RACE INFORMATION
DHO MembershipAll DHO trainees must be fully signed-up members of the DHO. A membership form can be downloaded from the Membership section of this site. The form must be sent to our Membership Secretary.
Registration
All racers must be registered with their Governing Body (England, Scotland and Wales). The Registration is renewable each year and must be completed before the end of October, or a monetary penalty will apply. Most DHO racers will register with SnowsportEngland. Go to the Registration page to download the form. All DHO trainees must be BASS registered – British Alpine Seeding System - and this you become by registering with a Home Nation. Registration is done by calendar year, 1 January - 31 December. The competition year starts on 1 July.
Age Groups
You enter the BASS seeding system at 11 when you become part of the category known as Children 1. The age groups are
11/12 years Children 1 – 1997/1996 in 2008/9
13/14 years Children 2 – 1995/1994 in 2008/9
15/16 years Junior 1 – 1993/1992 in 2008/9
17-19 years Junior 2 – 1991/1990/1989 in 2008/9
Athlete's Declaration
This is a sort of waiver form which must be signed by every ski racer, once in a lifetime only. It is an acknowledgement on behalf of the ski racer that ski racing can be dangerous and that he or she is competent to ski the course and it sort of absolves the organiser should you fall and hurt yourself – it does not however, absolve the competition organiser regarding the correct and safe preparation and running of the competition.
Insurance
All skiers must be insured against accidents and third party liability. In addition, a ski racer needs to take out additional insurance which covers ski racing. The latter would apply to DHO trainees for Christmas and Easter camps.
Any DHO Trainee who is not a DHO member, not insured, has not signed the Athletes’ Declaration or who is not registered with one of the Home Nation Governing Bodies cannot race.
FIS Licence
Trainees of Junior age and above can apply to SnowsportGB for a FIS Licence. A FIS licence allows you to race in international FIS races (FIS, Continental Cup, World Cup, World Championships and Olympics, in that order!). Licence applications can be downloaded from www.snowsportgb.com
To obtain a FIS Licence you must have signed the Athlete's Declaration and you must have valid medical insurance.
Entries to all races listed in the FIS calendar www.fis-ski.com must be made via SnowsportGB and you must write to them, email or fax, not phone, at least 7 days before the date of the race in question. University races and Continental Cup race entries must be with SnowsportGB 14 days before the race. There are quotas attached to every race. This means that the larger nations, Austria, France, Italy, Switzerland, have a quota of 10 for each FIS race. GB has at the moment a quota of 6. The majority of countries, other than the major alpine nations, have a quota of 4. There are separate quotas for World and Continental Cup. In FIS races (not including World and Continental Cup) there are no quotas for ladies – that means that any amount of qualified British ladies can enter FIS races (except if the race is oversubscribed, but this is very rare).
A priority system operates regarding entry to FIS races: 1) British Team, 2) British Development Team, 3) Home Nations Squad Member. This means that during holiday periods or when snow conditions have caused cancellations, certain races might be oversubscribed.
If you enter a race you must a) not make a double entry for more than one race, to hedge your bets, b) turn up, c) start the second run (except when disqualified).
Junior 1 first year are limited to 25 entries per season, not counting speed events, i.e. super g and downhill.
Entry to most European races is free.
Citadin Races
These are under-valued and DHO trainees should think about entering citadin races. A so-called citadin race is for citizens of a town or non Alpine region, i.e. where the inhabitants do not have direct access to skiing. Innsbruck used to be a citadin area but there are now lifts in the immediate vicinity which disqualifies it. Citadin races are good international races of a high standard, many of them have penalties under 50 and you will more often than not get a much better start number than in a FIS race. There is a dedicated FIS Citadin Licence.
