KANDAHAR JUNIOR 2025
From 10 to 12 January 2025 the Ski Club Les Houches (France) organizes the nineth edition of the Kandahar Junior race in the ski area of Les Houches - Chamonix Mont Blanc - France.
In the very same ski area where the world’s best downhill skiers regularly meet for the Kandahar FIS world cup races, this race will bring together the best category U14 teams, coming from the foremost European Alpine skiing nations.
The Kandahar Junior is sponsored by Yannick Bertrand, who was an alpine ski racer on the French World Cup team for 15 years and served as a ski coach at the Ski Club les Houches during the 2014/2015 season and now days is coaching the French world cup downhill ski team.
120 girls and 120 boys in the U14 category, grouped into 60 mixed teams, will compete for 3 days in 2 “géant pro” runs, 2 slalom runs (SL) and 2 giant runs (GS).
Each race will have its individual ranking and awards, and moreover contribute to a team ranking, calculated by adding the best times of the best boy and girl of the team in each of the 3 races.
The winning club team will win the challenge "KANDAHAR JUNIOR Trophy which will return to Les Houches every year, except in case of three consecutive wins by the same club. In this case that club retains the cup forever.
The first editions saw teams compete for Italian, Swedish, Belgian, Scottish, British and French ski clubs. The 9th edition strives to welcome, in addition to nations already present in 2019, teams from Germany, Austria, Hungarian and American.
CONDITIONS FOR ENTRY
Les Houches Ski Club as the organizer is committed on one hand to fostering team spirit, on the other hand to ensuring parity between girls and boys.
Therefore, clubs wishing to participate in the Kandahar Junior must be able to present a complete team mandatorily composed of 4 kids of the U14 category, 2 girls and 2 boys.
Each participant must be equipped with the safety equipment required for competitive Alpine ski racing (helmet/back protection/etc.) in compliance with the rules of the French Skiing Federation (Fédération Française de Ski).
All participants consent to their image being used by the organiser on pictures, films, facebook, etc….
Each participant must be individually insured for all races, typically as part of their FFS licence or through bilateral agreements between the national federations. For those without insurance coverage, will be taken out at the cost of €10, per competitor and race.
RULES - RANKING
The maximum number of participants is set by the organizers at 120 girls and 120 boys.
In consequence, each nation or club is assigned a maximum quota of teams that can be registered.
The starting lists are established by a draw out of the overall participant lists.
The girls and boys will compete in a “géant pro” (2 runs), a slalom (2 runs) and a giant (2 runs).
All participants will join in both of the runs per race even in case of abandonment or disqualification during the first run, with the exception of the “géant pro” night run, where only the fastest 30 of the first run will participate in the second run, and also except in case of adverse meteorological developments.
The individual rankings by disciplines will be established after each race taking into account the total time of the two runs.
The rankings of the teams and of the nations will be determined on the basis of a points system based on the times of each participant. Only the points of the best girl and boy of each club and nation for each race will be added up to determine the final winners and podium places in each category.
The organizing club reserves the right to modify the racing conditions or the ranking to take into account changed conditions, including of the weather.