Vuokatti World Masters -- Two Perspectives
A fun look at both sides of last month's World Masters in Vuokatti, Finland: from the racer's perspective (Suzanne's report) and from the coach/observer's perspective (that would be Rob, and the photos are Rob's). Now you know what it was like to be there!
Racer's report: Suzanne
Vuokatti, Finland in February: another XC World Masters experience, my sixth since 2011. Someone from Alaska had warned me last year not to do this one. He said it would be dark, gloomy, and cold. When it came time to sign up, I figured I could handle dark and gloomy, and took my chances on the cold. How cold could it be, after all? I now know. Way cold. -30C and under pretty much every day for the first week, warming to a tropical -20C and above for the last few days. Since according to FIS or other rules it must be at least -20C to run a race, the first two days of races, Sunday and Monday, were cancelled. Racers like me moped around their hotel rooms, read novels, painted, sighed. Others went skiing despite freezing faces and hands and the snow being like flypaper under the skis.
Finally, it was decided to cut out the coldest section of the course and start the Tuesday short races midday rather than in the morning. (Rumor has it that it was still under -20C but we were all eager to get going.) After the younger groups had gone out, we elderly racers, swaddled up in layers and layers of clothing, teetered into the start area. I had been concerned about racing in such cold weather, wondering if I would be able to get enough air in my lungs to ski fast for the duration of my race. But when the gun went off, I skied out with my usual burst of adrenaline and enthusiasm and, despite my slow wax, had a great time.
The ‘elderly racer’ course was a fun mix of ups and downs, nothing very technical except for a last long descent, which they groomed so superbly you could do it with your eyes closed. Because my wax was slow, I struggled to keep up with my cohort and appreciated the Norwegian woman who commiserated with me about my bad skis after we finished. My relay race the next day was more of the same, although I was scrambling in an incredibly strong field and was more frustrated by my slow skis. My team was guaranteed a medal as there were only three teams entered in that age group. We came behind Finland but beat Norway—yeah!!
Next year the races will be held in March in Klosters, Switzerland. It is almost guaranteed it will not be bitter cold!
Coach/observer's report: Rob
The 2024 Masters World Cup was held in Vuokatti, Finland. At 64 degrees north latitude it is but one degree shy of Fairbanks. At 28 degrees east longitude it is close to the Russian border. The potential for extreme cold exists and did indeed bedevil the weeklong event. Though a ways from the more maritime climate of Western Norway, there had been rain there in the prior week. Vuokatti is subject to both the Prevailing Westerlies and the Polar Easterlies. We had been in Vuokatti for almost a week before the temperature got above 0 degrees F. We were told that a more normal temperature would have been in the high teens or low twenties Fahrenheit. This might be taken with a grain of salt. March, the usual month for MWC, is the high tourism season in Vuokatti. There are available beds in February, maybe anxious to be let. Competitors somewhat miffed to be losing or awkwardly shuffling races were also grateful that Vuokatti had picked up the ball after the planned Russian city was nixed. One modest benefit of the locale….the air was so dry that laundry hung in our room could be put away within 6-8 hours.
Our first day skiing at -30C (-22F) many of the skaters were striding instead of skating up the hills. The Fairbanks skiers present two days later when it was a little warmer considered the conditions skiable, if not raceable. Suzanne and I lasted less than an hour. We were able to adjust and found that with careful preparation we too could ski for prolonged periods (two hours!) at that temperature. Key to Suzanne’s success in adjusting was a pair of KV+ Swiss lobster mitts purchased in Vuokatti. They enabled her to ski despite her Reynaud’s syndrome. They are by far the best cold weather gloves/mittens she has used. Prior to that she had raved about Toko’s cold weather gloves which worked in’ cold temperatures at Silver Star but they were not up to these extreme conditions. KSC member Susan Bogart had also kindly solicited suggestions from John Estle in Fairbanks, the most interesting of which was the use of capsicum powder on the hands, the ingredient which gives peppers their heat, being careful not to overdo it!
Vuokatti borders one of the innumerable Finnish lakes. It hosts a sports complex including an Olympic training center for multiple sports. It is at the center of a vast network of ski trails. Former Kongsberger and elite skier Kent Murdoch suggested that it might be larger than the famous network around Sjusjoen, near Lillehammar, Norway. There are no user fees. Almost all classic skiers I saw, at all levels, were competent in technique. Despite Finland’s reputation for respect for classic, most skiers that we saw were skating. With the temperature finally rising above 0 degrees F we were on our way to dinner when we saw some twenty 8-10 year olds milling about on skis. A leader must have given the command “go,” because the place exploded. All twenty took off simultaneously, skating at the highest tempo you can possibly imagine. A swarm of skating kiddies and an amazing sight!
