Lauberhorn a victim of bad weather
WENGEN, Switzerland (Reuters) -- The historic Lauberhorn World Cup race was wiped out on Saturday after bad weather left organizers unable to meet the latest scheduled start time.
High winds and heavy snow wiped out training on Wednesday and Thursday and also Friday's downhill -- a race originally scheduled for Bormio in Italy and then Chamonix, France.
Freddy Fuchs, vice president of the organizing committee, said: "It is such a shame, we are working so hard and we have nothing."
Organizers worked through the night on Thursday to allow skiers to take advantage of a small break in the weather on Friday to complete a training run on a shortened course.
But the weather closed in again on Saturday and an inspection at 0400 local time found the course covered with freshly laid snow which could not be cleared before the 1400 GMT latest designated start time.
The Lauberhornrennen, one of the flagship events on the World Cup circuit, has been run 73 times and last year attracted crowds of 23,000 to the mountain village of Wengen. It was also cancelled in 2001.
Organisers said the budget for running the race is around 2.5 million Swiss Francs ($1.99 m)million) and they expect to have lost half a million Swiss Francs because of the cancellation.
"It is a shame for the fans and it is also a problem for us because of the money," said Fuchs.
"The loss we make because of no television and no sponsors will be about half a million."
A slalom event is still due to take place in Wengen on Sunday while the downhill will be re-scheduled by the International Ski Federation for a later date at a venue still to be decided.
