CANADIAN MASTERS' CROSS COUNTRY SKI ASSOCIATION

APRIL 2002 NEWSLETTER

Hi Masters 

Another ski season ends and off we go into our summer mode. 

It has been an exciting season for cross country skiing in general. Master skier Walter Scotts' daughter Becky wins Canada's first ever Olympic medal in our sport. Becky not only displayed her talent but also showed maturity and class, attributes not unfamiliar in this sport. Other members of the Canadian womens team also had excellent results. 

The Masters World Cup was held at the Myriam Bédard centre in Québec with close to 900 participants. It was a week which kept all wax technicians on their toes, running here and there trying to find the right combinations in conditions that varied from day to day. The Russians seemed to have an edge when it came to "getting it right"! 

Sincere thanks go out to the Organizing Committee and all the volunteers for their many hours of hard work in making this event a success. 

All Provincial Directors have told me their members who attended the MWC had a tremendous time, not only from a racing standpoint, but the overall camaraderie and culture of "Old Québec"! 

Have a wonderful safe summer, and don't forget to make plans early for any Masters event that you may have in mind to attend next season.

                                                     Jack

MWC 2003, SEEFELD, AUSTRIA

As most of you may have noticed, this coming year's MWC in Seefeld will be held significantly earlier than in past seasons, The dates are January 30th to February 8th, with actual race days running from February 2nd to February 8th. The deadline for entries is January 6th (postmarked).

Those of you planning to attend and who did not pick up forms in Quebec, please contact me. I have sufficient copies of entry forms, accommodations forms and airport transportation forms.

As I noted in the winter newsletter, the largest MWC to-date was held in Seefeld in 1988 with 1,480 participants.  Due to its central European location, these numbers could be surpassed this coming year. I also mentioned that Seefeld is a small village of under 3,000 inhabitants, so my suggestion is to, if possible, make your plans early so you get the accommodations of your choice. 

Seefeld 2003 contact info..

MWC Seefeld 2003 package... 

A special package will be offered by Léon Simard of the AMSF in Québec to Canadian Master members. This will include, flight travel, transport to and from airport (probably Munich) and hotel accommodations. Particulars will be made available in July.

This information will be accessed on the Québec and National Masters websites as it becomes available. 

Québec site                    <www.amsfski.com>

National Masters site      <x-c.com> 

National Medal Ceremony in Québec

I would really like to thank Vic Emery (the tall dude with energy to burn) and the others who helped with the medal ceremony at the YMCA in Québec on Thursday February 28th.  Illness prevented me from attending.

Canadian Masters who finished first, second and third are entitled to National Medals in each age category. Due to their late arrival at the medal ceremony,  some Masters may not have received their medals. If you were in the top three Nationally and DID NOT receive a medal, please contact me! This applies to the first four races on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday only. Medals for the last two races have been sent to those concerned.

Congratulations go out to those of you who have participated in this years event. You are all winners. 

Masters World Cup 2005

Krasnogorsk, Russia-----A first    

At the annual meeting of the WMA in Québec City two sites were bidding to host the MWC 2005. They were McCall, Idaho in the US and Krasnogorsk in Russia. Russia won with a  vote of eighteen to six!

There are a few major reasons for the outcome of this vote. First, a MWC has never been held in a former Eastern Bloc country. Second but more importantly, over the past six years Russia is second only to Germany in the number of participants attending MWC's, averaging 146 skiers per year, an extremely impressive total considering the distances they have to travel. Also, this year in Québec there were almost as many participants from Russia as there was from our neighbour across the border to the south!!??

As Director for Canada I feel this vote in favor of Russia is totally justified and am certain that the MWC in 2005 will not only be an historic one for the Masters but will also be a great success!

Krasnogorsk is a city of approximately 700,000 residents, located 32 kilometers north of Moscow. More information on this particular MWC will be in future newsletters. 

Sprints This is a competition that will not soon be added to the Masters World Cup due to the sheer numbers of competitors involved!  But who knows, in future perhaps someone will come up with a feasible method. So you mathematicians out there, get to work and give us a plan.

