TO FALL IN LOVE WITH THE DIVINE MOUNTAIN
24 hours, Desislava Kulelieva
“Before I visited your country I thought that there are just old lifts, and i am surprised by the modern equipment and the perfectly maintained slopes, Ramon Vilaro from Spain shared.” A journalist from Switzerland was looking for information for the construction and property business in the region.
From the first day the teams were surprised by the Grand Show, organized by Bansko municipal, and thus the 52 annual meeting of the International Ski Club for Journalists strated, under the patronage of the President of The Republic of Bulgaria- Georgie Parvanov. 200 journalists, from 33 countries with torches in hands walked all the way from the hotel to the central square, lead by an orchestra from Bansko and kukeri (masked people, who are sending away the evil).
After a short welcome the mayor of the town Alexander Kravarov, the head of the Bulgarian Ski Federation Tseko Minev, the head of the Bulgarian section SKIJ Ana Draganova and 15 minutes fireworks the World Championship for journalists started.
The guests drank a glass of wared wine, enjoying the concert of Nikolina Chakardakova and her dancing group. Later in Happy End restaurant the representatives of each country demonstrated the characteristic drinks of their country. The Bulgarian tale offered 30 specialties from Bansko- kapama, banitsa with rice, chomlek, stuffed rabbit and etc.
During the second day the journalists were able to view all of the 56 kilometers long ski pistes, accompanied by ski teachers from Ulen. The highest point is 2560 meters above the sea level and the lowest is just 1000 meters above the sea level. The weather was extremely cold, but still sunny and the journalists managed to make magnificent pictures of the fastest developing ski resort in Europe. Each country hast to publish at least one publication for the site they have visited.
The organization of the sport events was made by BSF with the personal cooperation of its head Tseko Minev. The Bulgarian team were provided with the best coaches- Ivan Kanevchev and Dimitar Petrov. Thanks to that the country won a record number of medals- 2 silver and three bronze. The competitions were divided in three age groups- to 45, to 55 and over 55. the youngest participant- the 23 years old journalist from Serbia and Monternegro Gorana Grozdanich, the oldest was Iosko Pirnar fro Slovenia- he was 80 years old.
The local traditions and folklore were felt in three mehanas from Bansko, where they danced horo. There were also some tours to Rila monastery and Melnik.
The journalists were presented with the candidature of Bulgaria for the winter Olympics 2014 and the Super Borovets project, where Popangelov- the world downhill champion personally showed them.
Slovenia got the biggest number of medals from the competition- 14. Switzerland took 6 and Bulgaria, Germany and Slovakia got 5. The number of medals is not important, because the sense of the competition is the free contact between journalists in mountain atmosphere.
