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We are USPA too!

To Para-Ski or not to Para-Ski...

Skydivers around the USA are wondering about the events surrounding the recent decision coming from the USPA Board of Directors regarding the U.S. National Championships of Para-Ski being held on Canadian soil. The surprising news to many was that for the first time this year, the championships will be held at Mont Saint-Sauveur, Quebec, on March 17-20, in conjunction with the Canadian Para-Ski Nationals.

American skydivers on the dropzones, in newsgroups and chat rooms on the internet wondered and complained about this happening. As far as had been known up to the time the above decision came through, the Ranch in Gardiner, NY, once again offered to be the host of this event at Hunter Mountain, NY, same as they had done for the past two years.

Emails from USPA members' reached us asking what happened and stating that they did not get responses to their questions from the USPA Board of Directors. So we, at skyXtreme, put on our intrepid reporter's caps and contacted all parties concerned--members of the USPA Board of Directors as well as the manager of the Ranch dropzone--to ask directly what happened. We wanted the facts to set the record straight.

We were very pleased that we had a great response and cooperation from the USPA Board of Directors. BJ Worth, Al Gramando, Don Yahrling and Ray Ferrell all took the time to clarify things from the USPA Board of Directors' points of view. On the Ranch's side, we also had an informative email from drop zone manager, Guy Wright. They all did their best to explain the situation.

The best we can determine from our email correspondences with all parties concerned, these are the facts:

The USPA requires bids to be submitted on hosting their events. There were no U.S. bids received by the USPA on the Para-Ski event, HOWEVER, there WAS a Canadian bid received on the event. The US Para-ski team leader, Kirk Knight or possibly the Para-Ski subcommittee chairperson, Mary Lou Laughlin, recommended that USPA use the Canadian Nationals for recognizing U.S. para-ski champions. In fact, for the past few years, previous U.S. Para-Ski team members had been discussing with the Canadians the possibility of combining events. One USPA board member stated this was due to the fact that Para-Ski events have been poorly attended and thus are not very cost effective.

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