Masters World Cups
- February 1980: The first World Masters Cross Country Ski Championships held in Morin Heights, Quebec. 104 masters skiers took part.
- 1981 – no World Masters XC Championship held as FIS, the International Ski Federation, had not sanctioned such an event.
- Summer 1981 – Bill Gairdner of Unionville, Ontario founded the Canadian Masters Cross Country Ski Association. Bill was elected President, and Dave Rees, then of North Bay, Ontario, was Vice President.
- February 1982 – second World Masters XC Ski Championships held in Uppsala, Sweden, with 350 participants. During the week of competitions, Bill Gairdner proposed the founding of a worldwide masters association. This idea was enthusiastically received by all participants.
- June 13, 1982 – 14 ski nations met in Zurich, Switzerland to formalize the World Masters Cross Country Ski Association, with Bill Gairdner elected as the first President and Jan Hansen of Morin Heights, Quebec as Vice President. Member nations are represented by the President of their National Masters Cross Country Ski Association
- February 1983 – the event was renamed Masters World Cup and 520 participants from 20 skiing nations took part in the week-long competition at Telemark, Wisconsin, USA.
- The event has been held annually ever since, and today’s total entry is usually about 1,200 participants.
Today’s member nations of the World Masters Cross Country Ski Association:
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Australia |
Austria |
Belarus |
Canada |
Czech Republic |
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Estonia |
Finland |
France |
Germany |
Great Britain |
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Japan |
Kazakhstan |
Latvia |
Lithuania |
Luxembourg |
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Netherlands |
New Zealand |
Norway |
Poland |
Russia |
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Slovakia |
Spain |
Sweden |
Switzerland |
Ukraine |
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U.S.A. |
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