Immersed in it in Vuokatti you would think that cross country skiing was the be all and end all of Finnish Sport. No! Our group could never get the Minneapolis World Cup on TV, except by once commandeering a large set in a bar and streaming it. What was showing? German or English soccer. A European swim meet. A major indoor track and field event in a Finnish town through which we passed. There were more pole vault roof racks than ski racks in one parking lot! Okay, the one universal sport, always on TV involved skiing, biathlon. As in all other European countries, biathlon is the preeminent televised sport. Instead of Minneapolis live a recap of World Cup biathlon in the Czech Republic was showing!
Our medium size hotel featured the typical varied breakfast fare with a multitude of choices, though the coffee and reconstituted eggs were not the best. Most Scandinavian hotels have great breakfasts, the Skandic at Holmenkollen being among the largest - with individual rooms devoted to bread or meat and fish and five kinds of fresh eggs, making it the most spectacular of all. Breakfast meats also make great lunch meats and we could slice our preferred bread and make a great cheese, meat and lettuce sandwich. Our hotel early on in our stay had a lot of other guests. One early morning a group of several score of large young and middle aged men arrived around 6:30am. Their average height was maybe 6’ 3”, all weighing over 200 lbs. and a number maybe 250 lbs., some even heavier. The contrast with later arriving cross country skiers could not have been greater.
Tall is typical for both men and women in Finland and in the Netherlands. That could pose unique problems in the public washrooms for men like me whose frame has shrunk several inches to 5’5” over the last ten years. We can barely manage the urinals situated at an alarming height. There is the danger that a premature automatic flush could give one’s private parts an unexpected wash! Prior to this the only comparable problem for me had been at Amsterdam’s Schiepol airport.
Our dinners were eaten at Vuokatti Sport, a large umbrella organization that provides a number of functions, among them our transport from the airport at Kajaani. All teams ate there except for some competitors fixing meals in apartments. The large modern hall serves very good meals buffet style with a great variety of dishes. At dinner multiple vegetarian, fish and meat options are available. Reindeer is almost always one of the available meats. Always one or two chicken dishes. Root vegetable dishes are in abundance and popular. Typical in Finland, a full hot lunch was available, as well as a soup and salad option typically featuring a delicious root vegetable soup and an assortment of breads, butters and cheeses. As noted above our own lunch usually came from breakfast options from our hotel. There was no trouble in meeting the caloric, nutrient and liquid demands of ski racing at those temperatures. The amount consumed was staggering.
The courses were not “flat” as had been described to me by a previous participant in the last MWC held there. Snoqualmie veteran skier Bert Pschunder also had skied there and said that the previous course had crossed the lake on a built-up causeway with melted holes in the adjacent ice where the bottom was visible. On this year’s courses Suzanne and I skied for the most part on the 5k loop, there being also 7.5k and 10k loops to accommodate the variety of distances skied at an MWC event. In my estimation the 5k course was an excellent one for the “elderly skiers,” as the Finns labeled those who would race all their distances only on the 5k course. That led to the interesting conclusion that women of 70 were labeled “elderly” whereas men had to be 75 to get that designation. The course was constantly undulating with a couple of substantial uphills and some interesting blind underpasses. There was need for attention at intersections where the other courses would temporarily rejoin it. The final downhill was a scorcher but could be ridden out at high speed in the bombproof tracks. The start/finish area was unique, being located on a col between two higher areas. The start was immediately downhill leading into the biggest uphill on the 5k course. The finish was from the opposite direction with a substantial uphill culminating in a herringbone wall right before the line. The start/finish bypass was up another steep slope, one of the three most demanding hills in the longer events run on the 5k course. Tracks were hard and consistently excellent. A pickup truck working the start and finish set up in the prior days made indentations of no more than a quarter inch!
Races to begin on Sunday and Monday, of medium and short distances were postponed or cancelled because of the cold. One competitor noted that organizers in Vuokatti did not do as it would be done in Fairbanks: “put a thermometer out in the sun on the warmest part of the course and call it legal!” At Vuokatti the thermometer was apparently in the sink of the biathlon range. With temperatures rising near the required -4F on Tuesday, shortened short races were run maybe to placate increasingly restive racers, with 5k classic races for all, except 3k for the “elderly." Classic races started at noon and 5k freestyle races started mid afternoon. That worked because the lowest temps of the day were around 9am and the warmest between 3pm and 7pm. In order to get in their three individual races skiers were allowed to race in both. Races on subsequent days were definitely legal under FIS regulations with somewhat warmer temps and followed a late start format. Only the middle-distance races were not able to be run in the cold abbreviated event.
