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Dear Member,
Next season the Cresta Run is 125 years old. Some have argued that only centenaries are worthy of celebration. However many more, including those who do not expect to be in good shape for 2085, have made their contrary views quite clear. In this spirit, and knowing the propensity of Cresta Members to enjoy themselves, Julian Board asked me to take on the task of corralling the talents in the Club into something resembling a really good bash.
It has been decided to concentrate our efforts into the extended week starting on Friday 5th February to Sunday 14th February 2010.
As the Club’s history is so intimately interwoven with that of St. Moritz we want our celebrations to emphasise the link between the Town and the Run. We will be working hand in hand with the Kurverein (the Tourist Board) and a St. Moritz coordinating committee has been formed with Peter Maerky as Chairman*.
*Peter Maerky, Robert Allenspach, Peter Barth, Martin Berthod and Ariane Ehrat. Enrico Degiacomi has been invaluable in involving Rudi Fopp of White Turf and he will help with those discussions.
OUTLINE PLAN
The first Cresta Run was built in St. Moritz for the 1884-5 season. 125 years probably account for the longest association between a Town and a sport in the world. The Cresta was an Olympic sport in 1928 and 1948, and inspired two other Olympic sports, the bobsleigh and the bob-skeleton, both prominently associated with St. Moritz.
Although there will be events throughout the year, the principal celebrations will be concentrated in St. Moritz from Friday 5th February 2010 to Sunday 14th February 2010. There will be a London Launch for Press and, on November 19th, the Cresta Run 125th Celebration for 600 Members and Guests. At these the 125th logo, incorporating the St. Moritz signature, will be available and the complete diary of official events will be unveiled. There will be special riding events on the Run itself and certain events, subject to agreement with White Turf, on St. Moritz’s natural amphitheatre - the Lake. Other general events will emphasise the link between Town and Run, something that has not been actively pursued since the Centenary celebrations in 1985.
Further events will demonstrate the international nature of the SMTC. As well as those who come from the Far East and the United States we have riders and their families from all of Switzerland’s neighbours. Visitors from over 25 different nations come to ride the Cresta.
Our plans comprise five main elements:
1) The Cresta Run itself - read more about the races
2) Aerial events - read more about the aerial events
3) Motoring events - read more about the motoring events
4) Musical events - read more about the musical events
5) Visual: Publicity, publications, video and television.
Where Members names are mentioned for the first time they are addressed as in the Annual Report (but in bold) for those who wish to communicate by snail mail. Subsequent entries are less formal.
THE CRESTA RUN
Although we anticipate many more Members than usual coming with their friends and families for the 125th season from 18th December 2009 to 28th February 2010, the main week will start on Friday 5th February with the two day race for the Brabazon Trophy and will conclude the following weekend. The Grand National, the oldest and most famous event first raced 125 years ago, on Saturday 13th February and the Johannes Badrutt Memorial Trophy team race on the Sunday. Members will note the Nigel Moores, on Americas, and the Seniors Race for riders over 55 years, have been brought into the main week. There will also be a riding event for Ladies, organised by George Bingham, who has been commissioned to produce a Trophy, to be known as the Ecstasy Trophy. This is a one-off event to be held every 125 years for the fastest Lady rider. There will be a KRUG Brunch in the Clubhouse that day. The annual Wendy Baines Ladies Trophy will be held on the 27th February. The Shuttlecock and the Seniors dinners will be held during the week.
AERIAL EVENTS
In preliminary discussions with the Chief Executive of ‘White Turf’ we have suggested an opening event, possibly on Friday 5th, but preferably on Saturday 6th, to skydive in the Cresta Run 125th banner, along with that of St. Moritz and place them within the racecourse ellipse. They would remain there for the week. William Snook and Dominik Corsten are getting the Cresta Skydivers together. As we may get approval for other aerial events, Wing Commander Timothy Hill and Col. Anthony Snook OBE are looking into some possibilities. Peter Maerky is talking to Heinz Reber, who is charge of Samedan Airport.
MOTORING EVENTS
St. Moritz is a famous destination for car rallies and the Cresta holds its own motoring event in St. Moritz each summer. Count George von Waldburg, who organised the Summer Rally this year, will co-ordinate attracting interesting cars and motorbikes of members and friends to St. Moritz. Ideally we would like to have as many countries represented as is practical. This raises the prospect of separate rallies converging on St. Moritz where there are fine specimens hidden away in the Engadine (cars that is). German George will work with Franco Gansser and Robert Allenspach. With them, Peter Maerky is picking up on an idea of Lt. Col. Johnny Moss MBE to have a hill climb (a reverse Cresta Run) from Celerina to Junction up the restricted road. The Earl of March would add greatly to this adventurous idea. George will be in charge of getting cars to St. Moritz and Peter in charge of the St. Moritz end including permissions. We plan to have a parade through St. Moritz and take the vehicles on to the Lake so that White Turf spectators, citizens and visitors to St. Moritz can view them. Urs Schwarzenbach’s Leyland Camion will lead the parade, Philip Goddard has offered to bring out the previous camion and Trevor has said he will bring up the rear with his Club Range Rover. Charles Harbord, editor of Cars for the Connoisseur, will lend his name and expertise. There are considerable opportunities for sponsorship and if any member has expertise in this field would they please volunteer.