The gang from Canmore

 Once again this year it was great to see the "large, well organized and well coached group from Canmore"!

Who else could have snatched two waxing trailers out of nowhere and  from under the vigilant eyes of the Organizing Committee! I'm now putting this group right up there with the Russians in their "scrounging abilities"!

They achieved many excellent race results under the watchful eye of their coach, the always calm, unperturbed Matthias Ahrens..Mr Cerax.  Even during times of nightmarish waxing conditions, all remained calm in the mind of Matthias.

It was for this reason that on several occasions as I passed by the Canmore trailers I was not surprised to see Kathy, Judy, Michael, Ernst, Carl and others standing around outside smiling and chatting, seemingly without a care in the world. It was difficult for me to imagine "such bliss" amongst all the chaos.

Keep up the great work gang, I hope to see many of you again next year.                        Jack

Ski Draw Winner

This years lucky winner was Barbara Bertch of Lake Louise, Alberta.

I would like to thank Barbara and all the other Masters who participated in this years draw in support of Cross Country Canada's National Junior Program.

A cheque will be forwarded to CCC later this month, making it four successive years in which Masters have contributed. It was also decided at this year's AGM to continue with the draw into the forseable future.

I would like to sincerely thank David McMahon for his generous contribution of video's, CD's and DVD's on cross country skiing. This materiel has been written by Lise Meloche, two-time Olympian and David McMahon, National Biathlon Champion. It contains a variety of tips and information on technical aspects of modern x-c skiing. All those from beginner to expert can benefit from the contents of these items.

We will conduct a draw and the winners will receive their prize sometime in April.

Website    <www.xczone.com>

Tel             (819) 827-4836

Registration for Masters World Cups.

Until recently there was only one method of registering to participate in a Masters World Cup. That was by completing an entry form and sending it to the National Director, who checked membership status, noted if seeding was appropriate and forwarded entry to the Organizing Committee.

With the age of the computer this has changed and now there is the option of registering on-line.

In most years on-line registration will work fine. However, this year with 334 Canadian skiers attending the MWC, many problems arose.

On occasion on-line registrations were not forwarded to me from Switzerland; others were late arriving. Consequently many good skiers were not properly seeded and in a few instances were scheduled to race in a discipline other than what they originally selected. I was approached about this in Qu*bec by a few members but was unable to do anything about their dilemma simply because I had no record of their original entry forms.

Again, in most years where participant numbers are fewer than one hundred, on-line registration can be monitored efficiently, but with greater numbers the safest method to ensure you are properly seeded (first time participants) and doing the races of your choice is by completing the entry form and sending it to your National Director by post! 

Changes..... 

When completing an entry form to ski in a MWC, please try and make a firm commitment as to which discipline you will ski in the three prescribed races!  I realize that in some cases an injury may prevent someone from doing their original choice, but any such change must be requested as soon as possible. I think all would agree what a nightmare any changes present to the few people entering all these names into the computer system, especially this coming year in Seefeld where upwards of 1,400 participants will be registered. 

I thank you for your cooporation in this matter.

Canadian Masters AGM Québec

The National Association "MCC" and Provincial divisions are financially healthy.

Race format for Masters "Nationals". All agreed that the four race format be continued (2 classic, 2 free technique), and that these should alternate each year, ie; 2003--first two races free technique, second two classic. 2004--first two classic, second two free technique. We are trying to make the competition equal for all skiers.

The format will be discussed with future hosting clubs and implemented  on an annual basis.

Membership fee It was decided that the membership fee of $15 would not be increased this year. As long time members are aware, the membership fee has always been $15 and has not increased during the 22 years of our association, a testimony to the diligence of all National and Provincial Directors throughout this time. It was also agreed that should a Province deem it necessary to make a minimum increase in future years, this would be acceptable.

It has always been the case that if a Province ran into financial difficulty it would be assisted by the National Body.

