Committee Chair Jeff Pier said while there hadn’t been clear rules covering the event in the past, the event nonetheless is being used more an more in competition, so the committee added language to describe the details at its annual meeting May 15-18 in Indianapolis (See related story, this issue).

"The rules already contained language for cross country pursuit with a break," said Pier, the head Alpine coach at St. Lawrence University. "Continuous pursuit events in Nordic competitions have been added in recent years, and a break isn’t being used. That has become an exciting event for both the student-athletes and spectators, and these rules changes now reflect how it should be governed within the NCAA."

The new pursuit rule, as well as all rules-change proposals, must first be approved by the Playing Rules Oversight Panel (PROP) before being implemented into the NCAA Skiing Rules book for 2007.

The complete list of rules changes will be sent to all coaches and commissioners for comment before being submitted to PROP for review in July.

In other action, the committee proposed requiring that the number of gates in a giant slalom course be 11 to 15 percent of the vertical drop in meters. Committee members also want to require event organizers to use electric timing for both their primary and secondary systems. Both items have been only recommendations in the past.

"Standardizing competition is necessary in sport to make it both fair and equitable," Pier said. "Therefore, these distances and electronic timing systems should now be required."

Other recommendations to be submitted to PROP include:

n Alpine video control will be recommended for all slalom events for the first time. It already is a regular practice at competitions.

n New gates, which are 31 millimeters in diameter, are legal for use, and the distance between two gates shall be no more than 13 meters between direction changes. The previous rule was 15 meters, but the new distance is more consistent with international rules.

n The committee deleted the requirement listing when and where refreshments must be available on the course during Nordic competition. Pier said, "Feeding and fluid-intake needs vary by team and individual athlete; therefore this requirement was out of date."