World Masters Update

Mon, Feb  28, 2005 - By Randy Bladel

Perhaps readers of the website would enjoy hearing about how our folks are doing at the WMC in Russia.  In a nutshell, very few Americans went this year.  In fact, reading the race results indicates that very few non-Russians went this year.

Our man Milan Baic did very well in the 30K skate, avenging his hip-check off the course last year by scoring a sixth place.  He was the first non-Russian to finish.  I believe he finished 27th in the 10K classic race the next day.

Because there were so few Americans, the only mens relay had to ski in the M2 (35-40 year old) race, because that was the age group of the youngest team member.  Milan is an M4, and the oldest team member was 63 years old.  (M7?)  They got bronze!  Again, sweet revenge for Milan whose eam missed a medal last year when the anchor leg skier didn't show up.

More details can be gleaned from the WMC website:  http://www.mwc2005.com/ .