ISSA - International Slalom Skateboarding Association

This is the first announcement for Désaxé Slalom World Cup 2008. I'll come back with more info later and keep this thread updated.

Date: September 13-14, 2008
Location: Grenoble, France. Straight and special on the flat at the Olympic Stadium. Giant in a nearby village - 700 m long course.
Disciplines: Straight, Special and Giant

Organized by: Désaxé in collaboration with Riderz, ConeRacing and Comité National Descente (CND)
Main organizer: Philippe of Désaxé (contact@desaxe-skateslalom.com)
Racer contact: rider@desaxe-skateslalom.com or Jani Soderhall (Jani@slalomskateboarder.com)
Event website with online registration: www.desaxe-skateslalom.com (not yet updated for 2008)

Timing equipment: Trackmate with ExcelMate by EttSexEtt

Welcome!

/Jani

Some news about the 2nd Desaxé Championship !

As we said, here are the pictures of the giant spot that you will ride the saturday in the morning.
Much different from the past year and not far from the Olympic stadium.

Google Map the exact location :
http://maps.google.fr/maps?f=q&hl=fr&ge ... iwloc=addr

To see the pictures of the last year's event : www.descente.fr

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Thanks; I've added the Google URL to my French slalom locations

Please also place the TS location (Google URL) here. And additional public transport information is also welcome.

(the Lyon Parilly 2007 DVD should be ready in a few weeks)

Hi there, the registrations will open on the event website in a week and a half !
http://www.desaxe-skateslalom.com/ (not opened yet)

Here is the rider information pack for the 2008 event :
http://www.descente.fr/data/080601-Gren ... ers-EN.pdf

See you !

I'll be there

Registrations are open! Have a look to the internet site
Olympic stadium for tight and special and a very fast long road for a true giant!
http://www.desaxe-skateslalom.com/

See you.

flat is DEAD and shall remain DEAD.
when will you finally face the facts?
grenoble could be kick ass without the ice stadium involved.

Thank you Donald for your very interesting post.
Positiv and constructiv as usual.
Have a good day.

hey pierre
thanks a lot for your reply.
it's always good to see open-minded people here on the forum which are eager to follow new trends and try to be up to date to GROW the sport!

Don, slope is a good thing... we all like speed, and it s more attractive for media... I agree on that point...

but it s not exclusive : audience, start ramps, facilities for racers, prize money for pros, respect of what is announced before the event etc etc are also important

i really prefer a WELL ORGANISED event on flat than a sloped race with nothing coming with!

In a perfect world, we can have a sloped & well organised event... but I am sure you know wich are the difficulties to organize an event, and then you will agree that people works hard and give their best on this event, and that Grenoble will be better than last year...

and if we support this event, it should be even better next year

Guillaume Saint-Criq wrote:
and if we support this event, it should be even better next year

Maybe then they'll change the law of physics for us...


Let's see how it turns out. Go there with high expectations and it's not a good event. Go there with bad presumptions and you make it a bad event. Go there with no expectations and it's a good event. That's what I experienced. So I won't bring a lot of expectations

rmn

.......other than to win I hope?

News informations about giant place. 8 to 12% slope and 550 meters long. Forgot the poor flat place" we had for the giant last year!
Grenoble propose step slope for those who like speed and flat for the technical races with a lot of public sitting in a olympic stadium. What can be better for slalom skate (unfortunatly stadium is flat, but the concrete is perfect and fast. (which is better than poor dusty asphalt with 2% we sometime find on certain race.)
A party will be held on the stadium with live music and a lot of animation for the public and the racers.

We are waiting all the racers for the last big european event of the season
and especially all the dead people who still practise on flat surface. Janis and the letvians, russians girls, swedish in their winter training subgarage, Paul, Mickael, Sam and all the brits...

Have fun. See you in Grenoble.

Registration here
http://www.desaxe-skateslalom.com/

Pierre, any idea how the prize money will be distributed?
I guess, the better your result the more money you can win.
But could give us further details, please?

Steve, infos about the prize money are in the riders's document to download here.

News about the event, local riders made a little Google earth schematic about the spots in the city :
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2105/248 ... 6782_o.jpg

And as some would like more slope... if the giant is not enough, we will also have a 1m80 high skateboard ramp next to the slalom race, in the stadium !

And a good news for the girls : There will be a week of vacation with the UCPA to win for the best girl, if they are at least 12 to compete !

