The Masters World Cup Nordic skiing competition set to kick off at Ponderosa State Park Feb. 28 promises to have one of the largest fields in the event's history, according to John Downing, national director of American Cross Country Skiers.

2008 Masters World Cup McCall, Idaho

At last count, 1,222 racers were registered, making the McCall event either the third or fourth largest Masters World Cup in the event's 28-year history, Downing said.

On average, 1,000 skiers take part. The last Masters World Cup hosted in the U.S. at Lake Placid, N.Y in 1998 attracted 1,028 skiers.

"So this is quite a bit above average," Downing said. The United States contingent with 664 skiers is the single largest national group in the event's history, higher than the previous record of 616 Russians when the event was hosted by Moscow, the Russian capital.

The three largest Nordic skier contingents coming to the week-long event hail from the United States, Canada and Russia.

A total of 156 Canadians and 122 Russians are expected to be on hand. In all, 23 countries will be represented, most of them European.

Countries with less than 10 participants each are Belgium, the Netherlands, Ukraine, Finland, Denmark, Spain, Estonia and Slovakia. One Peruvian and one Lithuanian have entered.

Expect most of racers to be between ages 45 and 65, said Ed Allen, president of the McCall organizing committee. The women's age 30 to 35 bracket has only 10 competitors entered, a small number compared to the older skiers, he said.

The reason is most entrants age 45 to 64 are retired while racers in the younger brackets typically still are working and don't have the luxury of free time to take in as many competitions
as they might like, he said. Racers must be at least 30years old to qualify for the event. There are 12 age divisions broken into five-year increments.

Dan Bulkley of Phoenix, Ore., aged 90, is the oldest U.S. competitor. Downing believes Bulkley may be a first for the U.S. but not for other nations.

A Canadian man more than 90 years old was expected to attend this year, but he died while training.

Not a bad way to go when you're 90 years old and still skiing," Allen said.

Allen is familiar with the Masters World Cup race - he's been to four of them and raced in a couple too.

Last year, he and other McCall organizing committee members went to Rovaniemi, Finland, to
observe the 2007 event and to promote this year's event. Allen gave some observations drawn from his experiences. There can be a "dynamite" skier in any age bracket and in either freestyle-skate skiing or classic, or both.

"It's hard to call who will medal, but we have some good Americans who could medal," Allen said.
Good skiers come from all countries, but some countries do tend to make stronger showings. Russia doesn't usually send slackers, he said.

"Not to say Russia takes everything, but they do quite well," Allen said.

The Russians may find a match among the Americans and Canadians as well as anybody else. Champions among the Canadians include three-time Olympian Steve Cyr and Mike Dyon who placed ninth in 45-kilometer skate at the Masters World Cup, Lake Placid, and fourth at the Masters World Cup in Quebec City in Canada.

Among the U.S. Olympians expected to arrive in McCall are Leslie (Thompson) Hall and Laura McCabe from the Methow Valley ski area of Washington.

For many who attend year after year, the race is a big vacation, Allen said.

When racers aren't training or racing, locals just may see groups of them wandering McCall's streets in search of a place to shop or dine, he said.

Information about the Masters World Cup, presented by Blackhawk, is available at www.mwc2008.com