Four members of the Flin Flon Ski Club returned home with a haul of medals from this year’s Masters World Cup.
The event, held in Minneapolis, Minn., pitted top masters-tier skiers against each other.
Duane Davis earned the local group’s sole gold medal, winning the group six 10-km classic category. Dean Grove earned the silver medal in the same race, despite battling an illness throughout the week.
Davis also snagged silver in the group six 30-km skate classification and-another silver medal in the group six 45-km classic race.
Ski club member Bob Jarvis won a pair of bronze medals in the group eight 10-km classic and group eight 30-km classic races, while Rick Hall rounded out the club’s haul with a bronze in the group seven 15-km skate race.
The medals were awarded to racers by the Canadian Masters Cross Country Ski Association, which recognizes the highest-finishing Canadians in each discipline at the World Masters event.
Davis said there were only a handful of Canadians in each event.
“From a Canadian perspective, I did well. I got one gold and two silvers, but there was only three or four in my category, so I didn’t have to beat too many people,” he said.
Davis actually finished in 23rd overall in the event he earned the Canadian gold medal in, finishing the course in just over a half an hour – more than 10 minutes after overall winner Jon Arne Enevoldsen crossed the line. However, Davis finished before any other Canadian entrants, handing him his gold.
Davis heaped praise on the competition he faced, particularly a number of European skiers and how they handled the hilly terrain.
“Think of Sipple Hill. Think of yourself on classic skis, so you’re skiing in a track. You’re not going to herringbone up the hill, you’re not going to diagonal stride – you’re going to stick in the tracks and you’re going to double pull all the way up. They could double pull all the way up. That’s how good they are.
“They reminded me of Rocky III or something –
like I gotta beat Dolph Lundgren or something,” said Davis, adding, “A lot of them are international competitors, some of them have been in the Olympics. Us Canadians have a
ways to go.”
Davis said a portion of the event was held on an altered course after a lack of snowfall made part of the 15-km route unusable.
“A 15-km course became a repeating 7.5-km course. It was very difficult, very hilly and very technical,” said Davis, who explained that the blocked off area had flatter, faster terrain.
After a snowstorm covered the affected area on Tuesday, the full circuit was used – briefly.
“So we’re in the start blocks and we’re going to ski, and we’re relieved – we don’t want to keep repeating these hills. For the 45-km race, you’d have to repeat this course six times. Imagine going up Sipple Hill six times – that’s what we’re looking at,” said Davis.
“You know the video of where the guy sets up his camera and he’s going to get video of a building going down and all of a sudden a bus pulls up in front of him? Well, when we went to race, they sent a couple of groups up ahead of us and there’s a train track, there’s a crossing there – a train pulls in, stops and a car derails,” he said.
With part of the track blocked off, Davis and the rest of the group had no choice but to use the old, technical loop. After swearing loudly to the heavens, Davis headed back to
the hills.
“We keep doing these hills, these hills, these hills. It was very, very difficult – but not for the Europeans,” he said.
Train wrecks aside, Davis had nothing but kind words for the event, volunteers, the City of Minneapolis and the level of competition he faced.
“The people in the City of Minneapolis were very friendly and helpful, they helped us with directions and figuring out the transit systems. I was pleasantly surprised with the whole thing,” he said.
“There are some quality older skiers. There was a 92-year-old skier, he skied a 5-km race in 19 minutes. Think about that. That’s less than four minutes a kilometre. It was phenomenal.”
The next World Masters event will be held four
years from now in Canmore AB.
Davis said he hopes both he and his teammates will be ready to take part again in 2022.
“We’re looking to maybe keep training and do it again. My personal goal is to, for lack of a better word, get a medal not just for showing up, but getting one by actually beating somebody,” he said.
