SLED DOGS AND SKI DOGS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS BESSANS (HAUTE MAURIENNE VANOISE SAVOIE FRANCE) JANUARY 29th to FEBRUARY 2nd 2019 1
2
SUMMARY Ifss World Championships.What is it?...04 More than a century for the sport..06 Bessans, a historical land for sled dogs in France..07 Program of the championships.. 08 Race categories.10 The canine athletes 12 The respect of the dogs first 14 The trails of Bessans... 15 Lekkarod, a club, and a popular stage race 18 The teams of vonuteers...19 Lekka and Rod, les mascots..21 The logo of the 2019 IFSS World Championships..22 The IFSS..23 The FFST.24 To know more...25 Your contacts..25 3
THE IFSS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS WHAT IS IT? In 2019, Bessans will host the 18th edition of the world championships for sled-dogs, ski-pulka and ski-joring. These winter sports are the only ones where humans and dogs share the same effort, both physical and mental, the human athlete being in post cases the limiting factor of a canine performance that leaves spectators voiceless! All the categories of our sport will be represented in Bessans, where more than300 teams are expected, regroupingaround1400 canine athletes coming from more than 25 nations. Races will include 1, 2 or 3 heats (one per day in the same category), but also relays and combined races, all of that with a technical and security organisation equivalent to those of such events in major sports. A very dense program will be offered, races following races in a «non stop» continuum from 8 am to 7 pm every day. This means a perfect preparation of the different trails, and a top level marking (teams will reach an average speed of 30/32 km/h on distances ranging from 8 to 38 kilometers). Performance will be at its highest level, as the best teams on earth will be here, coming from several continents. One should not miss the «mass start» races, where all competitors start together, and the fantastics relays! 4
FOR THE FIRST TIME IN FRANCE SINCE THEIR CREATION IN 1990 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 SAINT MORITZ - SILS WINNIPEG BADMITTENDORF FAIRBANKS ALASKA TODTMOOS LAKE PLACID NY JOENSUU SILS MARQUETTE MC TODTMOOS BERNAU DAWSON CITY GAFSELE DAAQUAM QUEBEC HAMAR OSLO NORTH POLE ALASKA BERNAU TODTMOSS HALIBURTON FOREST BESSANS - BONNEVAL 5
MORE THAN 100 YEARS OF SLED DOG SPORTS To understand a sport, one must know its history The first references to sled dog teams conpetitions can be found in the 19th century in Canada. In Alaska, at the end of the 19th century, the Gold Rush induced a strong demand for pulling dogs. Dogs were very important in the daily life of gold miners at that time, and when the rush ended, they turned their working sled dog teams to racing ones in order to keep their dogs and do something. Slowly the sled dog sport turned out to be more and more important in all the snowy countries of the north american continent. In 1932, the sled dog sport appeared at the Olympic Games in Lake Placid (New York State). In Europe, the sport first developped in Scandinavia, where ski-pulka with hunting dogs became popular in the 1930 s. The first club was founded in Norway in 1936, quickly followed by numerous others in other scandinavian countries. In central and western Europe, the sport really started in the early 1960 s. The first french race was held in february 1978, organised at La Schlucht Pass (Alsace). In 1983 the national clubs from France, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway founded the European Sled Dog Racing Association (ESDRA), in order to coordonate the development of the different disciplines in Europe. The first european championship was set up in 1984 in Sils/St Moritz (Switzerland). The structuration of an International federation for Sled dog Sport (IFSS) followed, with the same goal on on planet scale, and this allowed the appearance of the sled dog sport in demonstration and exhibition for the Olympic Games of Albertville (1992 France) and Lillehammer (1994 Norway). 6
BESSANS: A HISTORICAL VILLAGE OF HAUTE MAURIENNE VANOISE THE FRENCH CAPITAL FOR BIATHLON AND SLED DOGS! Bessans and Bonneval (village at the foot of the famous Iseran Pass where some of the world championships trails will go) are among the nicest mountain villages of France! Bessans Has been known for a long time as a kind of epicenter for both biathlon and sled dogs competitions, due to the quality of the trails and the amount of snow, but since the early 1980 s it has been the reference site for the french sled dog sport; the famous «Alpirod» was there in the 1990 s, and since2015 the Lekkarod, that organises the 2018 world championships in the name of the french federationffst. With its 350 inhabitants, Bessans remains a magic site, ancestral Savoie village, with people fully passioned by their mountains, their nature, and the snow that sometimes falls even too much in this area! Reknown for its cross country skiing marathon, that hosts each year tens of thousands of participants, but also for being a marvelous training site for numerous national biathlon teams, Bessans is in the middle of magnificent scenaris, as much as Bonneval, considered as one of the nicest villages of France. 7
