It was probably the best Golden Fox event ever on 26 and 27 January 2013. However, only up till now … Because the best alpine racers bid farewell from Maribor saying: ”See you at the 50th Golden Fox on February 1, 2014!”At the 49th Golden Fox there was everything. A record breaking number of spectators, more than 40.000 in two days, arrived to the Pohorje foothill (on Saturday 22.000 and on Sunday 19.000), and it was that way also in front of the TV screens – on Sunday 29 % of Slovenians watched the event on the 2nd channel of TV Slovenia, which means 567.000 viewers and the rate of those, who were watching then, was actually 81 %.Excellent race tracks, which was confirmed by all the racers and their coaches. The organizers had a lot of trouble, because of not sufficient snow in the lower part of the track, because of not enough cold nights to snow the track, because of the new snow the day before the event. But it was all solved, the snow cover was compact enough, despite its thickness of only 40 cm of snow – with injection bar 1,5 million litres of water were injected into snow – the track offered the equal conditions for all the racers, which hasn’t been the case for a long time at any recent World Cup event in the world. The best proof was the best timing of Tina Maze also in the 2nd run of SL, when she, as the leading racer after the first run, started as the last one, so the 30th.Fabulous weather, despite snowing the day before and the day after the race, when the whole slope disappeared in fog.But all credit for this successful weekend goes to no one else but Tina Maze! Only eight 100/sec separated her from a victory in GS on Saturday, but she became the winner in overall GS standings two races before the final GS events. When a journalist at the press conference in Hotel Habakuk reminded her, that Mateja Svet was the only one, who managed to win both Golden Fox races in the same year, Tina replied:”But she didn’t succeed in winning the small GS globe” However, this competitive spirit gave Tina strength for the slalom race, when she had to beat the Saturday’s pressure of a record breaking crowd of spectators and journalists (380 accredited for the event), and then despite shouting and cheering of the whole stadium, that reminded more of a Sunday football match than a ski racing minute, the temperature kept rising and Tina won the SL race and by that also the Golden Fox combination. Such a superb event can only be named ”A race of superlatives,” stated general secretary of the organising committee for the 49th Golden Fox event.”The feelings are awesome! We actually succeeded in everything, also the nature returned what was taken from us in the past or only shared with us in bits and pieces. Today, being the organizer is really awesome!!But just like after every Fox event, we’re already looking forward. Ahead of us is a new project, bigger, nevertheless, the most important – the jubilee of the 50th Golden Fox!The 50th will be different for sure, because that’s just the way it needs to be. Next to the race track some new contemporary facilities are needed, the programme will be moved even more to the city centre, and the most important thing is to lessen the dependence on changeable weather with a new snowing system for a preparation of a race track. We need to be on the safe side to organize the next year’s event, since we think that the 50th Golden Fox will be an opportunity for the promotion of the whole Slovenia.It’s also of great importance that all the factors, not only in our ski club, but also in the city, region and whole country, come together for a realization of this grand project and that we do all we can for a new huge success of the Golden Fox and Slovenian skiing.Atle Skaardal, the director of the World Cup, assured that the FIS will support and help us, since we proved with this year’s event to be at the top in the Women’s World Cup. The superlatives of the 49th Golden Fox are encouragement but also a guiding principle for the jubilee Fox under Pohorje that will be even more golden than the one in January 2013!’’