Discussion: Winter World Masters Games 2024

Super exciting that SkiO again is being considered!
https://imga.ch/2021/07/26/candidate-city-for-the-...

Well that was an interesting rabbit hole...

The sports that are currently proposed in the bid are: Alpine skiing, Biathlon, Curling, Cross-Country Skiing, Figure Skating, Ice Hockey, Ski Mountaineering, Ski Orienteering, Ski Jumping & Nordic Combined, Snow Polo & Speed Skating.

Wait... Snow Polo??

Snow Polo is a version of polo which is exactly identical to that of polo, where players play the game on horsebacks, with the only difference being the surface on which games are played, which are ice surfaces; typically frozen lakes, rather than grass surfaces used for regular polo.

What could possibly go wrong?

Might as well include broomball if snow polo is included.

The gala at the snow polo world cup St. Moritz brings back fond memories of various O suppers over the years. :)

https://youtu.be/tKsFUvsIy-Y?t=577

If it's played on ice, why isn't it called ice polo?

Looks like it’s groomed snow over ice.

The work on the pitch begins in the summer. When the first snow falls, the pitch is rolled on a weekly basis. This means that hard and robust layers of snow are formed, which give grip but also guarantee a closed snow cover, in case the temperatures should rise unwantedly.

https://www.poloplus10.com/polo-on-snow-44855/

Might as well include broomball if snow polo is included.

snow polo enthusiasts probably think about the same thing of ski orienteering.

Unrelated but I once spoke with a guy who had very derogatory comments to say about MTBO, a sport he'd only just heard about when I'd mentioned it to him a minute earlier. His sport? Downhill unicycling.

Downhill unicycling - I'd definitely watch that if it was in the olympics - gotta be more exciting than weight lifting, shooting, archery . . .

Probably more interesting than what I've seen of the skateboarding so far too.

He'd never heard of my sport but was pretty quick to judge it (along with my skills as a mechanic). I'd never heard of his sport but kept quiet. Oddly enough I was there so he could replace my chain, something a unicyclist generally wouldn't have to worry about. Turns out he didn't have any even though he said on the phone that he did.

Tall unicycles do have chains. They'd be even more exciting downhill.

They are pretty good for MTBO too. You can thumb the map.

In this guy's case it would have been even better if the cycle and the rider went downhill separately.

Or if the rider was chained up?

The 2020 World Winter Masters Games were held in January 2020 in Innsbruck/Seefeld, Austria, and included Ski-Orienteering. The Ski-O events also doubled as the IOF WMSOC - World Masters Ski-O Championships, and followed that format, with Sprint, Middle, and Long Distance events. The Games Opening Ceremony was held in the evening in Innsbruck, and the Sprint and Middle Distance events started/finished in the Olympic Ski Stadium in Seefeld, and used the Olympic trails. They were a lot of fun!

If you scroll down a little in this log entry, you'll see some of my photos from the 2014 Unicycle World Championship Cross-Country race. It was at Mont Tremblant so there was a lot of downhill unicycling involved.

Turns out I compared it to orienteering: "Both of us were unexpectedly reminded of an orienteering championship. There were competitors ranging from young children to grandparents, from novice to expert, and there was a sense of community - as if they knew each other from other events. It had a really low key feel. It was very common to see people bail and land on their feet. Competitors seemed supportive of one another, not annoyed that someone fell in front of them. Maybe the elites would have been more intense."

I suppose I'm one of the few orienteers who also rides a unicycle (but I stick to flat paved surfaces for the most part, when unicycling).

You’re also the only orienteer who has ridden the unicycle living in my shed. I can think of a few trails around here that would probably be comfortably unicyclable for you.

I'm hardly an expert, but on a good day, I can unicycle to the library. Backwards personal best is around 20 some feet, with a massive standard deviation. Well maybe not standard, since it will skew towards 0 heavily. I am also not a stats expert.

I do want to try one of the flattest sections of MTB trail around here sometime.

Back closer to the original topic, and tying things together, is this awesome video.

Yeah, parts of that do bear a striking resemblance to ski-o. Also how long have you been living in Cristina's shed?

That's like battling a hosting family, right? ;-)