Chilkat Valley News - Serving Haines and Klukwan, Alaska since 1966

Haines resident and lifelong cross-country skier Natalie Dawson returned home from the 41st Masters World Cup in Seefeld, Austria with a pair of gold medals that she earned in the 20 kilometer freestyle and by skiing the classical leg of the 4x5 km relay for the US team. For the second year in a row, Dawson competed in the event alongside her father, Ken, an experienced international ski racer and Natalie's first coach when she skied the youth Nordic ski circuit in Michigan.

This year's Masters World Cup had 900 racers from 25 nations who competed in 13 age groups. Skiers ranged in age from 30 to 96 years of age.

After last year's event in Canmore, Alberta, Dawson traveled to Austria with the goal of being invited to join the US women's relay team. "Based on your performance in the first two races, you get chosen or not chosen for the relay team," she explained, "Every country gets one relay team for every 10 year age category."

The multinational contingent arrived in the Bavarian Alps on a year bereft of natural snow. Due to a historically warm winter in the region, race organizers were forced to make snow and spread it around a ten-kilometer loop. "Conditions deteriorated throughout the week. They salted the trails at night. They did a great job," Dawson said.

The machine-made snow and warm air made for challenging conditions in the Cup's first event, the 7km classic. "There were such drastic changes, you'd go from skiing on snow to skiing on ice in one kick." To optimize her kick in the classic races, she chose to use skis with skins embedded under foot instead of skis waxed with klister. Dawson finished 4th in her age group in a time of 23:35, three minutes behind gold medalist Vakeejauul Sanna of Finland. Two days later in the 15km freestyle race, Dawson again finished just off the podium in 4th place with a time of 55:56. Sanna once more took gold.

US coach JD Downing picked Dawson to ski the classic leg of the next day's relay. Hers was the first leg, and she was followed by three teammates, who skate-skied the subsequent three 5 Km loops. Team USA managed to edge out the Canadian team by forty seconds to take home the gold. "The relay is so much freaking fun," gushed Dawson.

The final event of this year's competition was scheduled as a 30 km freestyle but due to the rapidly diminishing snowpack, the World Masters Association was forced to shorten it to a 20K. On the final lap, Dawson's teammate Lyndsey Bengston was out in front. Dawson caught up to Bengston on a hill, and then powered past her to take the lead. She finished the race in exactly one hour to capture another gold. Bengston finished :33 behind to take the silver.

The US team finished 5th in overall medals, behind Germany, Italy, Finland and Switzerland

Ken Dawson placed with several top 10 finishes including a 5th place finish in the long-distance race. "He's in a really competitive age group," Natalie says, "There's like 50 competitors in the 70 to 80 year-old division."

"It was a great opportunity to ski with my dad and compete on an international level and have camaraderie with skiers of all ages. I loved the Bavarian accordion player at the end of every lap," Dawson said. "The coolest part is to be out there racing with people who have been skiing for so long."

Dawson trained in the off-season by running and biking, "So my lungs are ready when I get on skis. Whenever there's snow, I try to get on it. It helps to do a couple of longer training blocks in Whitehorse, especially for skate-skiing." When she's in Haines it's "hot laps in the swamp," where her husband, Eben, grooms alongside the golf course. She also trains on the cross-country ski trail at 25-mile. "You've got to give Jim Stanford credit for keeping those groomed."

She has less than a year to prepare for the 2024 World Masters, being hosted by Vuokatti Finland from February 9th to 16th. "I'm excited to go race in Finland. The Finns are always strong racers, so I'm looking forward to racing with them and exploring their trails." She has to go next year. "I've got some gold medals to defend now."