Living Moments - N°2 Edition 2014

There were times when the subject of the Streif was over in two minutes for Harti Weirather; out of the starting house, take a deep breath and get to it, but please make it through the finish line without an accident. Today, the adventure of the Hahnenkamm race takes a bit longer for the now 56-year-old. Since 1997, the downhill champion of 1982 markets the most legendary ski race in the world. He welcomes guests like Prince Albert of Monaco, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Formula 1 boss, Bernie Eccelestone. And in the course of time he also came to realise: “Marketing a race like Kitzbuehel is certainly more complex than actually skiing yourself.” Weirather has celebrated six world cup victories – one of them in Kitzbuehel. And the fact that his course record of 01:57.20 was unbeaten for ten years still makes him a little bit proud today. After all, it is about the Streif here. And about the place where he, still an active participant, set the course for his later career. But let's begin from scratch. When, in 1986, the International Ski Foundation allowed the athletes to look for their own sponsors in addition to the federation sponsors, Weirather was brought to the scene, and he not only brought along sponsors for himself, but also for athletic “foes” such as Amy Macdonald auf der »KitzRaceParty« 2011 Amy Mac Donald at the 'KitzRaceParty' 2011 80 7TaTYR 8ZXPY_^ Edition 2 · 2014 Peter Müller, Ingemar Stenmark or Heli Höflehner. “In Kitzbuehel”, he remembers today, “the thing eventually escalated. I thought that with the sticker on the helmet everything would be OK, but suddenly, 150 sponsors and clients said they were coming for the Hahnenkamm week. They wanted rooms, tickets and the whole program.” For some,thiswas aproblem,but not forWeirather: “After the training I quickly went to the hotel, hung on the phone for the whole day and orga- nised everything. This is how everything came into being – out of sheer fun and comradeship.” Today, the 'whole thing' is calledWWP (Weirather- Wenzel & Partner) and is an established company within international sports marketing, which the “We don’t want to be the greatest, we want to be the best – our aspiration is quality!” Showtime – »KitzRaceParty« 2014 Showtime – 'KitzRaceParty' 2014