Parsenn derby

Davos with Parsenn

The Parsenn Derby is a traditional downhill run in the Swiss Parsenn ski area near Davos . The ski race was first held in 1924 and was one of the most important downhill runs in international racing in the decades that followed.

history

The downhill race was first organized in 1924 by the two Davos ski clubs, the Davos Ski Club and the Davos English Ski Club, at the suggestion of the Englishman Fred W. Edlin. Edlin belonged to the Ski Club of Great Britain , came to Davos as a spa guest years earlier and discovered the suitability of the Parsenn area for alpine skiing. The first derby was preceded by the question of how long a descent from Parsennfurka to Küblis would take. Since there were no serious answers, Edlin suggested holding a race as a clarification and found great support for this. This first race was given the name Davoser Ski Derby by Edlin, based on the Epsom Derby , a famous horse race in Epsom , England. The race was later renamed the Parsenn Derby. The winner of the first derby covered the distance in 22 minutes and 27 seconds, while the fastest lady took 35 minutes and 37 seconds. The race was a success and should be held annually from now on. However, due to unfavorable weather conditions, the second derby could only be played three years later. Since then, it has taken place annually with a few interruptions.

Over the years the start and destination have been changed several times. After the construction of the Parsennbahn, women and men started from 1933 on the Weissfluh summit at around 2700 m above sea level. The men's goal was still in Küblis, which is almost 2000 m lower, and the journey was about 13 kilometers. The women finished their race at Conterser Schwendi , so the route was a few kilometers shorter. Otto Furrer's winning time at the time was 16 minutes and 1 second, Margrit Bertsch won the women in 12 minutes and 24 seconds. In the first decades, the athletes were free to choose their route. Only after Edy Rominger set a clear record time of 13 minutes and 27 seconds after a daring shortcut to the summit in 1944, two mandatory goals were set. Later, the course of the route became uniform for all runners due to the slope preparation and an increasing number of gates.

The Parsenn Derby is one of the few ski competitions that were held continuously during the Second World War . From 1968 the men's race at the Conterser Schwendi also ended. The distance was shortened to a maximum of 6260 m due to international regulations of the World Ski Association FIS . A team race has also been held since 2000, with each team consisting of four runners. From 2004 the goal was in Gauderloch at 2080 m above sea level. The start was at the Weissfluh summit at an altitude of 2710 m. The height difference was 630 m, the route length 2900 m. The winning times were about 2 minutes. In 2009 the route was extended by 900 m to the Obersäss.

From an initially only regional race (53 starters who belong to one of the two Davos ski clubs or had to be a spa guest in Davos for at least eight days) took part in the first derby, it quickly developed into an important fixed point in international racing. In addition to numerous victories of Swiss ski greats such as David Zogg , Rudolf Rominger , Walter Prager , Heinz von Allmen or Anny Rüegg , there were the first victories of foreign runners in the women in 1930 by the Austrian Irma Schmidegg and in the men in 1932 by Leo , who also came from Austria Gas pearl . In the 1950s, several Germans were successful among women, including the multiple German champion Hildesuse Gaertner and the later Olympic champion Heidi Biebl . In 1960 the derby was firmly in Austrian hands with victories by Heinrich Messner and Christl Haas .

After French runners had already criticized some quite flat sections of the track after the Second World War, the derby lost its international importance at the latest with the introduction of the Ski World Cup in 1967 and increasingly became a popular race, in which today mainly amateur ski racers take part. Nevertheless, even after 1967, prominent names can be found among the winners, such as Josef Minsch , Walter Vesti , Urs Lehmann , Martina Accola or Kristian Ghedina , who was the first Italian to win the derby in 2002.

Route

Men's

• 1924–1931: Parsennfurka - Küblis
• 1932: Watershed - Küblis
• 1933–1967: Weissfluh summit - Küblis
• 1968–1994: Weissfluh summit - Conterser Schwendi
• 1995–1998: Weissfluhjoch - Schifer
• 1999–2003: Weissfluhjoch - Erezsäss
• 2004–2008: Weissfluh summit - Gauderloch
• 2009–2012: Weissfluh summit - Obersäss