In future, members must join the Masters in the Province in which they reside.  This was unanimously agreed upon by Directors. Members residing outside Canada have a choice in which Province to join, normally continuing to become a member in their home Province. 

Masters "Nationals" rotation 

For the information of all members, there is a rotation for hosting our "Nationals". 2003/west, 2004/central, 2005/east, 2006/central, 2007/west, etc. Normally clubs submit bids one year in advance if they are interested. This year Newfoundland Director Bruce LeGrow presented a bid from the Whaleback club in Stephenville to host the Nationals in 2005. The reason for this early bid is that if it were accepted, Bruce could use this as leverage to approach different levels of Government for funding to upgrade the existing trail system at the Whaleback club.

The bid was unanimously accepted! At your convenience  check out the Whaleback website  http://www.whaleback.ca

 Interview with Al Maddox - Fiona McKenna

 Technical Delegate for Cross-Country Skiing - 2002 Olympics:

This weekend, I interrupted the well-deserved rest of a busy man to steal a few memories of the Salt Lake City games.

I asked Al Maddox to contrast the changes he had observed within our sport between the 1995 World Nordic Ski Championships in Thunder Bay (where he was the Chief of Competition), and the last Olympics (technical delegate).  Al was an assistant TD at the 1998 Nagano Olympics.

Al indicated the newer discipline of Sprints produced the most challenges.  Contact between athletes can get rough "like short track speed skating."  Juries are grappling with how to define interference between athletes.   Interference in Sprints is more consequential than in a relay leg where these difficulties could be made up over the distance or by the skier of the next leg.  Already, skiers have been disqualified for interference in Sprints at the World Cup and Olympic level.  Those skiers who have been obstructed have been able to ski again in later heats rather than missing out on advancing in the competition. 

Another aspect in development in Sprints is the standardization of distance.  Currently 1500 metres (about three minutes of racing), this distance may be decreased in the future.

It is clear that Sprints and the Pursuit format offer "head to head" competition that produces a more exciting event for the spectator and a valuable element in the sport.

Al noted that the Soldier Hollow venue was especially viewer-friendly and ninety-five percent of the course could be viewed at all times at some spots.

Inevitably, my conversation with Al broached the subject of fairness and doping in skiing.  Al felt the steps taken to date to clean up the sport could have been more far-reaching. In watching bronze medalist Beckie Scott's Pursuit race, he said his heart sank when she was overtaken on the last downhill before the finish.  He indicated there is a tough, three percent uphill coming to the finish line and felt Beckie showed the spirit of a true champion as she fought back into medal position.  In that particular race the gold and silver medalists were disqualified for doping.  He believes Beckie's (drug-free) performance will be a boon to younger skiers because she demonstrated that she could be one of the best skiers by dedicating herself and pushing through some tough years.

I thanked Al, not only for his time to do the interview, but also for his hard work and commitment to skiing.  Al graciously deferred to all the assistance he has received in Thunder Bay and in Canada to allow him to get the experience needed to officiate world cup and olympic level competitions.

My thanks go out to Fiona McKenna for obtaining this insight into some happenings in cross country skiing at this years Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City            Jack

THE WORLDS - Dirk Templeman-Kluit 

Another World Masters competition is history. Canadian Masters can be proud of the event hosted at Val Cartier. Quebec Masters organizers in particular can take a bow for the work and thought they put into the 22nd World Masters.For me this was a wonderful meet; I had three good races. The camaraderie and cultural aspects were a bonus.

Altogether there were about 900 competitors. They came from traditional cross-country powers such as Russia, and Norway, but even Netherlands, South Africa and Australia were represented. More than a third of the competitors were Canadian and nearly half of those hailed from Quebec. (Yukon-2, BC-31, Alberta-48, Saskatchewan-3, Manitoba-13, Ontario- 73, Quebec- 139, New Brunswick -17, Newfoundland-8).