I could not find any information about who gets how much money in each discipline in your rider's document.

As far I know. Prize money is 3000€ I 'm not sure about the distribution system. I ask to Philippe and tell you more.
Happy to see you can be interest to come in Grenoble Steve . I remember you like fast big giant as I!
Ok straight and special are on the flat but the stadium, the public and the excellent asphalt make you forget that.

Expect to see you in Grenoble Steve.

About prize money : About 3000 € (depend of how many racer coming).
Organizer explain me that : There will be price money for each slalom (giant, straight, spécial) and not on the overall ranking. Let's chance to good giant specialist to catch some money!

Is there a bus from Lyon airport to Grenoble?

Guilluame and Sandrine...thanks for the poster!

Martin.

Antonio Saluena wrote:Is there a bus from Lyon airport to Grenoble?

Yes, line 7310 !

http://www.grenoble-airport.com/-Navett ... eres-.html
http://www.transisere.com/horaires_lign ... ign_id=579

Thank you! I'll see if I can find tickets...

Antonio

Uhm the straight pro will be 1.60, right? No dry hump this yeah, huh?

rmn

and max 1,70 m for the ams !

Michel Dupont wrote:and max 1,70 m for the ams !

rmn

The straight will be 170 for everybody.

The giant will be fast and long. (10% about 500 meters long) certainly one of the fastest and longest giant of the season

The special will be technical.


Very interesting fight with the 3 K (Konighausen, Kowalski, Kuzmins) and we expect a lot of good challenger... the come back of Luca?? The swedish team?

Time to register for the last european main of the season.
Since I stop racing I've no occasion to see all my friend from the slalom scene.


See you in Grenoble.

Huh, maybe two of the three K's will be in Eastbourne, UK, attending an IGSA Downhill Worldcup.

I highly recommend to run 1.60m to raise the level for the Pros. They deserve racing on a technical, faster looking course. And speaking out for the three Status Marshalls (here I'd like to quote Jani:

Jani Soderhall wrote:Ramon,

Have you forgotten that you're the one with the power in your hands? You've got something stronger than the petition. You're one of the three European ranking marshals. You can decide that races with flat courses are not worthy of the status they've asked for. Use that option, if it's that important for you. Of course, bear in mind, that it may de-motivate some organizers, who in the worst case, will refrain from organizing events, but if it's that vital, YOU can decide it's worth the sacrifice.

Just wanted to remind you that the power is in your hands...

/Jani

), they would like to see some real action going on on the flats of Grenoble. Let's do it for the Spectators. Listen to the Pros, what they would like to ride. However, this is just my (and my co-marshall's) opinion.

rmn

Ramón Königshausen wrote:Huh, maybe two of the three K's will be in Eastbourne, UK, attending an IGSA Downhill Worldcup.

The giant of Grenoble will be a better downhill spot than the Eastbourne's downhill spot...
And i don't even talk about the mountain spots all around Grenoble if you want to go some downhill.
It's up to you for those who want to ride !

No problem guy. Go to eastbourne. Nice place to learn downhill. 55km/h max speed and 50 secondes long. Funny that you prefer flat place for downhill than for slalom.

I expect you will be in Izoard too...I think it's "hum" a little bit more technical and speed...
See you was 20th and Dom 60th in Peyragudes. mmmh still learning... Eastbourne isn't a solution but can help you to improve.

About the cones distance.
In Paris the tight pros was too technical and practicly everybody hit cones (lot of cones) 8 for you on the first run Ramon...do you enjoy it? 16 for Paul Price who isn't a beginner!!!
Bad for the public, bad for the cones marshall. What's the interest?
I ear it was the same problem in Goteberg. In Grenoble it won't be. Very good racer can easily do the slalom without penality. And the others even those who use classic truck, even those who are not champions can expect to do it. Everybody must have fun. Not only the very strong racers.


Ok we have the same discussion last year and the year before. Always some think (or may be one) we have to adapt the slalom to them.
I've a very long experience in slalom sport since 30 years (ski, snowboard, skate)
I never see this problem before. Coach do that sometime but never a racer.

I take one week-end to help and bring my experience in Grenoble. I'm racing no more and just want to see smilies faces having fun. Don't want to see people who always put trouble.

End of this tiring discussion.

Quite honest, I prefer a "beginners downhill" rather than a 1.70 Straight Slalom on the flat. But too bad I missed the inscription for Eastbourne so I see myself end up practising 1.70 with my GS board.