Ladies

• 1924–1930: Parsennfurka - Küblis
• 1931: Parsennfurka - Conters
• 1932: Gaudagrat - Küblis
• 1933–1994: Weissfluh summit - Conterser Schwendi
• 1995–1998: Weissfluhjoch - Schifer
• 1999–2003: Weissfluhjoch - Erezsäss
• 2004–2008: Weissfluh summit - Gauderloch
• 2009–2012: Weissfluh summit - Obersäss

Winners list

No.	date	Men's	Time (min)	Ladies	Time (min)
01	01/13/1924	Peter Gruber	22:27	Helene Fischer	35:37
02	01/30/1927	Peter Gruber	20: 46.2	Elisa Biasi	41: 18.2
03	02/26/1928	Alfi Kaltenbrunner	22:57	Elly Balmelli	35:39
04th	01/27/1929	David Zogg	17:59	Elly Balmelli	28:16
05	02.03.1930	David Zogg	16:29	Irma Schmidegg	24:43
06th	02/08/1931	David Zogg	13:44	Rösli Rominger	15:27
07th	02/07/1932	Leo Gasperl	17:46	Margrit Bertsch	19:35
08th	02/19/1933	Otto Furrer	16:01	Margrit Bertsch	12:24
09	02/11/1934	David Zogg	16:36	Margrit Bertsch	11:47
10	March 24, 1935	Rudolf Rominger	18:18	Anny Rüegg	11:07
11	02/16/1936	Walter Prager	16:17	Elvira Osirnig	09:59
12	03/14/1937	Beat Rüedi	19:13	Margrit Bertsch	10:45
13	02/20/1938	Martin Fopp	14:49	Nini Sutter / Doris Friedrich	09:22
14th	02/26/1939	Rudolf Rominger	18:27	Verena Fuchs	09:36
15th	02/25/1940	Peter Mathis	14:36	Erna Steuri	08:34
16	02/26/1941	Heinz von Allmen	15:23	Clara Bertsch	09:11
17th	03/01/1942	Peter Mathis	14:00	Clara Bertsch	08: 07.5
18th	02/28/1943	Peter Mathis	14:11	Clara Bertsch	08: 31.4
19th	02/20/1944	Edy Rominger	13:27	Anni Maurer	07: 51.6
20th	02/25/1945	Peter Mathis	13: 38.2	Anni Maurer	07: 59.2
21st	03/03/1946	Jean Blanc	14:05	Anni Maurer	09: 35.8
22nd	02/23/1947	Max Bertsch	17: 00.2	Anni Maurer	11: 43.0
23	03/07/1948	Ralph Olinger	13: 10.4	Anni Maurer	06: 52.2
24	03/06/1949	Max Bertsch	14: 33.7	Anni Maurer	08: 23.4
25th	05.03.1950	Max Bertsch	13: 51.0	Idly Walpoth	08: 04.2
26th	03/04/1951	Ralph Olinger	13: 23.8	Hildesuse Gaertner	06: 45.7
27	03/02/1952	Martin Strolz	13: 51.9	Hildesuse Gaertner	07: 52.9
28	03/03/1953	René Scheiwiller	17: 46.2	Frieda Danzer	11: 28.6
29	07.03.1954	Beat Fopp	13: 06.2	Monique Lafont	07: 21.4
30th	03/06/1955	Hans Forrer	12: 32.9	Hedy Beeler	07: 42.8
31	03/18/1956	Andreas Rüedi	12: 24.9	Frieda Danzer	06: 58.9
32	03/10/1957	Roman Casty	09: 27.3 *	Hannelore Heckmair	08: 13.8
33	03/23/1958	Nando Pajarola	12: 27.9	Hannelore Heckmair	07: 01.8
34	03/15/1959	Nando Pajarola	06: 01.2	Heidi Biebl	07: 13.3
35	02/28/1960	Heinrich Messner	12: 56.0	Christl Haas	06: 46.8
36	02/19/1961	Willi Forrer	10: 40.7	Sylvia Zimmermann	06: 21.6
37	02/11/1962	Ives Bienvenu	12: 30.9	Marguerite Leduc	07: 59.2
38	02/17/1963	Marco Walli	13: 16.4	Edith Hiltbrand	06: 53.2
39	02/28/1965	Marco Walli	11: 15.9	Sylvia Zimmermann	05: 59.7
40	02/20/1966	Jakob Boner	11: 18.6	Sylvia Zimmermann	06: 24.2
