100 days now remain until the start of the 2008/09 FIS Tour de Ski on December 27th, 2008. At the beginning of September, a team of Tour Board members led by FIS Race Director Cross-Country Jürg Capol visited this year's four Tour host venues of Oberhof (GER), Prague, Nove Mesto (both CZE) and Val di Fiemme (ITA) for the upcoming 3rd edition of the FIS Tour de Ski performance by Craft Sportswear and discussed the status of preparations with the focus on marketing and media aspects.
The newcomer host in the 2008/09 edition of the Tour is Oberhof, the traditional German winter sports village in Thuringia. The Tour profits here from a well-proven infrastructure at the Grenzadler ski center and the experienced organizing committee which has often organized, and will again organize, the FIS Nordic Combined World Cup, as well as the IBU Biathlon World Cup.
In Prague, the organizing team led by Olympic Champion Katerina Neumannova presented the Tour inspectors with the new venue on the former world expo grounds at VýstaviÅ¡tě Praha, and spoke enthusiastically about the promotional activities planned for fans and spectators.
At the traditional Tour venues of Nove Mesto and Val di Fiemme, the focus of discussions was on refining the courses and related television coverage topics. These venues look to build upon the exciting races from last season's event.
“I'm very satisfied with the progress shown for the Tour. Our new partner Oberhof, along with the new competition site in Prague, promises to increase the value of the Tour and complements our experienced hosts in Nove Mesto and Val di Fiemme,” said Jürg Capol, FIS Race Director Cross -Country, and added: “The baby, the FIS Tour de Ski, is quickly growing up!”
Source: FIS
