Mass start of the 45 km Freestyle M3 race from the stadium at Sovereign Lake Nordic Center.
Fifteen New York State master skiers were part of 329 U.S. master racers that “took on the world” March 3-11 at Sovereign Lake Nordic Center, British Columbia, Canada. Over 1,100 total racers from 22 countries converged for Masters World Cup 2011 on deep, dry and plentiful snow that was groomed to perfection each day.
The New York racers included Chris Beattie, David Burt, Rene Clarke, Alec Davis, Richard Dixon, Sherry Dixon, Tim Donahue, Janet Findlay, Joan Henry, Roger Henry, David Hunter, Dan Karig, Vic Laport, Gaetane Perreault and Darwin Roosa.
The Sovereign Lake trails are just down the road from British Columbia’s Silver Star Mountain Resort that has its own Nordic trail system and downhill ski area with chairlifts to an amazing network of 110 km of interconnected trails. The two trail systems at an average of 5,500 feet elevation offered plenty of ski training adventures and mountain range vistas during the non-race days. As for race days, the courses left most of us “outside our comfort zone” for breathing until we became acclimated to the elevation over a few days.
A shuttle bus service ran between the race venue and hotels/houses rented to MWC 2011 racers. The Burt-Clarke-Roosa house was located on a street of snow-covered Victorian style houses. YES, ours was this pink house with a convenient bus pick up at the driveway.
Races took place on courses of 5, 10 and 15 km lengths with daily temperatures in the 20 to 28 degrees F range. Awards ceremonies were held each evening in the village of Silver Star.
Chris Beattie (M7) on the 15 km classical race course.
Highlighted are racing performances by Tim Donahue (M3 – 3rd place 10 km Free, 5th place 30 km Free, 4th place Free/Classic Relay), Janet Findlay (F6 – 3rd place 15 km Classic, 4th place 10 km Classic, 6th place 30 km Classic), Joan Henry (F9 – 2nd place 10 km Classic, 8th place 5 km Free) and Hans Muehlegger/Dan Karig/Alec Davis/Bob Gray (M9 – 2nd place Free/Classic Relay Team).
We were sorry to miss the NYSSRA Nordic Championships that conflicted with the MWC 2011 schedule. However, British Columbia was a once in a lifetime experience.
See complete MWC 2011 results here.
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