41	02/26/1967	Josef Minsch	04: 52.22 *	Ursula Barth	06: 35.56
42	03/10/1968	Jon Christoffel	05: 09.15	Edith Hiltbrand	05: 30.22
43	March 16, 1969	Kurt Pargätzi	06: 42.1	Edith Hiltbrand	06: 23.4
44	03/15/1970	Thomy Valar	07: 30.4	Annelies Müller	08: 56.4
45	March 21, 1971	Christoph Rageth	04: 37.2 *	Irene Boehm	05: 00.8
46	03/18/1973	Christoph Rageth	04: 50.2	Bettina Fopp	05: 29.8
47	03/10/1974	Edi Waldburger	04: 41.0	Irene Boehm	04: 59.4
48	March 16, 1975	canceled		Irene Boehm	05: 21.1
49	07.03.1976	Gianni Bianchi	04: 47.5	Irene Boehm	04: 49.3
50	03/20/1977	Walter Vesti	04: 29.5	Irene Boehm	04: 42.3
51	02/12/1978	Walter Vesti	04: 32.96	Bettina Frey	04: 58.58
52	02/11/1979	Roberto Bianchi	04: 25.44 *	Irene Boehm	04: 40.18
53	02/10/1980	Andreas Rüedi	04: 16.56	Liselotte Smurf	04: 13.89
54	02/01/1981	Andreas Rüedi	04: 04.50	Linda Hügi	03: 59.9
55	02/07/1982	Martin Reichmuth	04: 00.63	Liselotte Smurf	03: 53.53
56	02/07/1983	Roland Widmer	04: 46.31	Eveline Bolli	05: 36.26
57	02/10/1985	Patrick Mächler	04: 22.93	Eveline Bolli	04: 23.59
58	02/09/1986	Urs Lehmann	04: 31.20	Irene Meier-Boehm	05: 00.96
59	02/08/1987	Andreas Rüedi	04: 31.00	Doris Hartmann	04: 31.28
60	02/21/1988	Patrick Mächler	03: 55.57	Irene Meier-Boehm	04: 10.87
61	03/18/1990	Michael Plöchinger	03: 49.37	Martina Accola	03: 46.30
62	03/14/1993	Michael Plöchinger	03: 51.66	Manuela Steiger	04: 01.55
64	03/19/1995	Michael Plöchinger	04: 11.68	Tanja Urfer	05: 25.67
65	03/21/1999	Michael Plöchinger	04: 31.12	Claudia Rageth	05: 12.67
66	03/19/2000	Jan Kindschi	01: 54.27 *	Corinne Kuhn	02: 04.62 *
67	03/11/2001	Michael Plöchinger	01: 55.97 *	Claudia Rageth	02: 06.98 *
68	02/17/2002	Kristian Ghedina	01: 54.08 *	Claudia Rageth	02: 07.12 *
69	03/23/2003	Robert Moze	01: 53.52 *	Corinne Kuhn	02: 02.53 *
70	03/21/2004	Robert Moze	01: 47.82	Corinne Kuhn	01: 56.99
71	03/20/2005	Robert Moze	01: 50.96	Priska Sorensen	01: 58.71
72	04/02/2006	Robert Moze	02: 10.28	Olivia Schuwey	02: 27.06
73	03/11/2007	Daniel Züger	02: 10.21	Priska Sorensen	02: 18.46
74	03/09/2008	Daniel Züger	01: 59.65	Fabienne Huser	02: 11.18
75	03/08/2009	Daniel Züger	02: 23.84	Arabela Philipona	02: 48.78
76	03/14/2010	Urs Keller	02: 23.93	Anja Dellagiovanna	02: 35.75
77	03/13/2011	Daniel Züger	01: 51.43	Marianne Rubi	02: 00.75
78	03/11/2012	Jan Kindschi	02: 28.96	Nicole Bärtschi	02: 37.83

* Shortened route

There were no races in 1964, 1972, 1984, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1996, 1997 and 1998. In 1994 the 63rd derby had to be canceled due to bad weather.

Web links

• Ski Club Davos: Parsenn Derby
• List of winners 1924–2009 ( PDF file, 29 kB)

literature

• Max D. Amstutz: The beginnings of alpine ski racing. AS Verlag , Zurich 2010, ISBN 978-3-909111-79-4 , pp. 135-138.