(Karra reports that the races for this year have been moved from Centauri Base to Sirius which we know from a future session was due to a dump of four and a half feet of new snow at the race site which overwhelmed the facilities there. She explains the new format due to the change and the healing facilities ready to treat any injured that are nearby. She also mentions the Ice Palace of Sirius done annually much as is done down here.) 

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Russ: hello love.

Karra: hey, how’s it going hon?

Russ: good my dear, how’s yourself?

Karra: I’m doing fine.

Russ: excellent, excellent, good to see you again.

Karra: it’s good to see you as well, I do apologize for dropping out of your mind so much today.

Russ: oh don’t worry about it darling, it’s been one of those days.

Karra: yes it has.

Russ: how has your day been?
 
Karra: busy.

Russ: oh, what you got going?

Karra: oh we’re working on the hurried plans of the upcoming ski races at the end of the month.

Russ: absolutely.

Karra: I believe it’s the last weekend will be the finals. We have.....we’ve been real busy, I've been in constant communication with representatives of both Centauri base and Sirius base.

Russ: well perhaps you could help out with the news for this month’s newsletter.

Karra: well okay, I will do what I can. Okay.......

Russ: excellent.

(at this time there is a fixture making noise for about six minutes before it stops and does not start again)

Karra: the races are being transferred from Centauri base to Sirius base. The number of participants is being cut slightly, each team is only allowed to field a team of four as opposed to five. This is to speed up and facilitate a better format because of such short notice. 

Russ: wow.

Karra: the amount of people that are allowed to stay in the area, meaning within walking distance, that's up to a mile away....

Russ: right.

Karra: has also been cut by half.

Russ: excellent.

Karra: uh-huh. This is due to the fact that it is felt that if we have lots of people it would make it difficult for competitors to get to their races on time and the fact that we have a format of the races have to start at a particular time and they have to finish at a particular time. There are windows for delays, there are windows for redeployment of equipment for damages and stuff. After all, the races can be pretty harsh on those gates sometimes.

Russ: uh-huh.

Karra: the only teams that are not being shortened because of its very nature are biathlon and the cross-country teams.

Russ: right.

Karra: they will remain as five people per team, the course has been shortened but only by I think by about a hundred units. So instead of being a 5,000 unit, it’s a 4,900 unit race. That will probably shave off maybe two minutes off of each race but unfortunately needs dictate.

Russ: yes.

Karra: okay on the base, we have a whole load of new personnel, it’s rotation time again. I won’t go into details as there’s quite a few changes. The core staff of course are permanent residents for a certain length of time. 

Russ: uh-uh. 

Karra: in our case it's anywhere up to a hundred and fifty years.

Russ: how about medical emergencies at the course, are they all planned for and....?

Karra: yes they are planned for, we have a full medical staff and a full medical facility. Fortunately, where we're hosting it is about 13 minutes running distance from the top medical facility in that particular province.

Russ: excellent.

Karra: in fact they have a top-notch rejuvenation facility. In fact it was originally the model for many of the rejuvenation facilities and they certainly continue to do research and development and the facility itself is still the best.

Russ: excellent, that will be good for the racers to know.

Karra: oh yeah and we haven’t had any serious mishaps in the past apart from a very badly damaged leg on one occasion.

Russ: uh-huh.

Karra: but that wasn’t cause for rejuvenation, we've never had that problem. They also have a pretty good, I wouldn't say the best but a pretty good reconstructive facility.....

Russ: excellent.

Karra: and they also have one of the few all-weather transports.

Russ: oh excellent.

Karra: well being up in the mountains they have to.

Russ: true.

Karra: which means any harsh conditions they can get out and transport and do medical transport which is also very important.

Russ: odds are though most treatment will be taking place at the race event site.

Karra: oh yeah, yeah, they will be setting up a mini hospital and triage.

Russ: excellent.

Karra: the locals are trying to copy without much success, it's not that cold a climate, the Ice Palace. You member the Ice Palace?

(the Ice Palace is a structure built out of blocks of ice near the capital of Sirius)

Russ: oh yes absolutely.

(finally the fixture making noise no longer disrupts the recording)

Karra: they've done one on a much smaller scale and it won’t be open for living in because of course the climate is a little warmer.

Russ: ceilings drip.

Karra: yes they do. But it’s more of a walk-around restaurant setup with the look of the Ice Palace.

Russ: oh excellent.

Karra: the Ice Palace this year has been bigger and better than ever thanks to a very cold, cold snap. The lake that it sits in front of froze to a depth of about four units.

Russ: wow.

Karra: so they were able to cut a lot of blocks and build the Ice Palace very quickly. It looks pretty good this year actually, I’ve only seen holos and hopefully it will still be able to be visited and still be safe.

Russ: will you be visiting Sirius during the races?

Karra: of course, I’ve got to.

Russ: then you’ll be going and seeing the Ice Palace right?

Karra: of course.

Russ: of course.

Karra: if it’s still open.

Russ: true.

Karra: that area as I said has had a colder than normal winter. Also whilst we’re visiting, Kiri will be competing and she is going off to check out her new property.

(this is a plot of land in the mountains where there are some pink flowers growing which have an aphrodisiac quality)
 
Russ: ahh yes.

Karra: which all reports are it’s still under a lot of snow.

Russ: ahh that’s good.

Karra: that’s very good.

Russ: excellent.