John Wood keeps pace with skiers 60 years his junior, and has been doing so for a long time. This 2012 photo of the Tour of Anchorage shows Wood going neck-and-neck with teenagers. The same held true at the 2026 race, in which he placed seventh.
John Wood, 78, holds his own with teenagers on the ski trails. At the Tour of Anchorage ski race on March 8, he earned a seventh-place finish in the 25-kilometer classic event.
"Youth will be served," Wood said, a day before he left to go to Talkeetna to ski the 50-kilometer ski race known as the Oosik.
"My intent was to ski within myself," Wood said. "I'm not getting any younger." Because Anchorage had received a lot of fresh snow in the 48 hours before the race, times were slower than normal by about 15 minutes.
Wood skied behind a 12-year-old until about the midway point of the race.
"I could tell I was skiing faster than I wanted to ski," he said. "A little too hot. I futzed around until I couldn't see them anymore. So that I didn't totally trash myself."
Wood describes his skiing career in three acts. He started cross-country skiing his last two years of high school at East Anchorage High School. His second act was when his boys were young, and they decided to join the cross-country ski team. He would ski with them. His third act came in his 50s, when job demands outpaced athletic pursuits.
"My weight started to creep up. And I didn't feel right," he said. "So I guess in about 2005 I decided to do the Tour of Anchorage. I just about died. I did that twice." In 2007, Wood joined the Alaska Pacific University masters ski program, which trains adults in ski technique, often using the same coaching staff that trains Olympic-caliber athletes.
Wood has been skiing the Tour of Anchorage since then, doing all the different race lengths and techniques (skate-style, known as freestyle) and classic technique.
But he has a strong background as an athlete. He completed the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in 1978, 1979, 1982 and 1986. And as a young man he entered the tough Equinox Marathon in Fairbanks on a whim.
"I had a pair of Converse tennis shoes so I ran in those. I went for a 2-mile jog the day before. I got fifth place in the marathon the next day."
Two knee replacements later, Wood advises older athletes to participate within their means.
"Don't be discouraged," Wood said. "Ski within your means. I feel privileged if I can keep up with a 12-year-old."
For more race results, go to https://my.raceresult.com/385477/results.
Travis Rector contributed to the reporting for this story.
