The two organizers of the original 1928 race were the Ski Club Arlberg in Austria and the British Kandahar Ski Club, based in Mürren. The latter is named after the British military commander Frederick Roberts, Earl of Kandahar, the major benefactor of the club. (At the first downhill race organized by skiing pioneer Arnold Lunn, held at Crans-Montana in 1911, Roberts donated the trophy, the Roberts of Kandahar Challenge Cup.)