Thanks to Dave Johnston for sharing his Beitostolon, Norway World Masters Race experience.
We had mid winter conditions in Norway with several days of flurries and one day getting slammed with 14 inches making for an arduous 30k.
I was in awe over the double track trails with a fat ol’ skating lane down the middle, and the panoramic views of snow covered mountains and moon-like terrain while touring a micro fraction of the 100’s of kilometers of trails around Beitostolen where the Nordic culture rules!
As far as racing, the MNC colors did well. In the first race,15k skate, I ended up with silver, one second out of gold and one second ahead of bronze. I had a decent lead of ~10 seconds until taking a spill around the last downhill turn, about a 1/2 k from the finish, where the Finn who won passed me while I was trying to regain momentum. The following day I won the gold in the 10k skate edging out a Norwegian by three seconds. Two days later our relay team came in fifth out of 11 teams; the Scandinavians and Europeans sure can classic!! In the 30k skate I came in fifth, 10 seconds out of first. In that same final half of kilometer, I was in fourth place readying for a final charge when I planted a pole on my ski and did a face plant. Duh! A Russian whipped by and that was that. It was really fun racing with all the different nationalities and also being supported and interacting with New England skiers from Northwest Vermont, Craftsbury, and Ford Sayer as well as skiers from other regions of the USA. Attached is a photo post 10k race.
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