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| Twilight, the warmest part of the day for skiing |
Former Kongsberger Kent Murdoch, now a permanent resident of the Methow, had a great week. Though with no individual medals he was always in the hunt in an outstanding field, proving himself once again one of the best skiers in the world in his age group. It was my privilege to provide him feeds in his 30k race where he finished fourth. He anchored his relay team to a bronze medal, though arriving with that medal through the same circumstances as had Alison, there being two Finnish teams and an Italian team ahead of his team. Kent is living this winter in Switzerland with his partner Laura McCabe, mother to US Ski Team Member Novie McCabe. Her daughter Dashe McCabe is spending this year in a Swiss sports school.
KSC member Brent Turner, now living in the Methow, had mixed results. Not having skied recently at MWC, he started in the back of his highly competitive field. He was pleased to move up a number of spots during his initial short race of 5k. In his distance race of 30k he had the misfortune to inadvertently short cut the course. Upon finishing he reported himself to officials. He was on the US relay team in M8 which finished fifth of eight teams behind two Finnish teams, Norway and Canada and ahead of two French teams and Australia. Upon departure he was meeting his sister in Helsinki. She has lived in Stockholm for forty years, having met and married a Swedish kayak competitor, as were she and Brent in their younger years.
Bert Pschunder is a Snoqualmie area skier whom many of you know and who has enjoyed participating in MWC for years. His record of participation will soon rival that of some long-time Kongsbergers. He skis freestyle exclusively. His overall finish position in not much concern to him. Through the years he has developed rivalries with friends from multiple countries, Australia in particular, with the outcomes unpredictable. He is the poster boy for some of you who are very good skiers if not the best and might enjoy participating in this event. More Kongsbergers should consider attending MWC! Bert was among those staying in the country in order to ski in the 62k Finlandia Hiihto on the weekend following MWC.
My wife Suzanne was in her sixth MWC and despite setbacks and extreme conditions is glad to have made the trip. Her wax technician did not rise to the occasion. Arriving, our skis were painfully slow. Alarmed, I took them to a shop to be given a finer grind. Only after grinding and hot boxing did I ask what was on them. All fluoros to my astonishment. Not only were these expected not to be used in the races, but their use contradicted what heretofore had been at every turn Finnish expression in the pride of their care for their environment, painting it as practically pristine. The shops seemed to have tons of it that they were ridding themselves of, to apparently be left out in the wild. Her skis were better if not great and by the third day of skiing were showing white and needed rewaxing. I determined to apply Star Polar through their roto brush and fleecing system that heretofore had been almost infallible for me. I had been convinced by supplier Zach Caldwell’s spiel several years before that Star waxes almost always tested pretty good, though only occasionally were the best. Suzanne’s competitors in prior years had been half seriously suggesting that I might like to wax their skis, so good were hers. Her skis for the first race were again downright slow. Rivals with whom she had been dueling early in the race pulled away from her. She only again saw them when they approached her in the finish area commenting on her slow skis! As the first race seems to have been largely run below the limit of FIS rules, -20C or -4F, the wax was outside the low of its recommended range. Pig headed, I continued to use the same wax in her subsequent races as the temperature was steadily rising, albeit with variations in application and structure. A better course of action would have been to consult with a local supplier or give her skis to them for preparation, a solution often followed by older participants at MWC. However, I felt somewhat burned by my first experience. In her third and last race her skis were serviceable if not great and the day after her last race during our wonderful tour of the area the temperature was approaching the upper end of that Star Polar’s range, -10C, and the skis were quite good! For grip I used Vauti GS base wax corked into a well sanded base and a new Start Tar for old snow, covered with Vauhti Pro Green. Team leader JD Downing suggested that I might have applied too much, becoming a factor in her skis’ drag. The wax did stay on except for some slight wear on the inside edge and Suzanne always had great grip on the rock-hard tracks.
A thrill for me was seeing one of the greatest female skiers in Finnish history, in Suzanne’s class no less. Needless to say, Suzanne did not see much of her, but I did. The first time I saw her she was cresting the long initial hill. I was awed by her finesse in the transition from steep to less steep and made note to myself that I had never seen someone quite of this caliber in Suzanne’s class. She turned out to be Hilkka Riihivuori, two-time silver medalist in individual events at Lake Placid in 1980. Though she never won an individual gold in the FIS Championships or the Olympics as she did in the relay, she was a three-time individual winner at Holmenkollen. I had previously seen her in action as an official on the 1980 Olympic courses. Hilkka could well have been one of the Finnish girls who reputedly stuffed Juha Mieto into their room to shield him from a Finnish coach's late-night check. Mieto was a bearded giant of around seven feet and one of the great skiers of the era. He was said to be butt naked, on all fours, and rolling a bottle of vodka with his nose through their hallway! (It has been suggested to me that it was probably on a dare.) Hilkka is still regarded as something of a national treasure in Finland and her participation in WMC was widely noted throughout the country. On the steep bypass of the finish area, I went crazy chattering and cheering, and I noted that she cracked an ever so slight smile. I was making more noise than the entire collection of coaches and others situated at that spot. Lubov Pospeshina of Sweden, another of Suzanne’s designated “super skiers,” was still on her tail so it was fun to shout at both. Lubov also skied in the distance freestyle race the next day, as did Hilkka, who won both, though the freestyle by a hair over another Finn. Lubov was only a minute behind Hilkka in the 15k classic race. “Super skier” Carolyn Tiernan of Bishop, California, suggested that Lubov’s great effort against Hilkka the previous day was a reason Carolyn was able to beat Lubov for the first time and claim a bronze medal in freestyle the next day. In Finland a vaunted accomplishment! I also will note that it is gratifying in being approached by women varying from Alison Arians to seventy and eighty year old Norwegian women who express appreciation for my encouragement.
