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Masters World Cup Wrap Up
By:  Sheila Kealey   (2011/03/13)

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The week in Silverstar and racing at the Masters World Cup was a great one. I can't remember a week anywhere with such amazing skiing, trails, grooming, and weather conditions. My racing earned me 4 medals (3 bronze, 1 silver). Here's how the events panned out . . .

Racers are allowed to race in 3 events (short, mid, and long distance classic or skate). After my first race (15k skate), I raced 10k classic. I felt much better, hanging on to eventual winner Leslie Hall until about 5km, for the silver medal. This earned me a spot on the Canadian Women's 40-49 relay team the next day. Our team (I skied with Marg Fedyna, Carolyn Daubeny, and Nancy Burden) had a great race, and we placed third (behind the US and Russia).

All the racing and waxing made me appreciate the efforts of our coach/wax guru John Suuronen even more. I was finding it challenging to find the place (wax rooms were crowded), motivation (waxing's not my favourite thing), time, and finally the right guess for the best wax combo. My 30km wax tech duties missed it altogether. I didn't wax for the high humidity, warmer temps, and hot sun, and had nothing to structure my skis with. I started out feeling pretty good and was skiing behind Leslie Hall in 2nd, but as the sun got stronger, I really started to slow down, but managed to hang on for the bronze medal. It was still a really fun race - we started behind the older categories, so it was a real boost to see so many older athletes giving it their all and skiing so well.  The added bonus to the day was skiing over the mountain back to Silverstar with my son.

All in all, it was a super week for me, and it seems most other racers and supporters felt the same way.  It takes an awful lot to put on an event of this scale, and the Sovereign Lake Nordic Center volunteers and Masters World Cup organizers did a superb job on all fronts.

Many other Ottawa-area skiers were enjoying the week as well. Check out the Chelsea Masters blog for more reports.

You can find results and more information about the Masters World Cup here.


Finishing off first leg of the relay


Skiing back to Silverstar after the race (over the summit on Aberdeen trail)

 
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