Nordic skiers at Masters World Cup
Showing the fruits of their winter training, 24 Wood River Valley cross-country skiers posted outstanding results during the 2011 Sparking Hill Masters World Cup March 3-11 at Sovereign Lake in Vernon, British Columbia, Canada.
There were 1,134 skiers attending from 22 countries, including 329 from the U.S. Races for the 30-and-over set took place over six days in 12 age classes March 5-11. It was a World Masters Association/International Ski Federation (FIS) sanctioned event.
Wood River skiers had 18 World Cup podium finishes during a wet, snowy and high humidity week in Canada.
And that's not including the U.S. Masters Nationals podiums attained by Norm Clark, Del Pletcher and Muffy Ritz (3 golds each); Jon Engen (gold, silver, bronze); Hans Muehlegger (gold, silver); Joney Otteson (two bronzes); Kim Nalen (silver); and Kelly Allison (silver).
Simply amazing was 82-year-old Scottish native Clark, who participated in the 1954 Olympics as an alpine skier. Clark won gold, silver and bronze in the 80-84 class.
Ritz was the top American and finished fourth overall in the 30-kilometer mass start classic race March 11. She also won the Women's 50-54 10k skate race by nearly 16 seconds and captured the silver medal, just 1:16 back, in the 15k classic mass start women's event.
In Men's 65-69, Pletcher took the silver in 15k freestyle and the bronze in 10k skate and 30k free. Linda McClatchy excelled with the silver medal in 10k classic for Women's 60-64 and bronze 15k free.
Fourth places went to Engen in 10k classic for Men's 50-54 and Muehlegger in 10k skate for Men's 70-74. Noteworthy were two finishes in the March 11 classic finales—Otteson the third American in 12th place in the 30k classic, and Rick Knoebel the second American in ninth place at 45k classic.
In the March 9 4x5k classic/freestyle relays, Ritz led the first-place Class 3 (40-44) team; Linda McClatchy was on the Class 4 (45-49) first-place foursome; Engen joined the second-place M5 team; Muehlegger was on the second-place M9 relay, and Clark teamed was on the third-place M10 squad.
Next year's Masters World Cup is set for Oberwiesenthal, Germany and in 2013 at Asiago, Italy. Here are local results by race from Vernon, B.C.:
Men's Class 11 (ages 80-84)—10k freestyle mass start: 1—Norm Clark 40:37. 5k freestyle mass start: 2—Norm Clark 19:49. 15k freestyle mass start: 3—Norm Clark 1.52:07.
Men's Class 9 (70-74)—15k free: 13—Peter Maier 57:50. 27—Sam East 1.06:32. 10k free: 4—Hans Muehlegger 35:01. 14—Peter Maier 40:19. 17—Sam East 42:45. 30k free: 5—Hans Muehlegger 1.45:20. 11—Peter Maier 1.58:02. 16—Sam East 2.15:45.
Men's Class 8 (65-69)—15k free: 2—Del Pletcher 44:22. 17—Tullio Celano 54:04. 34—Karl Wadsack 1.10:17. 10k free: 3—Del Pletcher 29:45. 22—Tullio Celano 38:17. 31—Karl Wadsack 46:54. 30k free: 3—Del Pletcher 1.30:52. 27—Karl Wadsack 2.24:50.
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Men's Class 7 (60-64)—15k free: 50—Matt Gervase 54:02. 70—John Gladics 1.01:26. 10k free: 36—Matt Gervase 34:56. 55—John Gladics 39:56. 30k free: 47—Matt Gervase 1.50:35.
Women's Class 7—15k free: 3—Linda McClatchy 54:27. 23—Carol Monteverde 1.17:33. 25—Diana Wadsack 1.23:11. 10k classic: 2—Linda McClatchy 41:32. 21—Carol Monteverde 1.01:03. 10k free: 19—Diana Wadsack 52:17. 30k free: 13—Carol Monteverde 2.34:09. 15—Diana Wadsack 2.47:28.
Men's Class 6 (55-59)—30k free: 19—Rick Knoebel 1.33:06. 22—Jim McClatchy 1.35:27. 38—Pat Simpson 1.42:56. 40—Jon Holmquist 1.44:00. 62—Chris Puchner 2.08:30. 10k free: 19—Jim McClatchy 30:54. 24—Pat Simpson 31:28. 32—Jon Holmquist 32:31. 10k classic: 14—Rick Knoebel 34:29. 29—Chris Puchner 41:03. 45k free: 23—Jim McClatchy 2.25:29. 26—Jon Holmquist 2.27:17. 47—Chris Puchner 3.07:35. 45k classic: 9—Rick Knoebel 2.42:51.
Women's Class 6—10k classic: 18—Karen Simpson 50:34. 30k classic: 18—Karen Simpson 2.39:43.
Men's Class 5 (50-54)—30k free: 6—Jon Engen 1.24:52. 10k classic: 4—Jon Engen 30:32.
Women's Class 5—15k free: 16—Katharine Sheldon 54:36. 20—Carol Rank 56:32. 21—Brenda Spackman 56:47. 25—Gloria Kimball 57:51. 15k classic: 2—Muffy Ritz 54:36. 8—Kim Nalen 59:59. 13—Joney Otteson 1.02:30. 10k free: 1—Muffy Ritz 31:10. 17—Katharine Sheldon 36:11. 18—Carol Rank 36:13. 24—Gloria Kimball 37:54. 10k classic: 12—Joney Otteson 41:02. 19—Brenda Spackman 45:18. 30k classic: 4—Muffy Ritz 1.53:26. 12—Joney Otteson 2.05:50. 30k free: 21—Carol Rank 1.54:29. 25—Gloria Kimball 2.02:42. 26—Kim Nalen 2.04:46.
Women's Class 4 (45-49)—30k free: 6—Kelly Allison 1.33:07.
Men's Class 3 (40-44)—30k free: 29—John Tormey 1.40:05. 10k classic: 23—John Tormey 39:34. 45k free: 20—John Tormey 2.24:17.
Alpine Masters in Copper for national finals
A strong group of Intermountain Division Masters alpine ski racers including many from Sun Valley are in Copper Mountain, Colo. this week for the Skier's Edge 2011 Masters National Championships event.
Super combined races were Tuesday and again today, Wednesday. The super giant slaloms are Thursday, March 24, followed by slalom and giant slalom for the A/B and C/D groups on Friday and Saturday.
The Intermountain group just finished its Jans Cup series with the final weekend on March 11-13 at Snowbasin, Utah. Overall season standings and Jans Cup titles were scored with the old World Cup points system.
Jans Cup overall winners were Dana Alexandrescu and Chris Probert. Yellow bib (men) and red bib (women) winners as the top 10 men and five women for the season:
Men: 1—Chris Probert. 2—Rick Slabinski. 3—Craig Norton. 4—Thunder Jalili. 5—Bob Skinner. 6—Victor Roy. 7—Mike McGurl. 8—Dana McKenzie. 9—Jim Ragan. 10—Bill Skinner.
Women: 1—Dana Alexandrescu. 2—Beth Sarazine. 3—Heidi Flood. 4—Nancy Auseklis. 5—Deb McKenzie.
Among division winners during the March 4-6 Jans Cup event at Wolf Mountain, Utah were Drury Cooper, Keith Thompson, Bob Sarchett, Heidi Flood, Carl Fullman, Nancy Auseklis and Rosemary Moeschel.
