Ski Jumping Canada announces 2 new trophies to be awarded at the 2015 Canadian National Ski Jumping Championships

Jan 15, 2015
Calgary, Alberta

Ski Jumping Canada is pleased to announce the creation of two trophies to honour the contribution of two individuals – Deedee Corradini and Ron Read – who have significantly advanced the sport of ski jumping, on both the national and international stages.
The two trophies will be awarded to the top female & male jumpers over the two legs of the 2015 Canadian Nationals, which will be held at COP in Calgary on March 21, 2015 and WOP in Whistler on March 28, 2015. The top female jumper on the normal hill events will be awarded the Deedee Corradini trophy and the top male jumper on the normal hill events will be awarded the Ron Read trophy.

Deedee Corradini
The Hon. Deedee Corradini is the Global Ambassador to the IWF and past President. She also currently serves as President of Women’s Ski Jumping USA, is a Senior Distinguished Fellow in Urban Studies at The Richard W. Riley Institute of Government, Politics and Public Leadership at Furman University, and is Senior Vice President of Prudential Utah Real Estate. She is the former Mayor of Salt Lake City, serving from 1992 to 2000, and former President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. She also has served in federal and state government posts as well as many years in the private sector, including positions on numerous Boards of Directors.

As Mayor of Salt Lake City, Corradini was instrumental in her city’s successful bid for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. In the years that followed, as President of Women’s Ski Jumping USA, she advocated for, and worked with, elite women ski jumpers from 18 countries around the world to push for women’s inclusion in the Olympic Winter Games. While ski jumping has been an Olympic event since 1924, up until April 6, 2011, it was one of only two events in the Olympic Games that did not allow women to compete. After a hard-fought, seven-year campaign conducted by the Women’s Ski Jumping movement, spearheaded by Deedee Corradini, the International Olympic Committee agreed to allow women ski jumpers to compete in 2014.
Ms. Corradini holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees from the University of Utah. She was born in Providence, Rhode Island, grew up in Lebanon and Syria for 11 years, and lived on the east coast before moving to Salt Lake City. Following service on the staffs of two Congressmen in Washington, D.C., she returned to Utah to raise her family. She is married to John Huebner and is the mother of two children.
Ron Read
Ron is a tireless volunteer for a number of causes and actively served Ski Jumping Canada and the Canadian Snowsports Association as well as the International Ski Federation for 15 years, recently deciding to take a well deserved retirement. Ron’s role in the technical side of Ski Jumping is unsurpassed. For many years, Ron served as the High Performance Director and Chairman for Ski Jumping Canada as well as a member of numerous Technical Committees for Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined. Ron was a strong advocate for including women in the sport of ski jumping at the Olympic Winter Games from early 2000 and started a strong push within FIS (International Ski Federation) from 2002 onwards that resulted in the creation of the women’s World Championships in order to meet OWG Criteria. Ron worked with the Canadian Snowsports Association to encourage Winsport to upgrade the Calgary jumps to prepare for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and was a strong advocate to ensure the Whistler jumps would remain operational after the Games. During his tenure with SJC, Ron was a vocal critic of Own The Podium. Ron advocated that there should be sport funding for athlete talent recognition and R & D – not just high performance. Although Ron’s focus was on Ski Jumping for many years, he was always a valuable contributor to the broader snowsports group. His extensive knowledge of the many organizations and agencies that the disciplines interact with has always been extremely valuable. Ron is one of the few people who truly understands the complexities and how to navigate from the seat of an individual discipline while balancing the needs of the CSA, FIS, Sport Canada, OTP and the Canadian Olympic Committee, among others. Ron was a member of the Canadian Olympic Committee and was honoured by the Calgary Booster Club as a leader in athletics. Ron is a friend of Snowsports and the beneficial role that it plays in modern society and what it offers to Canadian youth. Ron’s family has been heavily involved in skiing for many years. Ron’s brother, Ken Read, was one of the original Crazy Canucks and Ron’s son, Stefan, was one of Canada’s top ski jumpers for a number of years. Ron is married to Laura, a teacher and artist, who supported all of Ron’s endeavors and also deserves enormous credit.

Ski Jumping Canada is extremely grateful to Deedee and Ron for the impact they’ve had on the sport, the sport organizations and the athletes.
For Ski Jumping Canada inquiries, please contact tomreid@skijumpingcanada.com
For inquiries about the Canadian Nationals, please contact nationals@seatoskynordics.ca

About Ski Jumping Canada

Ski Jumping Canada (SJC) is the national sport governing body for ski jumping in Canada, and is responsible for:
• Promoting the sport in Canada
• Governing the conduct of ski jumping competitions in Canada.
• Selecting and training members of the ski jumping national team.
• Developing programs to train athletes, coaches, judges, and officials.
• Representing ski jumping in the Canadian Ski and Snowboarding Association.
• Representing ski jumping in the Canadian Olympic Committee.
• Representing ski jumping in Canada to FIS.