Holding the races at Val Cartier and housing competitors right in Vieux Quebec worked out well. There are plenty of facilities in town for accommodation, restaurants and entertainment and the transport between Val Cartier and town was like clockwork.  The buses were comfortable, frequent and unfailingly on schedule so you could plan your departure and arrival. The stadium area was within 100 metres of the bus dropoff and pickup. Heated waxing trailers for each team were right there as was a large cozy heated circus tent affair where you could get food and drink.

Because we all stayed downtown we got to take advantage of Quebec hospitality, which was great. I think everyone enjoyed being downtown with the food and the range of things to do as diversions.

The event began with an opening ceremony on Saturday; this included athletes coming into the Armoury with the flags of their nations. It was smaller than, but modeled on, Olympic openers. This was followed by inaudible speeches. The acoustics in the armoury are for shouted orders not for speeches. Individual races were held every day except Wednesday and Thursday; the relays were on Wednesday and Thursday was a rest day.

Results of races throughout the week are posted at http://www.mwc2002.com/eng/.

And if you want to find out more about the trails and other background it is at http://www.mwc2002.com/

The Val Cartier trails used for the races are well suited to Masters competition. The main 10 and 15 km loops used in most of the events each have a substantial climb right out of the stadium for several kilometers. A technical downhill follows this and then a long flat section, mostly on a golf course. Then comes another hilly stretch and finally an out and back flat along a road where you could see your position relative to your competition ahead and behind you.

Coming in to the stadium was a short sharp climb where you could make a final move if you had anything left.

Because the trails are fairly narrow and because the hills start immediately after the stadium you had to get out sharply or risk being bottled up behind slower skiers on the climb out. This was of course especially true for the skate races. And the larger the class the more this was a problem.

Speaking of class sizes the largest women's class was F03 with 22 competitors and the largest men's class was M05 with 56. Generally the fields were a bit larger for the skate race than for the classic event in each category.

As in Masters events generally competitors were seeded in the start according to past performances at World Masters events. If you had not competed before you found yourself in the back rows. Many competitors stayed healthy right through the week but others succumbed to the flu and the DNS count increased as the week progressed.

Grooming was generally good, but because the trails were soft on most days, they were skied out very quickly so that there was not much of a track for later skiers; and on some of the hills the center got pretty chewed up. Because of the soft trails times were generally slow. For three of the days competitors had to contend with new snow or falling snow and to make it worse temperatures right near zero. Waxing was a headache, especially for classic. Apparently this weather was not normal; it took the organizers by surprise as much as it did competitors.

The trails were well marked and easy enough to follow in most cases. But skiers did get lost and in one age group (the M07 - 10K skate) the leading dozen or so skiers took a wrong turn and were all disqualified.    

The medals went to those following; a replay of that Australian short track speed skating gold in the Salt Lake Olympics. And in the relays ten or more teams were disqualified because one or more team members took wrong turns. Four of these disqualifications were to Canadian teams.

A medal ceremony was held each evening after dinner; also in the Armoury. The medal presentations tended to be drawn out affairs. With at least 10 male and 10 female categories, 3 medals per event and three languages for each announcement it took a good hour to award the day's 60 or more medals.

Printed results of the day's races were available at the medal ceremony. My unofficial count of the individual medals was Russia 109, Canada 42, Norway 41, Germany 31, USA 25, Finland 18, Italy 16, Sweden 6, France 7, and Austria 3.

Because the competition doubled as the Canadian Masters Championship a Canadian medal ceremony was held on Thursday evening. About 150 medals were awarded for three days of races in the same 11 categories for men and women each; this was a marathon medal ceremony.

The Wednesday evening banquet was a big success. The food was excellent especially considering the size of the crowd, no rubber chicken dinner this. It was held in a large hall in the nearby convention center and was followed by a dance with good music. Many people danced till 1 pm.

I look back to a week of great skiing and the companionship of friends old and new. Many were sad to leave when it all ended on Saturday with the closing ceremony in the Armoury- some could not let go and stayed pretty late for the closing dance. 

Thanks go out to BC Director Dirk Tempelman-Kluit for his views on this years MWC in Québec. Dirk also had many photo's taken during the event that he would have gladly shared with us, however space would not permit.  J.

