Rowing: Man who can't say no faces mega-task in 2010 rowing champs

Arthur Klap

Arthur Klap just can't say no.

Determined that this week's world mountain bike championships would go close to marking his swansong as a big events organiser, Klap was looking forward to taking it easy.

That was until New Zealand Rowing boss Craig Ross rang and asked him to be event director for the 2010 world rowing championships on Lake Karapiro. Klap didn't hesitate. Well, not for long.

It will, he admits, be the mother of all challenges - with the budget to match.

In between overseeing preparations on the 4X course, which will come to life in earnest in Rotorua tomorrow with the harum-scarum, madcap scramble down a mind-blowing course, Klap looks back on a remarkable career.

These championships - officially known as the UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships - are the seventh big event he has put on the world map.

And the most challenging?

"In many ways, yes," said Klap, 55, who cut his early sporting teeth as a freestyle skier.

He drove the organisation behind the world triathlon championships in Wellington and Queenstown, the world junior snowboarding championships at Cardrona in 2002 and more recently the mountain running championships in Wellington.

His organisation of that highly successful event on Mt Victoria was recognised this week with a couple of Tourism New Zealand awards.

The mountain bikes are a step up from the running.

"We had 12 IAAF officials and 40 media at the mountain running. Here we have 60 UCI people and 200-plus media," said Klap. "The running was all over in a couple of days. This time there are seven days in race mode with 19 world championships to be decided.

"I have had a fulltime staff of 30 working for up to two years."

Winning the right to host the event did not come easy.

"The first contact came five years ago when I had a chat with Dave Donaldson, who was the president of the Rotorua Mountain Bike Club," said Klap. "He was keen to put on the masters but they were awarded to Canada for five years.

"UCI suggested we try for the mountain bike championships. The first time we put in a bid we got knocked back. Same again the second time. It was a case of third time lucky when we beat Scotland head-to-head.

"It is hard to get these championships out of Europe."

The last time they went south of the equator was 10 years ago in Cairns.

Klap started from scratch in Rotorua but has come up with a facility touted as second-to-none.

"It is the biggest thing I have done. There are four very separate disciplines but the trials alone need 12 zones. It is a huge logistical challenge."

But the biggest headache, Klap admits, is the financial one.

The organisers have had to pay the world governing body $400,000 for hosting rights.

"We have to rely heavily on sponsors and the support from the Rotorua District Council," said Klap.

"Every night I go home and go over the financials. Even with a budget of close to $2 million, there is not much to come and go on. At the moment we will probably come out $20,000 ahead or behind. As promoters, Bike NZ definitely can't afford the latter."

The next stop, the world rowing championships - after his involvement with a coming international six-day Enduro (for motorcycles) and the world waterski racing championships (in Rotorua and Taupo) next year - has a much bigger budget but, Klap foresees, not the headaches.

He will have an operating budget of $6 million with a further $10 million for capital expenditure.

Klap admits he has no rowing background. That doesn't faze him.

"I have done so many things I have no background in," he said. "It's simply a case of rolling your sleeves up and getting stuck in."