SVO: Planning for the coming winter is already underway

The Nordic team of the Oberland Ski Association draw a positive winter conclusion for cross-country skiing - and are already planning the coming season.

Hausham - Oliver Kesper, Nordic sports manager in the Oberland Ski Association (SVO), can look back on a “season that is unusual in many ways”. With less snow than ever before, it required long distances to train in the snow, many race failures and relocations, and was recently abruptly ended by Covid-19. Kesper's balance sheet is nevertheless positive. The season also showed that cross-country skiing is still popular in the Oberland. "The achievements of the young cross-country athletes from the Oberland can be seen in top and breadth."

So 15 clubs fed the regional Raiffeisen Cup. 43 active athletes went on the track at the Bavarian Championships and there were also some top ten finishes at the national level. Successes that are also an expression of the very good collaboration across clubs and ski associations, in which everyone works selflessly in the spirit of sport. After a very good and mostly scheduled preparation under Manuela Gschwendner, Otto Schwarz (student) and Sebastian Eisenhut (youth), the search for snow began with the start of the calendar winter.

Sufficiently good training and competition conditions were only found in Bayrischzell, Kreuth and on Spitzingsee and Sutten. The Oberlanders often went to Tirol or the Werdenfelser Land. This also applies to the Raiffeisen Cup for U8 to U18. Only four of the originally seven planned races could take place. Nevertheless, with 233 young cross-country skiers, there was the second largest field of participants in the past ten years.

Applications for the school cup and Bavarian championship

After the cancellation or postponement of the first four races and the planned German school cup in Hartpenning (we reported), SC Bayrischzell used a short period of snowfall to open the Raiffeisen Cup on January 26 with the Franz Berger Memorial Run. The SC Bad Tölz was allowed to use the trails in Kaltenbrunn near Garmisch for his Bernau memory run, while the SC Lenggries could switch to Steinberg am Rofan and offer the best conditions for the first partial competition of the regional championships. The Hermine-Sepp-Resch Memorial Run was held in Kreuth at the beginning of March under heavy corona conditions, while Rottach was not allowed to make up for the Gustl-Moschner Memorial Run scheduled for March 14.

“The season was similar at national and national level. Race relocations and cancellations were the order of the day, ”Kesper sums up and explains that the training now mainly takes place virtually:“ But an attempt is being made to make the best of the situation. ”The best example of how good the mood is among the SVO clubs are even after this difficult winter, are the new applications of the organizer community for TSV Hartpenning (together with SC Hochvogel Munich, SC Lenggries and SC Gaißach) for the German School Cup 2021, and the SC Lenggries for the Bavarian Championships.

First of all, however, it is important to make up for the end of the season celebration as soon as the circumstances allow - and to celebrate the successes of the past season together.