| History
of the Kandahar ski races |
To
skiers and non-skiers alike, the name
Kandahar generally is a puzzle and
rightfully deserves an explanation. First
of all, Kandahar (which is a corruption
of
Alexandria) is the name of a town in
Afghanistan actually founded by Alexander
the
Great during his monumental march Eastward
to India and beyond. |
| Now,
the tenuous link between the town of
Kandahar and skiing is provided centuries
later by British General Frederick Sleigh
Roberts who, in August,1880, marched
10,000 men from Kabul to Kandahar, a
distance of 313 miles, in 22 days to
relieve the siege of a British Garrison
stationed there. A grateful British
government chose to knight him for this
effort in 1882, and, in keeping with
custom,
he chose the name of one of his campaigns.
Thus, the general became the first Lord
Roberts of Kandahar. |
|
| Lord
Roberts became vice-president of the
Public Schools Alpine Sports Club in 1903
and eight years later, on January 11,
1911, a group of Englishmen held the
world's very first downhill ski race in
Montana-sur-Sierre, Switzerland, and Lord
Roberts lent his name to the ski trophy
awarded to the winner. This trophy was
known as the Roberts of Kandahar Challenge
Cup and is used to this day for the
premier of world downhill racing. |
| Finally,
in January, 1924, a group of British
alpine ski pioneers decided to form a ski
club at Muren, Switzerland, and for want
of a better name decided to simply take
the name Kandahar and use a block 'K' for
a patch, thus starting what is undoubtedly
the most famous ski club in the world. The
Kandahar
Ski Club was then instrumental in
organizing the first international ski
meet ever to be decided on the combined
result of both downhill and slalom races.
From that day forward a ski race meet was
known simply as a Kandahar! |
| The
driving force behind the Kandahar Ski Club
was Sir
Arnold Lunn, the man who invented and
named the slalom ski race. Strangely
enough, Sir Arnold always regretted his
attaching the old Norwegian name slalom to
his invention, recognizing that the German
world torlauf ( gate race) would have been
far more appropriate. |
| On
March 3 and 4, 1928, Sir Arnold and his
friend Hannes Schneider inaugurated and
supervised the first Arlberg-Kandahar race
in St. Anton, Austria, a full two years
before the FIS recognized downhill and
slalom racing and three years before the
first World Championships in the Alpine
Combined. (source kandaharlodge.com) |
|
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| Time
LIFE magazine Apr 3, 1950 |
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