MWC2007 in Rovaniemi, Finland (Team USA)
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A sizeable and competitive group of USA masters have returned from the 2007 Masters World Cup with a nice collection of medals, great memories of a wonderful trip, and visions of even better things to come in 2008 as the MWC returns to the USA for the first time in a decade.
With cool temps and packed powder conditions on the Rovaniemi trails upon arrival, things looked to be up to expectations on the skiing front early on. Despite several kilometers of easier forest and meadow trails that had much less snow than normal, skiing was generally outstanding especially since Rovaniemi had "warmed up" from daytime highs as low as -20C in the preceeding several weeks. However, as has been the case throughout the Northern Hemisphere this year, the warm-up didn't stop and conditions changed to just around 0C for much of the second half of the MWC2007 making ski conditions interesting as the event moved along.
Led by 4x medalist (3x gold, 1x bronze) Trina Hosmer, the USA women led the hardware charge for 2007 with six different female USA skiers collecting 14 individual medals over the week along with a relay bronze in the women's F5-6 10 year category.
USA men came close on several occasions, but just missed out on carrying home hardware of their own.
Regardless of results, every USA skier reported a wonderful time in the capital of Lapland enjoying the generally very good ski conditions and the warm hospitality (and terrific food) of Hotel Sky Ounasvara.
Full attention of the masters XC world now turns to McCall, Idaho USA where the Masters World Cup will return to USA home snow...March 1-7, 2008. In Rovaniemi, McCall organizers were on hand en masse to evaluate literally every aspect of the MWC event -- called by several event sites one of the most challenging XC events to hold due to the multiple formats, distances, and ranges of ability along with logistics for literally 1000 competitors over a 10 day span.
To find complete information on the MWC2008 events in McCall, visit and/or join American XC Skiers (AXCS) this spring and get an additional six months of benefits for the same low dues. An annual AXCS membership ($35US) is required of all USA skiers to compete at the MWC2008 (alt. USSA at $110US).