Another thing you have to consider with the Paris competition: The bumps towards the end of the course are very distracting. But yes, I enjoyed it. I loved the competiton of such a demanding course. You really wanna go for it without hitting cones. Everything else feels like a dry h.... And if I look up the results from last year's Grenoble competition I never ever hit any cone in the 1.70 Staight on flat.

However, let me tell you about yet another thing: I barely "practise" downhill. Which means I do not often put my leathers on and stand on my Martin Siegrist Foam Core Downhill Speed Model. So last season I attended 3 races: Alpspeed, Rock'n'Roll and Col d'Izoard. As far as I remember every competition had up to 150 participants, most of them do downhill regularly. So now we come to the results:

Alpspeed: 8th Place, just behind Martin Siegrist (current #6) and Noah Sakamoto (current #7). Let alone who else was behind me.
Rock'n'Roll: 11th Place
Col d'Izoard (Euro Champs): 15th

So each time I made it into the top 16. This year may look a bit different, since the only Downhill comptetion I entered was Almabtrieb where the creme de la creme of Downhill was present. But still I qualified 24th and it was the first time this season that I even stood on my downhill deck. So you can't tell me I'm a beginner. (Therefore, in my eyes, all those who ride 1.70 in flat are AMs) I just weighted what would be more fun to race. 4 men head downhill race at 55km/h or 1.70m flat head-to-head - it's a hard decison, either option seems to be the worse option. We could make it easier by cutting 10cm from the cone distance that you are proposing. (btw. I wasn't in Peyragudes)

Three weeks ago, the AMATEURS World Championship was held on the flat. Guess the cone distance: 1.65! Everyone made it! (and everyone could use their TS board and GOG trucks).


Ok, finish now. Perhaps the starting ramps are 3m high to compensate it all, which I don't know, hopefully it's true!

rmn


PS: You claim it's just me who wants to race 1.60? Why not put up a poll so everyone who's competing in Grenoble can take a vote?

some thoughts...


comparing paris to a flatland race is WRONG

trying to make a rider look bad by pulling out a few results from other competitons that are not
affiliated with the topic of the discussion is WRONG

not listening to the input of a world and european champ is ARROGANT and uncalled for


i don't know if you are the ONLY organizer there pierre hopefully not.

this kind of replying to inquieries from other racers is not what we need


carry on with your ranting

I think I'm one of the few racing in the pro category who still think its fun to run a straight course, however it needs to be fast to be fun. Paris is scary but fun, Gothenburg was not straight - but it was fun.

As Ramón pointed out in Gothenburg the ams ran 1.60-1.65 straight on the flat and it was fine, so its a shame to run anything wider for the pro's. The good thing with straight courses is that it takes 5 minutes to set them and another 5 minutes to duplicate, compared with offset courses where the time setting them could be an argument for not having different courses for all classes.

I would love to change the rain in sweden for sunshine in france, but the second weekend is september is not possible for me.

On a side note, perhaps people that are not fast, do not practice or are not willing to invest 300€ in a set of trucks perhaps they should not race in the pro category. But thats another thread.

is it such a big deal to set it to 1.60m? I think those who will show up would appreciate it, think about it. It's not a big deal, is it?

WE CAN DO IT!

and yeah...it would be nice if you would leave such statistics beside...I mean I started slalom and I was almost dead last!... even Karl Fotograf beat me! hehe...which should give you an idea what my downhill experience is all about.

wanna see some smiling faces? Do it 1.60m!

Pleeeezeeee!!!!! In the name of flatness!!!!

Lets go for 1,60. it´s flat and no surprises...GO GO GO!
(and i´m the oldest one around so if i can do it....)

Fabian

maybe we could have a final word from the organizer of this race regarding the situation and his take on the debate?
pierre is only helping as he says,so he's not really the man to talk to....

Make it 1.55! ( I´m old too )

i think i'm speaking for everyone here:


WHAT DOES THE ORGANIZER SAY?

Pierre has been a bit hard but hey I can understand - is it a tradition to lobby french organizers about course settings again and again??
seems it's only french events? why?
Don't they desserve a bit of respect of their decisions??
Is it because they try to be fair and to announce details (and for example to set the course just before the race with random people of different countries...)
should they just keep quiet or just lie like some others?

As organizers in France are getting really bored of all these shitty fights and most won't continue. I hope to see great events in Switzerland, Germany and neighbours countries next year!