MUSICAL EVENTS
It would add considerably to the gaiety of the week if we could accompany most of our events with music. It would help enforce our message to St. Moritz that we will be attracting more visitors of many nationalities if we could bring bands, groups, and soloists of distinction or notoriety. Victor Erdmann with Nicholas Rauenbusch have offered to accompany a Bavarian lunch with a 12 piece band. (They have a very distinctive sound and a notorious drummer.) This is a serious challenge to others. Alasdair Hilleary, no doubt with Major James Kelly, is threatening a Corps of Pipes and Drums. An orchestral antidote would be a soothing change. Performances could be held around St. Moritz, Dracula’s Club, the Run itself and possibly an open concert on the Lake to be combined with a firework display. Tony Snook has some suggestions and if a Member wants to take on the task of Musical Director for the week to coordinate this cacophony... please step forward.
Lady Wrottesley will be masterminding the Cresta 125th St. Moritz Celebration on the evening of Friday 12th February 2010 and there will be a special page on this website once the broad outlines have been decided. This clearly will be a corker.
VISUAL
The Run itself generates spectacular images and a production team is being engaged with the possibility of involving television interest. We are investigating whether daily edited videos could be shown more publicly throughout the week in addition to the current service to the main hotels. A large flat screen might be erected in the centre of town so that residents and visitors could view the big events in the main week. A documentary film to bring to life the Cresta Run’s history in St. Moritz is being prepared with the intention of interesting worldwide broadcasters - the film made 25 years ago for the Centenary was seen by over 5 million people. The video production team will be expected to record all the celebrations and be available for Peter Lord (Seniors’ President) and Andi Roder (Shuttlecock President) if they are interested in rather more light-hearted views of our collective madness. The Cresta 125th emblem has been designed by Rolf Sachs. Michael di Giacomo (author of Apparently Unharmed), working with Ken Newman and Ryan Larraman, has agreed to update Sir Roger Gibbs’s Centenary Brochure. Stephen Bartley has suggested a means of production. Stephen has also been in touch with James Sunley who is choosing the photographs and images that will be used in the panels beside the escalators to the Bahnhof, Car Park and Lake, which, according to one estimate, are passed by a million people a year. Robert Allenspach with the generosity of UBS has secured these sites for us. James is also working on a poster and sporting art exhibition and Count Luca Marenzi has, as you might guess, some ideas about this.
THE WEBSITE
The point of the new website: www.thecresta125.com is to keep Members up to date with what is planned and to encourage them to contribute to the existing plans or to come up with other bright ideas. At this stage there is considerable opportunity for playing a part in building the greatest Alpine celebration of the season. The Hon David Clark has set up the site and it will expand as time goes by. There will also be an associated email address, initially bw@thecresta125.com which will be opened up to allow Members interested in specific events to contact each other. David Payne, James Sunley, Harriet Brabazon and I will have dedicated email addresses for the 125th and will have access to all traffic so that we can give quick decisions, encouragement and, possibly, the occasional red flag. (Damien Lipman’s suggestion that the Kulm swimming pool be drained and then filled with coleslaw for a vegetarian all-in wrestling championship has already been vetoed.)
DISCONNECTED JOTTINGS AND STRAWS IN THE WIND
The following initiatives have come to light. Mark Child will need to be kept informed on any ventures which affect the Shop. Raymond McKenzie has taken Roger Gibbs’s Hermes Centenary scarf to the Hermes family to see if they would consider a new design for limited edition of 125. Fernando Rueda is talking to Rolf Schnyder about 125 Cresta watches. Count Filippo Guerrini-Maraldi, who is a member of more clubs than any other mortal, has been volunteered to liaise with the other sporting clubs in St. Moritz who have expressed a wish to commemorate the Cresta 125th. Rolf Sachs, as you would expect, has come up with an imaginative suggestion from his belfry in Dracula’s. It will see the light of day later. Alasdair Hilleary is enlivening the website with some of his cartoons and with Luca Marenzi is considering an update of the famous Centenary poster which hangs in the Clubhouse. Tony Snook is planning a brooch based on the Cresta 125th logo and Carl Tesdorpf is contemplating revealing the secrets of the production of Pavillon Top to an unsuspecting audience.
CONCLUSION
On November 19th we will launch the Cresta 125th with a London Celebration. I hope everyone will feel they have been able to contribute any ideas or expertise they have to make Friday 5th February to Sunday 14th their most memorable 10 days in the Alps. We are good at fun, and there is huge talent in the Club, so please use this website and the email address to bring your thoughts to fruition. We plan a close relationship with the St. Moritz public relations and press professionals and will involve Members working in those fields. We estimate that in a normal year we bring about 3,000 visitors to St. Moritz but we anticipate well over twice as many people next season. In celebrating the 125th year we also hope the interest generated will benefit both the Cresta Run and St. Moritz for many years to come. Avanti.
DIARY OF EVENTS
The provisional events and dates are shown in the diary page and will be kept up to date on this the Cresta 125 website: www.thecresta125.com There is also a separate email address for members interested in helping with suggestions and organisation which is bw@thecresta125.com to start with and as traffic grows this will be opened up.