14 medals for the CERN Ski Club
From 22 to 29 January, the ski resort of La Clusaz in Haute Savoie hosted the 11th Winter Atomiades. With nine gold medals and four silver medals in cross-country skiing, and a bronze medal in downhill skiing, the team from the CERN Ski Club finished third in the medals table.
Organised by the Association of Sports Communities of European Research Institutes, nearly 260 participants from 15 research centres throughout Europe competed against each other in this skiing event.
Each in their own discipline and age category, the fourteen members of the CERN team defended the colours of the Organization in the spirit of fun and fair play: “I had a really good week,” explained Simone Campana from the IT Department. “There was a great atmosphere. I’m only sorry that there was no general ranking this year. Let’s hope they’ll think about having one next time!”
Despite the competition, the event is primarily an opportunity for members of different scientific cultures to mix, as confirmed by Bruno Lenski, from the same Department as his team-mate: “These Atomiades have enabled us to make better acquaintance not only with the members of our team, but also with competitors from other institutes.” The next Winter Atomiades will take place in 2014 in Austria – an opportunity for the CERN Ski Club to stand out once again.
* Juliette Blanchet (external), Simone Campana (IT Department), Niels Dupont-Sagorin (PH Department), Gregor Grawer (TE Department), Jean-Louis Grenard (EN Department), Lennart Jirden (PH Department), Franck Jouberjean (IT Department), Bruno Lenski (IT Department), Giuseppe Lo Presti (IT Department), Alexandre Lossent (IT Department), Holger Neupert (TE Department), Cyril Perot (external), Pier Paolo Trapani (PH Department) et Werner Zapf (external).