If AM and PRO have to have the same race, they have different good reasons for that.
So 1m70 is not a so bad compromise even if I totally agree shorter is better for PRO on flat
I'm a tight specialists now, I'm in the 8th world best tight skaters on a race with some cones distances under 1m50!
so yes shorter is a bit more challenging for the racer but hey.. all the events have to be different!
It's totally OK with the rules so respect that!

The challenge is in the race, important things is to have two parallel courses, the racers have to adapt and the fastest win. That's the game.

The show must go on! Skaters get ready:


For ramp skaters, did JS notice a nice mini-ramp will be available on the spot too?

Oh and I fogot to say taht Pierre is in charge of the slalom races and represent the event organizer for slalom related points.
so yes he is the one who deserves respect organizing races for years!

Vincent Berruchon wrote: is it a tradition to lobby french organizers about course settings again and again??
seems it's only french events? why?

No Vincent, it's not the French. Paris has always been one of my favourite events of the year.


rmn

pierre samray wrote:

I take one week-end to help and bring my experience in Grenoble.


first off,ramon is right about what he said
nobody is dissing the french races here

so what is what now?

pierre says he only helps
vinzzz says he's responsible for the races

If nothing changed, from what I know, Pierre is helping as being responsible of slalom races

I agree with you Vincent that its all about adapting, getting focused and win. And the lobbying for tighter straight courses is not special against French organizers its the same discussion for the Riga event for the last 2 years.

As I said above I totally understand if an organizer don't have different courses in special or hybrid for pro and am, but since it is so very easy and quick to set a straight course I really can't see why organizers keep running pro and am in the same course in the straight. It would even make sense for the audience 'ok, now they make the course harder, now its time for the pros'.

About courses being set the same day with random people from different countries - I love that and the only time I've seen it happen was in Antibes 2004 - way to go Pierre!

It sucks sitting at home reading on the internet that people are trying out the hill and practicing the course, still it happens at almost every race.

Anyways, good luck and please keep it up, I would like to attend more races in France!

ok...
so we have a responsible party here for the races and the modalities of the races.
pierre samray

good to know

since this discusssion goes back at least one year why not change the courses to the demands of the pro riders then?

equipment has changed riders are better than they were in the past

thats for sure

so why not just go ahead and make the courses suitable for modern demands then?

I am going to this race, and am looking forward to it. I don't care what any one says about the course. If you can't or won't skate it, don't go.
Can we get one more Skate Pro Femme for this contest so we can have a women's division?
See some of you next month.
Joyce

Wesley Tucker wrote: The problem is the ISSA is an INTERNATIONAL organization. As such rules have to be universally adopted and adhered to. This goes even moreso with Ramon's issue with flat slalom. Again, I don't know what's going on in Europe but a rule against flat slalom is irrelevant over here.

Looks like you're making me emigrate from this continent.

rmn

Joyce Wheldrake wrote:I am going to this race, and am looking forward to it. I don't care what any one says about the course.

Grenoble WILL be one of the best organized contest this year!
in my point of view, only Gothenburg or Paris can show the same organisation level.

(+++)
- race is not so expensive
- a real meal for racers (last year, it was perfect)
- a real giant spot
- competitive races, with a good timing system management
- speaker, big audience and media coverage
- infrastructure, party
- correct prize money for Pros
etc etc

(---)
2 races on flat

Comparing to last year, Grenoble had a new giant location, so we could all agree that Grenoble IMPROVE (did all races this season improve from last year?).
So let's support Grenoble !

I can only see ONE shuttle bus per day from the airport in Lyon to Grenoble. Is this correct?
Which one of the two airports in Lyon is it best to fly to??
Thank you.

Uhm, so what shall we practise now?

1.70 with the GS board

or

1.60 with the TS board?


rmn

Flavio Badenes wrote:I can only see ONE shuttle bus per day from the airport in Lyon to Grenoble. Is this correct?
Which one of the two airports in Lyon is it best to fly to??
Thank you.

Flavio, I don t know about bus shuttle, but from Lyon-Saint Exupéry Airport, you can take direct high speed train (TGV) to Grenoble (less than 1 hour travel)
There is 5 train per day :
09.46 / 11.46 / 15.46 / 19.46 / 21.46
For booking, train station is called "Lyon-Saint Exupéry"

see there :
http://www.lyon.aeroport.fr/?module=doc ... 2515070442