After the last day of races and banquet, we joined about half the American team and made our way south by bus mini tour to Helsinki skiing in important Finnish ski areas over the course of three days. This event did not unroll quite as flawlessly as do most events organized by AXCS president John “JD” Downing, who is currently also the head of the entire MWC organization. But it was well worth it.
At our first stop in Kuopio, a host of biathlon and combined competitions, the bus driver had been told that he should park at the top of the jump. The trails were maybe 300 feet below and had not been groomed for a day. In the interim there had been over a foot of snow. Snow-covered aluminum grated stairs led down paralleling the jump no doubt primarily for the ascension of jumpers. Being at the back of the bus, the exiting of which in preparation for a ski tour was not unlike unloading a 737 with the additional encumbrances of skis, we missed the main group’s descent. Looking down at our compatriots wallowing in the snow, a number of the more “elderly” including us repaired to a delightful little cafe and spent the morning there. Kuopio itself had several museums, one of which had a clever little exhibit of dogs in art. Its farmer’s market, situated in an old building in the center of town, had quite the collection of delicacies.
The next day we drove for another 150kms to the ski training center of Jyvaskyla which had been groomed! Despite the storm having abated only the previous day, tracks were now very firm, indeed excellent. Many of us skied the green course, presumably the easiest. It was a gem with frequent ups and downs, all the downhills of which could be ridden out in the track, though at a rather high speed. The one exception was a downhill at about the steepness of our Femur Hill…except that it went on for over 100 meters and people at the bottom, seeming to be several hundred vertical feet below, appeared quite small. The course being firm everyone on it was descending in the widest possible wedges with the possibility of stopping unlikely. I did not see the track on the right side used, though it was straight with a run out at the bottom. Speeds of maybe forty to fifty miles an hour would be attained had anyone used it. Given the fact that it was there I am sure some Finns do!
We spent the evening in the pleasant town of Tampere, a city with some history. Another city between lakes, a powerful river runs through the middle of the city. It had provided power for one of the first electrified cities in Europe in about 1875 or so. The town also was the site of a famous meeting between Lenin and Stalin in 1905. Finland was then a Grand Duchy of Russia.
We arrived after interesting museums had closed but took a lovely walk at twilight. On the bridge across the river, as the evening deepened, some Russians had set up an impromptu candlelight memorial to Alexey Navalny.
The final day before our afternoon arrival at the Helsinki airport we skied at Lahti, with its imposing stadium and jumps. Preparations were going on for the running of Finland’s greatest long-distance race, the Finlandia Hiihto. Several skiers including Seattle area Bert Pschunder left the mini tour at Lahti to participate. Others not on the mini tour had spent several days in Helsinki before going to Lahti for the race, which apparently begins and ends in the Lahti Stadium. Again, late out of the bus, some of the first trails Suzanne and I encountered had not been groomed that day, undoubtedly because all hands were concentrating on race prep. They were a tad rough and icey. With visions of another, but less well-groomed Super Femur in my aging mind, Suzanne fell under my influence and we elected not to climb to the plateau above, where others eventually found excellent skiing. Milan Baic, long one of the Midwest’s preeminent skiers, was able to get in about 45 kilometers in the few hours available to us. The great stadium had three parallel tracks running around the perimeter of its infield. Suzanne got in maybe fifteen kilometers double poling around and around before we retired to the cafe.
We try to do something cultural on each trip, though often are not successful. Before Beitostolen MWC it was a wonderful evening of dance set to The Firebird in Oslo’s dramatic symphony hall. We had tickets at La Scala before the covid cancelled Italian MWC. We were not able to get tickets to Helsinki’s symphony five months in advance as they were already sold out! Our adventure thus essentially ended when we arrived late afternoon at the Helsinki airport. We did not have the energy for a quick visit to the city.
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