THE PROGRAM OF THE CHAMPIONSHIPS - Tuesday Jan 29th: - Wednesday Jan 30th: - Thursday Jan 31st: - Firday Feb 1st: - Saturday Feb 2nd: Opening ceremony Competitions Day 1 Competitions Day 2 Competitions Day 3 Competitions Day 4 Closing ceremony 8
THE PROGRAM OF THE CHAMPIONSHIPS DETAIL OF THE COMPETITIONS Tuesday January 29th: Opening Ceremony WednesdayJanuary 30th: - Sled: Categories Sp4, Sp4j, Sp6, Sp8, MD6, MD12 - Ski-dogs: Categories PM1, PW1, PMJ, PWJ, MDSMW Thursday January 31st: - Sled: Categories Sp4, Sp4j, Sp6, Sp8, SpU, MD6, MD12 - Ski-dogs: Categories SM1, SW1, SMJ, SWJ, MDSMW Medal ceremonies categories Pulka, Skijoring and Sp4 Mushers diner Friday February 1st: - Sled: Categories Sp4MS, Sp4j, Sp6, Sp8, SpU, MD6, MD12 - Ski-dogs: Categories CM, CW, CMJ, CWJ, MDSMW Medal ceremonies categories Combined, Sp4MS, Sp4j, Sp6, Sp8, SpU, MD6, MD12 and MDSMW Saturday February 2nd: - Ski-dogs: Categories SM2, SW2 - Relay: Skijoring 1 dog, Pulka 1 dog and Sp4 Medal ceremonies categories SM2, SW2 and Relay Closing ceremony 9
RACING CATEGORIES SKIDOG PULKA 4 DOGS 6 DOGS 8 DOGS UNLIMITED DISTANCES PER HEAT: 8 to 35 km depending on category RELAYS BY NATIONAL TEAMS 10
RACING CATEGORIES: A SMALL LEXICON - Sp4: Sprint 4 dogs - Sp4MS: Sprint 4 dogs Mass Start - Sp4j: Sprint 4 dogs Junior - Sp6: Sprint 6 dogs - Sp8: Sprint 8 dogs - Sp12: Sprint 12 dogs - SpU: Sprint unlimited - MD6: Mid Distance 6 dogs - MD12: Mid Distance 12 dogs - PM1: Pulka Man 1 dog - PW1: Pulka Woman 1 dog - PMj: Pulka Man junior 1 dog - PWj: Pulka Woman junior 1 dog - SM1: Skijoering Man 1 dog - SW1: Skijoering Woman 1 dog - SMj: Skijoering Man junior 1 dog - SWj: Skijoering Woman junior 1 dog - CM: Combined Man - CW: Combined Woman - CMj: Combined Man junior - CWj: Combined Woman junior - SM2: Skijoering Man 2 dogs - SW2: Skijoering Woman 2 dogs - MDSMW: Skijoering Mid Distance Man and Woman 2 dogs 11
THE CANINE ATHLETES SIBERIAN HUSKIES ALASKAN HUSKIES NORWEGIAN HOUNDS GREYSTERS EUROHOUNDS 12
THE CANINE ATHLETES: PREPARATION To be able to race on distances from 8 to 38 km at average speed faster than those of human sprinters running 100 meters is linked to genetic capacities of all these dogs, but not only! It is also the result of a lot of very serious preparation work done by their musher or skier. And dogs only run if they will to do so, and if they find pleasure in it, as the human competitor only uses his voice to help them or convince them to race! This «will to go» could not be obtained if one tried to «force» the dogs to run. Dos perform only if they want to and if they are correctly prepared to! This mental and physical preparation involves 3 different aspects that are closely linked one with the other: - The notion of game and happyness for the dog; all dogs love to run, love to pull something, as long as they share it with their human companion or with other dogs. - The physical training, that must be regular and included into a progressive training program and adapted to the type of competition; it is very often realised off snow (with karts or bikes), very early in the morning (to avoid heat stress for the dogs), and must stay funny and varied. - The nutrition, particularly worked by scientific research since years, because these dogs have very specific nutritional requirements, and not only in term of energy. Feeding correctly a racing sled dogs means a perfect respect of his physiology, but also use the correct nutrients in order to help enhancing the performance and moreover prevent the eventual pathological problems. In the «dog world», sled dogs could be compared as the Formula 1 cars for the public, even of course if dogs will never be considered as machines! 13
RESPECT OF THE DOGS FIRST It is impossible to practice any of the sled dog sports without a perfect respect of the animal and a very strong relationship between the musher or the skier and his dogs. And it goes the same way for a race organisation or a national federation, for whom a complete respect of the animal welfare is a major issue. It explains that the racing rules are very strict and enforced, as are the anti-doping controls that will be performed during the world championships on both dogs and humans. A very experienced team of 10 veterinarians, helped by veterinary students from the 4 french national veterinary schools, will be on site 24/24 to help dogs and mushers with any kind of problems appearing on a dog. Canine sport medicine is now a fully recognised speciality among the european veterinary medicine world (European College of Veterinary Sport Medicine and Rehabilitation). 14
THE TRAILS OF BESSANS SPRINT: 8 km SPRINT: 13 km 15
THE TRAILS OF BESSANS SPRINT: 16 km SPRINT: 24 km 16
THE TRAILS OF BESSANS MID-DISTANCE: 37 km 17
