Lauri Karjaluoto's finishing kick was not quite enough to catch the Finn.
And so went Karjaluoto's last chance for a medal at this year masters World Cup cross-country skiing championships.
But when all the results were tabulated and the 66-year-old Prince George skier found out after 30 kilometres of classic-style racing he'd placed fourth, four minutes and eight seconds behind bronze medalist Esko Hyvarinen of Finland, there was no bitterness at a medal opportunity lost.
In fact, Karjaluoto was justifiably thrilled with his performance Friday, the best of his three races at the week-long international event.
"It was as good as I could expect for the amount of training I did, I didn't expect miracles and I'm happy with that, I felt I skied a quality race," said Karjaluoto. "There were some fast guys with some amazing times. I wasn't going to go all out and kill myself for the rest of the week. The last five kilometres has quite a lot of hills and I think my technique still helps me out. The conditions were just perfect, we couldn't have asked for better snow conditions."
Karjaluoto immigrated to Canada from Finland in 1968 and has lived in Prince George since 1972. He got to know Hyvarinen during the festivities that made the masters World Cup an unforgettable for a group of eight skiers from Northern B.C.
"He actually beat me in every race and [the fact Hyvarinen is from Finland], that hurts," laughed Karjaluoto. "I talked to him quite a bit. Finns can get a bit arrogant but he was a regular guy and I didn't mind losing to him."
Karjaluoto has been bothered by a bad back and decided only three months ago he would enter the World Cup races. He started with a sixth-place result in the 10km classic race, was fifth in the 15km, and helped Canada's relay team to a fourth-place result.
"I didn't do any stretching at all for my back and it feels better now than when I drove up here," said Karjaluoto, just before Friday's awards banquet. "I'm feeling a lot better now after a couple of beers."
Scott Forrest of Prince George placed 19th in the 50-54-year-old men's 45km race. Forrest targeted a mid-pack finish and that's exactly what he accomplished Friday, finishing ahead of 19 others in his category. His time of 2:45:01 was 29:22 off the winning pace of Giampaolo Englaro of Italy, who clocked 2:15:38. Otto Stefen of Germany (2:15:53) and Alexander Klinov of Russia (2:16:18) won silver and bronze.
Simon Perreault of Prince George was strong on his skis Friday in the 34-39-year-old men's 45km race, finishing 10th in 2:38:39, 23 minutes behind gold medalist Alexander Mindrin of Russia.
John Hagen's day on the slopes ended in disappointment when he was forced to drop out the 40-44-year-old men's 45km event after 40km of racing.
"He had nothing left," said Karjaluoto. "He didn't have a good 30km and I feel bad for John. He's a helluva nice guy and he spent most of his time here waxing everybody's skis instead of socializing."