The following are exerpts from an item in L'écho, the Masters magazine in Québec, President Léon Simard kindly consented to this…… written prior to Olympics 

Is cross-country skiing too demanding for Canadians?       by     Stéphane Barrette

When I was asked to write an article about the development of our athletes, I told myself that it was a good chance to test my new theory and get a reaction from the cross-country community.

I could have waxed poetically about recent training method breakthroughs, but I must admit that I'm more concerned about the development of our athletes than I am about the latest scientific discoveries .

If I use the word "concern", it's primarily because the current situation of cross-country skiing competition in Canada is more of a topic for worry than enthusiasm.

Not long ago, Canada figured amoung the top ten nations in the world and its athletes regularly succeeded in finishing amoung the top twenty. What on earth has happened to us since the 1980s?

There is little doubt that the answer to this question is strongly linked to the budget decline of Cross-Country Canada and, consequently, of the national team program. However, the discussion does not end there. Why did our subsidies decrease so much? Why have we not been able to keep on obtaining interesting results despite this decrease? Why have other sports with fewer subsidies than cross-country skiing continued to develop and even progress?

For anyone who has a bit of ambition and vision, there is in fact one question to be asked, namely: why is Canada not amoung the best nations in the world in cross-country skiing? We have the ideal environment for cross-country skiing and our infrastructures compare well with those of the powerful nations in this sport. What is more, we belong to the G7, the group of the world's seven economic powers. In this context, even though we take comfort in constantly pleading poverty, it seems rather embarrassing to say that it has always been and will always be a question of money.

My analysis might seem harsh, but it seems to me that we are more worried about finding explanations for our problems than simply understanding that fewer and fewer athletes are ready to make the sacrifices needed to attain the international level. Why?                

 Because we live in a pampered society that coddles us all. Life here is just too easy!  When athletes, coaches and parents continuously say that you can't make a living skiing, that school has to remain a priority, that skiing is only a pastime, our situation can't improve. If these beliefs were so well founded, why would it be truer for us than for the Europeans? Do you really believe that the Norwegian, Italian, Finnish or Russian athletes who represent their countries just walked on to their national team? If so, guess again. I can guarantee you that it is much harder for these athletes to gain a spot on their national team than it is for Canadians! The only difference is that they have a much better chance of being a world champion one day than do Canadians in the same situation. Why? Quite simply because with more competitors at the bottom, the natural selection that occurs before you make it to the top is much higher than here in Canada. The outcome is that those who make it through all the levels leading to the national team are particularly talented and train particularly hard.

There's also another difference, and it's a big one. In many countries around the world athletes are respected and are part of the elite of their societies. This is not surprising when we know the personal capacities that are needed to succeed in sports, namely determination, self-confidence, discipline, combativeness, judgement, innovation, etc. What happens to athletes in these countries when they retire from sports? They get hired by companies, adapt their abilities to the working world, and quickly obtain key occupational positions. Ex-athletes are effective and productive members of a society. Why do we have so much difficulty understanding that in Canada? It's certainly not because of a lack of examples!

 We also have to make a career in cross-country skiing more appealing. As such, the trips to Europe have always been an important attraction for our athletes. We can only rejoice at the fact that the B Tours have been revived for Canadian skiers who are not necessarily on the national team but who are already making considerable sacrifices. Indeed, it's essential to keep these athletes in the system, because they are the next candidates for the national team. If we have more athletes, our best will be better and so will our results on the international scene.

In the meantime, we won't get anywhere as long as the people in the sport don't encourage our athletes to make the necessary sacrifices, at least until they have a good idea of their maximum potential. Besides, it's not even a matter of choice. The world level is so high and there is so much depth in the World Cup peloton that it's impossible to win at this level without taking risks. It's up to us to choose and prove (I know it's hard...) that we can aim for the medal podium, for once...

Thats it for this ski season folks, once again have a great summer and have fun

                                                              Jack