seen anyone advocating for the San Diego or Hood races. There is some discussion now about focusing on the Final BLR Pump Station race as a possible Main event for So Cal this year. But that decision needs to be made by Tuesday according to the rules.

Please go ahead and fix the US Nationals in Breckenridge as the other Main, unless someone has a problem with that?

Also, I would like to see the Colorado Cup fixed for the Prime Status. This will be a high profile event with at least 3 current World Champions in the race.

[Jim Weatherwax]

There are more people signed up for the PPS/Sector9 Northern Colorado Outlaw, including the same champs as Colo. Cup so where should it fit in?

[Hans Koraeus]

Jim, if you mean PPS Northern ColoRADo Outlaw Battle Saturday, April 23 it is too late to give it a Prime Status now. It should have been done at the latest 2 months before the event date (i.e. February 23).

The urgent status descision is weather La Costa June 25-26 will get Main Status. This should be decided latest 3 months before the event date, i.e. March 25-26.

If you want BLR/LCB OUTLAW SERIES VI, June 19, Pump Station to be a Main Status instead of La Costa and Gorge Games it has to be decided before March 19. What talks against Pump station is that it only has one discipline. Since you can count 2 discipline results per event the West USA region will loose some of its opportunity to gain World Ranking points that way.

Anyways, it would be great to have all this settled as soon as possible for everyone. I can tell you it was hard for the European region as well this year.

I will register US Nationals August 20-21 Breckenridge as a Main status. (See first topic for current situation)

Once you have decided who will get the last Main Status your World Rank status calendar is settled.

[Gary Fluitt]

Corky,
What about Colorado Cup making Prime status? It's unclear above.

I forgot about the two discipline thing. That is a disadvantage of Pump Station. Would it be possible to split that main? Give the GS discipline to Pump Station and the TS discipline to Hood? This would make everybody happy and spread the wealth.

Let me know what you think.

[Hans Koraeus]

What I understand...

- La Costa, Hood and Pump VI have had voices for giving them "Main Status".
- Colorado Cup is proposed for a "Prime Status"

There is only one Main Status left. There are three Prime Statuses still to set. Once one of La Costa, Hood or Pump VI has been choosen for a Main Status the others will become Prime together with Colorado Cup.

Splitting statuses.
I know this is a tempting idea and it would work for local rankings. But it's against the basic idea of the World Ranking which in many ways are built around some sort of travel balance. It would not be a problem for Californians to split up high statuses because it's easy for them to travel to the competitions but for out of region skaters it would be a great disadvantage due to travel expenses and the likes. I found these quotes at www.SlalomRanking.com

Some regions with a high level skateboard slalom scene may very well set up 10 competitions with a high level field of skaters. For those in the local region it is not a problem attending them all. But for out of region skaters it is. This is why each region has to filter out those who will have a higher status and extra points to fight about towards the World Ranking. That way out of region skaters can make a better judgement of their travel plans. In some regions going to a lower status competition may very well have just as high a level of field as a higher status competition. It's just that the World Ranking points to earn are lower.

Some regions may have a hard time selecting out competitions with high statuses for a season. Especially if there are more high-level competitions planned than there are statuses to give out. In these situations we should not forget that some of the World Rankings counts over a 4-year period. If some are missing out one year they will most likely have priority for the next year. That will not change the big picture of the total ranking. It may have some impact of the yearly rankings though.

Just a thought
An organizer proposed for a World Ranking Main Status that are thinking "cross border", i.e. aiming for racers to come from outside their own region, should in my view have an advantage of getting that status. In other words if any of these organizers are working and planning hard to get riders to come from eastern USA, Canada, South America or even better from Europe then they should have credit for that.

Good luck!

[Hans Koraeus]

La Costa is pulling itself off the calendar for the moment.

So then it's between Pump Station (June 19) and Hood River (July 15-16). According to the rules it has to be decided whether Pump Station gets Main status Today.

We live by the rules, we die by the rules.

[Gary Fluitt]

A month has gone by and no one asked for Pump Station to be a Main event. I don't know why. Perhaps because it's a single lane- single race.
Therefore, I propose that Hood River be the final Main Event in USA West.
Anyone have heartburn with that?
I have nothing to gain in this recommendation as I cannot attend Hood. I just think it has permits, multiple events, history, and it falls within the time frame I think. Plus it's the only American race in all of July that I know about and will probably get a ton of racers.
All in favor?

[Michael Dong]

Hood River should be the main. It is a multi-day event and includes a mammoth GS, and dual slalom events.

Michael

[Maria Carrasco]

Bomber seconds that (or maybe that's third?) Hood River for sure! The GS is one of the best with length, surface and speed! . . . and they always run tight too.

PS -- I'm voting by Proxy for the Brown Bomber.

[Hans Koraeus]

Almost all the higher statuses are set for 2005 now. Have a look here.

[Hans Koraeus]

Closing down this topic and opens up new topic for 2006 season