Alpine Skiing

Canada's reputation as a world leader in peace keeping is something every Canadian is surely very proud of. After all we pretty much invented the concept in 1956 when former Prime Minister (then Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs) Lester B. Pearson made a proposal to the United Nations to use non-combatant armed forces to keep the peace in the Middle East during the Suez Canal crisis. Since then Canada has been a world leader in peace keeping and our armed forces peacekeepers have played a major role in conflict resolution wherever and whenever conflicts need to be resolved across the globe.

It should come as no surprise then that the FIS (the international governing body of skiing) has chosen Mike Kertesz, a mild mannered carpenter from the little mountain hamlet of Jasper, Alberta - just a stone's throw from here in Lake Louise - to help keep alpine peace between the world's ski racing nations and act as a Superman capable of taking care of any and all unforeseen situations that can pop up on the World Cup tour.

Kertesz's job title is World Cup Promoter - a job that offers the taker lots of travel, brisk mountain air and a gorgeous outdoor office in the finish areas of some of the most famous alpine ski races in the world. The position itself is part peacekeeper, part media liaison, part sponsor liaison, part equipment inspector and part circus manager.

In Lake Louise for the first speed races on the men's World Cup calendar this week, I get a ring side seat to Kertesz's theatre of operations. I immediately notice that in his first role, as peacekeeper, Kertesz resembles a sheriff in an old western town, monitoring the finish corral and making sure the host of international athletes and coaches all get along and behave like upstanding World Cup citizens.

"I guess my job is to make everybody happy and there are a lot of different interests and everyone is out for their own game here. My job is to assess their needs and do the most utilitarian thing best for everybody, Peacekeeper, I guess you can call me that," says Kertesz with a smile.

Gunther Hujara, FIS Chief Race Director for Alpine Men is Kertesz's boss and mentor. He says he knew Kertesz was a perfect fit for the job and his team the first moment he met him.

"Mike is easy going when you come to see him, and he helps you out, and helps you find solutions even in the most critical situations, but behind this there is a very accurate working guy with a very clear strategy in all his acts," says Hujara.

The equipment inspector part of Kertesz's job involves inspecting boots, skis, poles, helmets and race suits. Once the skiers cross the finish line, they must report to Kertesz before taking off. It's his job to make sure there is no equipment hanky panky. If Kertesz checks your equipment and they don't comply with FIS standards and regulations you are usually in big trouble.

"Equipment control is a very delicate task in our race world. And if you do not have a person who is able to focus on details, to have a clear structure in his work, you will always fail. Mike really fulfills all the requirements to do this job successfully, and he is fully and highly respected by all the teams and the athletes," says Hujara.

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Overall World Cup GS champion Didier Cuche having a little fun with FIS World Cup promoter Mike Kertesz during a pre-race boot inspection.

Michael Mastarciyan/CTVOlympics.ca

The circus manager part of the job - the World Cup is nicknamed The White Circus by the way - involves managing a frenetic finish area packed with athletes, coaches, officials, media and fans. After the skiers finish the race and go through what I like to call the KCO (Kertesz Customs Office) they are required to do interviews for the various media outlets (TV, radio, print) each of whom wants to get the skiers before the other. After juggling interview requests, Kertesz must herd the top race finishers for the requisite post-race podium ceremony. Watching Kertesz control the chaos here is Lake Louise is like watching someone herd cats on snow. Not an easy task.

But Kertesz's job is not just all about equipment inspections and course management. Sometimes it involves keeping a very calm head during tense, life-threatening situations. For the last two years I've witnessed Kertesz react to horrible crashes that took place just as skiers were crossing the finish area. And in both instances, the crashes happened at the famed Kitzbuehel Hahnenkamm ski races - the Super Bowl of alpine ski racing.

The first one happened in January 2008 when American skier Scott Macartney flew off the last jump and suffered a very violent crash after missing his landing. Kertesz was the first person to respond and assisted rescue workers as Macartney was airlifted to hospital. Fortunately, he recovered and is now racing again.

Then, just last January, in an eerily similar spill, Swiss superstar Daniel Albrecht crashed violently in almost the same spot injuring his brain and lung. Again, Kertesz was the first man on the scene. Albrecht, who was put in an induced coma for three weeks, is doing much better and working to get back into World Cup shape.

"Over the 13 years I've been working on this tour and I've been down in the finish area I've seen even worse crashes than Scotty Mac's and Daniel's. It's tough to see because the athletes are part of our big family touring around. There are 80 athletes and 200 coaches and all the media and everybody we are all family members and when one goes down you feel it hard," says Kertesz.

But even this is not the toughest part of the job. According to Kertesz, the hardest aspect of this very unique way of making a living is the time away for his wife and two young boys.

"I miss my family very much when I'm away and I get homesick - but my family understands what's going on. My wife Louise used to work on the tour so she knows I'm not out there partying it up, and the glamour that the tour may seem. My kids know Daddy's away at work and it's pretty fun when they come and visit like here in Lake Louise. But the tour itself is a family away from home too. The guys I work with, Gunther and my other colleagues, are a family too and they are very supportive of the fact that I'm a Canadian and a family man who is usually very far away from home - so they're very respectful of me and my families needs."

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Canada's Alpine Peacekeeper Mike Kertesz checking on some race boots at his makeshift test facility in The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise

Michael Mastarciyan/CTVOlympics.ca