Neveplast Startpark Reiteralm in the Kingdom of Schladming

Nestled in the wild landscape of Styria, Schladming has earned a special place in the pantheon of skiing over the years. It has twice hosted the Alpine Skiing World Championships, and since 1981, its slalom on the Planai has ignited the most anticipated night in the World Cup calendar.

But the Schladming area, particularly the Reiteralm resort, is a favored destination for cross-country skiing and snowboarding specialists who come from all over the world to train in its Cross Park.

And it is precisely here that a new Startpark will open in the spring, with Neveplast as the title sponsor, taking on the name Neveplast Startpark Reiteralm.

A great new feature for 2021, this addition enhances Reiteralm's tourist offerings: a summer park made of Neveplast synthetic material, providing a valuable opportunity for cross-country skiing and snowboarding specialists to train without snow, even during the summer.

The layout of the Startpark has been designed to train cross-country athletes' skills year-round, in preparation for Olympic and World Cup competitions.

Neveplast is participating as both a technical and title sponsor.

The Neveplast Startpark Reiteralm will feature six different training lines with whoops, jumps, and parabolic curves designed to simulate the race tracks that athletes will compete on once the competitive season begins. The lines are perfectly suited for both ski and snowboard cross specialists.

The lines are entirely covered with Neveplast, an eco-friendly, fully regenerable material that closely simulates the feel of skiing on natural snow. Once placed on the ground, the Neveplast material will remain fixed even during the winter season, serving as an excellent ally even in warm winters with little snow. Just a few centimeters of natural snow will be enough to train safely and effectively.

Willibald Zechner, known as Willi, Head coach of the Chinese national alpine skiing team and former head coach of the Austrian ski cross national team, is the mastermind behind the winter Crosspark Reiteralm project, which has hosted international ski and snowboard cross competitions for years.

"When I was coaching the Austrian ski cross national team, I was looking for a solution that would allow my athletes to train year-round. It was one of my top athletes, Katrin Ofner (fresh off a World Cup win in Val Thorens), who told me about Neveplast.

Katrin has been training for a few years on a Neveplast pump track specifically built for her and is thrilled with this solution. After talking to Katrin, I immediately contacted Neveplast, and in just over a month, we finalized the agreement for the supply and sponsorship of the Startpark.

The contract with Neveplast was made possible thanks to the support of the Unterkofler family and the Reiteralm ski area, who have always been by my side in creating projects designed for tourists and athletes frequenting the resort.

The Reiteralm winter Crosspark is the jewel of our ski area, and the training track for ski and snowboard cross athletes is used by teams and national teams from around the world. Our Austrian athletes, the entire World Cup circus, and the movement of committees and ski clubs are excited about the new Neveplast Startpark Reiteralm.

From May 2021, I foresee many bookings from athletes worldwide coming to Reiteralm to train in the Neveplast summer park.

Every cross-country athlete, whether in skiing or snowboarding, knows how crucial the phase from the start gate to the first whoops is, the start section phase.

In ski and snowboard cross, you start in heats with other athletes, and being ahead after the first whoops provides a significant advantage, avoiding the skirmishes with opponents that characterize the first meters of the race.

It is better to be ahead after the first meters because chasing and overtaking become increasingly difficult.

I believe that having the opportunity to train in a summer park with such a high-performance material as Neveplast will raise the bar for all athletes. Only the constant repetition of the gesture, in different conditions, throughout the year, allows for performance improvement in the start.

We are very proud that Neveplast accepted our proposal.

I admit that I have not yet tried Neveplast, but I will as soon as the Startpark is operational in the spring.

In the meantime, I invite you to follow the adventures of the winter Crosspark Reiteralm on the web and our official social channels."

Niccolò Bertocchi, CEO of Neveplast: "We are very happy and proud to have been chosen by the Reiteralm company for the realization of the summer Crosspark project. We believe strongly in the potential of our product to train the Start Section phase for ski cross and snowboard cross specialists. The athletes who use Neveplast to improve their skills year-round are very satisfied, and for us, this is worth more than many marketing operations. Knowing that our name for the partnership with the Reiteralm Crosspark was suggested by Katrin Ofner, who already trains on a Neveplast pump track, repays the sacrifices we have made over the years to constantly improve.

We are an Italian company that exports worldwide, but when we manage to make a breakthrough in Austria, where winter sports are a religion, well, there is an extra bit of satisfaction.

I thank Willi Zechner for thinking of us and, of course, the colleagues at Sunkid who acted as the bridge in this contractual operation.

I can't wait to see and test the Neveplast Startpark Reiteralm when it's completed. I really hope it becomes a preferred destination for athletes worldwide and that it can be a breeding ground for champions who, thanks to this year-round gym, will be able to grow and conquer international stages."