LEKKAROD THE ORGANISING CLUB Created in 2014 by a group of passioned people, led by Dominique Grandjean, a world reknowed veterinarian, professor at Alfort National Veterinary School (Paris, France), Lekkarod s motto is «Our dogs have a Heart». Therefor it sounds logic that sled dogs try to help their friends dogs who use their nose to help and save people on a daily base: the Kdog project from the Curie Institute is pushed by Lekka and Rod (early breast cancer detection by sniffing dogs), with other projects running on cancers detection by the dog nose (colon, prostate, bladder ). Lekkarod is also a partner of Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque through the «Vets who have a heart». Since 4 years, Lekkarod has grown up, and more than 70 international teams entered the 2018 edition of this «special» stage race, based on the «one welfare» concept if dogs are happy, mushers are happy! Lekkarod 2019 will take place from march 15th to march 24th in 2019. Respect of Dogs and Humans Respect of Nature and Environment Ancestry and Competition Science and Pedagogy The key words of Lekkarod! 18
AN ORGANISATION 100% MADE OF VOLUNTEERS WHO ARE ALL EXPERIENCED ENTHUSIASTS 19
THE TEAMS OF THE ORGANISATION RACE DIRECTION RACE MARSHALL RACE JUDGES VETERINARY TEAM HUMAN MEDICINE SECRETARIAT MARKING SECURITY TIMING SOCIAL MEDIAS RELATIONS MUSHERS PRODUCTION PHOTOS-VIDEOS ANIMATION RESTAURATION PARKINGS MUSHERS MERCHANDISING DOPING CONTROLS OFFICIALS OFFICES PARTNERS ENVIRONMENT 20
THE MASCOTS Lekka and Rod will be the mascots of the championships, both born in 2016. Lekka is a small alaskan husky female, Rod is the nicest siberian husky. Ils accompagneront les concurrents au quotidien avant, pendant et après la course! Lekka signifie «chien» en vieux patois bessannais, Rod rend hommage à l Iditarod, la plus grande course de traineau au monde. 21
THE LOGO OF THE CHAMPIONSHIPS THE FRENCH HEXAGON THE MOUNTAINS OF HAUTE MAURIENNE VANOISE THE 3 COLORS OF FRANCE RACING HARNESSED DOG REPRESENTING THE DIFFERENT RACE CATEGORIES 22
IFSS INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION for SLEDDOG SPORTS Created in 1985, the IFSS is the international structure that officially rules the sled dog sports, including «snowland» and «dryland» competitions. IFSS is a member of GAISF (General Association of International Sports Federations), that depends of the IOC (International Olympic Committe), recently renamed «SportAccord». The IFSS works for the full winter Olympics recognition of the sports, as equestrian are part of the summer. Since 2011 IFSS il also a member of IMGA (International Masters Game Association). The headquaters of IFSS is located in Brussels (Belgium) and its Chairwoman is the swedish Helen Lundberg, assisted by personalities coming from the 5 continents. A continental governing body is also organised. 37 countries are members of IFSS: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Tcheque Republic, Danmark, Finland, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Hongaria, Ireland, Italy, Corea, Lettonie, Lituanie, Holand, New Zeland, Norway, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United States, Andorra, Argentina, Belarussia, Brasil, Estonia, Iceland, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Slovenia, Ukraine 23
FFST FEDERATION FRANCAISE des SPORTS de TRAINEAU The «Fédération Française des Sports de Traîneau», of sk joëring and canicross (FFST) is a non profit association that organises and develops the sports in France since the 80 s. With members and clubs spread into Régional Leagues and Department Committees, the FFST has the following missions: Help the promotion and the education through sport activities. Promote the access for everybody to physical and sport activities. Train educators, trainers, and club managers. Organise and train the judges for the different disciplines. Enforce the respect of technical and ethical rules of the sport. Deliver the tittles of French Champion in the diffrent disciplines of the sport. The FFST manages the organisation of all the french national championships. Officially agreed by the french ministry of sports, the FFST represents sled dog sports, le sk joëring, bikecross and canicross in the different official national and international organisations. The FFST is represented in the french national olympic committe and is a member of IFSS. 70 Clubs dispatched over France French Championships snow and dryland World Cup competitions Diplomas trainings 24
TO KNOW MORE - WORLD CHAMPS 2019 : http://ifss2019.com/ - IFSS : http://www.sleddogsport.net/ - FFST : https://www.ffst.info/ - LEKKAROD : http://www.lekkarod.com - BESSANS : http://www.haute-maurienne-vanoise.com/ - WORL CHAMPS : ifss2019wc - IFSS : sleddog.sports - FFST : ffst.fr - LEKKAROD : lekkarod CONTACTS - Organisation, Informations : Prof Dominique GRANDJEAN dominique.grandjean@vet-alfort.fr +33143967103 or +33610153080 - Veterinary informations: Dr Delphine CLERO delphine.clero@vet-alfort.fr +33143967204 ou +33613321013 - Images and media supports: Stéphane TRENTESAUX stephanetsx@gmail.com +33641671370 - Relations with partners: Clothilde LECOQ clothilde.lecoq@yahoo.fr +33619920418 25
26