Dear delegates,
This last year was a year of controversies for me. At last I was able to see a FISTC mid distance/ long trail european championship after it's cancelation the previous years. This was a very impressive event for me. I was able to see the trail by skidoo and after that my admiration of the mushers only was bigger. Also it was good to see that despite the heavyness of the trail there were no dogs with problems (may be only some mushers).
After this race I also visited the races in Immerkrems and Chandolin and I am sure that the championship next year will be also a beautiful race, and I hope that we will be able to organize a FISTC distance eurocup this year.
As for the sprint championships there was a pittyful event that gave a bad taste to a good championship. This underlines the importance of the dopingtest and we will continue to conduct them, despite the high costs of these tests. It is absolutely unacceptable that dogs are given preparations in order to feel no pain and run faster.
In order to avoid any uncertainty I will give all membercountries a new dopinglist, but remember that the race-rules say that all medications given to the dogs should be told to the race vet.
Again it was a great championship in Auronzo and it is my opinion that the pre-race vetcheck is a good thing that we should maintain this. In the next years I want to try to organize more vets sothat the mushers don't have to wait so long before the dogs are checked.
My aims for the next season are :
1. A veterinarian budget from which the dopingtest but also the neccesary treatments of the dogs during the race are paid.
2. Improve the organisation of the pre-race vetcheck.
3. To start again with informing you with hopefully interesting texts on the website. I ask the webmaster to remind me of this promise when my texts are not recieved in time.