One gold and one silver for US in Thursday's 4 x 5 km relay competitions at the 2004 World Masters.
The women's 50 – 59 US team easily won the gold medal in their age group – Alison Bradley, Ann Mize, Carolyn Tiernan, Susan Holbrock all skied great during the mixed classical and free technique relays (2 legs of each)at the 1994 Olympic stadium.
In the men's 40 – 44 age group, Todd Boonstra, Jon Engen, Dave Maclean and John Aalberg won the silver after an exciting race with Norway for 2nd place on the last leg. Russia won the race by 20 seconds, but the last 5 km leg included a crash at the exchange as well as a side-by
-side sprint down to the finish line. Aalberg did as Italian Fauner did to Norway in 1994, however this year the speed down the stretch was probably not comparable.
The weather here in Lillehammer has been a true repeat of the perfect conditions during the Olympics 10 years ago – cold nights and sunny days. Many of the participants have spent the “rest days” skiing the trails on the mountain above Lillehammer. Miles and miles of groomed trails go through well-known areas (for local ski enthusiasts), such as Nordseter, Sjusjoen, Pellestova and Hornsjo. Most everyone also take the opportunity to ski parts of the famous Birkebeiner marathon course, which also finishes at the 1994 Olympic Stadium.
The next races on the tough schedule here at the World Masters are the longest races – 45 km for men and 30 km for women on Friday and Saturday.
