April 5, 2007
Masters Update
Summary: From Masters Committee chair David Hosmer.
Hi NENSA Masters,
After the all the headlines on the Juniors, we thought the Masters might be interested in news from a couple of events that took place in the first two weeks of March in Finland.NENSA members Doug Armstrong, John Brodhead, Dave and Trina Hosmer, Mary Lou Lowrie, George Hall, Sally Howe, Rick Hubbard and Nat Steele took part in the World Masters Cup in Rovaniemi March 3-11. We were joined by spouses Candy Armstrong and Charlotte Hall. We were part of an 85 member contingent from the USA and were the third largest delegation. This year around 1100 attended and competed in the usual mix of distances and techniques in 5 year age classes.
Complete results can be found at www.mwc2007.com. NENSA medalists were Trina, who again proved to be best in her age class in all three of her individual races. Mary Lou Lowrie placed 3rd in her age class in the 30kC. One other finish of note is John Brodhead's 12th in the 10kF. Russia was the dominant country with over 140 medals with Finland earning nearly 100. The USA pulled in about 14 medals, I think. However most of us attend knowing full well that a podium finish is an unreasonable expectation. What motivates us to travel many time zones is the opportunity to ski in a first class event against other men and women of our own age who share the same passion for our great sport, to see another part of the world and experience its culture. In each event there are the mini races within the main race, much as we have in our better attended NENSA Masters events.
The Arctic Circle lies a few kilometers north of Rovaniemi. Prior to our arrival temps had been in the minus double digit C range. It warmed through out our visit, creating some interesting waxing dilemmas. One of the toughest was for the 4 by 5k relay. After several failed attempts to produce kick Trina pulled her Rossingol AR's waxless skis out of the bag, scraped off the travel wax off and beat a Finn some 12 years younger to the line in the opening leg by 3 seconds. The USA team then went on to place 3rd. The skaters obviously didn't have to deal with this issue. Except for a 5k loop that Men's classes 1-6 used in their 30 and 45 k races the courses were a tad flat by NENSA standards, thus placing a premium on double poling strength. The Finn's did an admirable job and we all were pleased to have attended.
Next March 1- 11 the WMC is going to be held in McCall Idaho. The event web site is www.mwc2008.com. The event will also serve as the US Masters Championships. AXCS Director John "JD" Downing estimates that as many as 200 masters from the west will attend. It would be great if we could get a large sized group from NENSA to attend. AXCS will not be organizing a trip and thus all USA attendees will have to make arrangements for their own housing. The organizers would like to save the hotel beds for the foreign visitors. There are a large number of condos but the good ones will be booked early. The web sight is www.inidaho.com. Word of warning, if you drag your feet and wait until next Fall or even Summer to book then you will not find a condo anywhere near the venue. MWC 2009 is going to be in Autrans France and MWC 2010 is going to be in Falun Sweden.
Following the WMC 14 of the USA contingent left for the Border to Border event. This group included NENSA members Doug and Candy Armstrong, John Brodhead, Dave and Trina Hosmer and Rick Hubbard. Most who read this will have heard of this event. So briefly, it is a supported 7 day 440k ski from the Russian border to the town of Tornio on the Swedish border. We skied in the 4th of the 4 waves. Other NENSA members Ken Kimball and Steve and Sally Swenson skied in the third wave. The internet abounds with detailed diaries of the experiences of others, all of whom took much better notes and photos than I. I think I speak for all who attended that it was worth doing. Due to warm weather and melt on the rivers we did about 410k. It is no joke when I say that we double poled at least 350k. North Finland is quite flat and it seems as if most of the forest is "industrial", large cut tracts interspersed with replanted areas. I know we had an aberration in the weather but Trina, John and I and used our Rossingol AR's on 5 of the 7 days. The other two days we used purple klister. The organizers did an absolutely marvelous job with the logistics of handling the moving of 100 people and all their stuff. The bus drivers were the real heroes of the trip. When we arrived at the end of day the luggage was out of the busses and ready for us to take to our rooms. John Brodhead, who is Race Director for the Craftsbury Marathon, was really impressed with how smoothly it all happened. So if you would like to participate in a ski experience of an entirely different sort, this is it. As for photos I believe that Rick Hubbard is going to coordinate the sharing of photos taken by the US contingent. If you are interested in this email him at rick@rickhubbard.org and ask him to put you on the e-list.
A few tips: Travel light as you move all your stuff every day. Forget all the sexy wax, pack the basics and don't forget binder. Each day get a seat in the first 4-5 rows of the bus and get on the track as quickly as you can, otherwise you'll be stuck having to pass long queues of skiers who are very reluctant to relinquish the narrow single snowmobile set track. Faster skiers will eventually catch you, but just let them go by and if you are up to it jump on their train. It was suggested that we bring some small items to give to the folks at the service stops. We forgot ours. Also we had no idea that there would be a ski and bus guide or that the drivers would be so key to our enjoyment. We wish we had brought along 5-6 small containers of maple syrup to pass out as gifts. If you have any specific questions I'm sure that any of us who attended would be happy to try and answer them.
Thanks for a great winter and start getting ready for next year!
NENSA Masters Committee Chair: David Hosmer
