US Nationals 2006: is it open to "gaijin"?

[Stefano Bellingeri]

Dear all,
I was seriously thinking about getting holiday for three weeks in August and participate to the US Nationals (Aug 18-20, Boulder/Denver/Golden Colorado, USA;SuperG, Giant, Tight)
on my last holiday WE.
This means that I would be pleased to organise with my wife a trip to Colorado, living there for three weeks and then participate to the race.
Is this event open to foreigners or I should have US citizenship to participate?
Thank you in advance for your kind cooperation and, hopefully CU there!
Cheers,
Stefano

[Karl Floitgraf]

I'm sure Gary will let you race. Funny story though, 2 years ago I went to the European Championships in Köln, I was the only American at the whole event and they actually said I may not be able to place. Fortunately I am a dual citizen of Germany, so I just registered with that. Which is why even though I live in America, 2 houses from where JG lived I'm in the World Ranking as a German.

[Hans Koraeus]

All events are open to everyone. It's just that as an American you can't be a European champion and as an Italian you can't be the US Champion.

At the latest European Championships in Stockholm that hosted many racers from outside Europe we even made two different result lists. One with everyone and another only with Europeans.

Mind that for the World Ranking the result list used is always the one containing everybody.

[Marty Schaub]

So in other words Stefano, We'll see you in Colorado.

[Joe Iacovelli]

Stefano,

Two weeks before the US Champ is the Farm. It's 40 minutes North of New York City. You will probably have to connect thru NY anyway. It will be our 6th year and maybe it's the best race, but everyone who has been can tell you it is surely the most fun race.

Let me know if you need help. I can hook up transport, lodging, even a tour of New York City.

Joe Iacovelli

[Stefano Bellingeri]

Dear all,
few words just to thank everybody for the quick reply.
In the next tw months I will start to plan the vacation. For what conerns the farm, please let me think about visiting NYC. I have been there already once. and I found it wonderful. So why not? Just let me check about the budget and about the period.
I will let you know. For what concerns the accomodation what do you think for the nationals? Will be there some nice place at a reasonable price?
Thanks again,

Stefano

[Claude Regnier]

Stefano, they are still planning the event as it is being moved from Breck. It will be around the Denver area. There will be lots of places to stay for a resonable price and then there will be the deals brought to us by the organisers.

It will be great as the COSS crew is one of the best at putting on events with the racers in mind.

[Gary Fluitt]

Stefano,
We would love to have you race at the Nationals. We'll even play the Italian National Anthem if you win. But that will be difficult as Colorado is the center of the slalom universe. 4 World Champions live and train here, and a National Champ too. Any takers on who those people are?
We are discussing the logistics and the vibe of the Nationals now amongst ourselves. We should have details to share with you all next month, but the Cnuck is correct that the event will not be in Breckenridge this year. Four years of faulty weather has worn us down, and we're trying to provide the best possible race experience, now in the foothills, some 5000 feet elevation lower than Breck around Boulder and Golden, where we can more easily deal with the logistics, and it will be MUCH easier for travelers to attend the race.
that's all for now.
Gary

[Stefano Bellingeri]

Thanks for the info!
I will wait for more details. In the meanwhile I gonna try to convince Luca Giammarco to come there as well. You may not know but we are living three hundreds meters far from each other (in Torino) and we train together since we were kids. The only point is that I stopped to skate for 22 years (!) before my come back in Antibes last year. So, if Luca is going to come, may be not for me, but at least for him may be you would have the possibility to play the Italian National Anthem....
We will see, anyway. The most important part is to meet all together and to give me the possibility to be a proud part of the game. I thank you all in advance for this opportunity!
Please let me know all the details for the accomodation and the exact location of each race.
I wish you all the best for you training sessions,

Stefano

[Gary Fluitt]

If you can persuade Luca to come to the US Nationals we will get your national anthem qued up cause I'm sure we'd be playing it more than once. We are assembling some details next week and will post them on this site.
thanks,
gary

[Donald Campbell]

i'm also thinking about visiting either the us-nationals or la costa.heiko might chime in too.
it depends on another project we have at that time in cali.

[Gary Fluitt]

we would love to have an international continget in Colorado for the Nationals. Claude has been our only Int'l competitor to date, and he did pretty well if I remember correctly. We will make sure to find you accomodations should you come that distance to our humble race. GREAT parks in Colorado too, if you are so inclinded and you have a car. This will be a really fun event with a great vibe, we guarantee that. The only thing we don't guarantee is perfect weather....but that is the reason for moving down the hill to the Front Range, to give us the best possible chance for success.