RUMFORD – Despite all of the preparation, the intense snow-making efforts and the state-of-the-art technology, there was one thing for which organizers of the 2012 U.S. Cross Country Skiing Championships had no answer: a last-minute deluge.

Severe and long-lasting overnight rain moved through the Androscoggin River valley overnight into Monday and forced officials to postpone the first day of the scheduled five-day event at Black Mountain of Maine by one day.

“We feel pretty positive about it despite what’s happened,” Black Mountain’s Craig Zurhorst said. “Everybody got on site today to check things out and survey the situation expecting the worst, and we ended up OK.”

Initially, organizers thought that it might take two days to recover from the downpour, but the event will resume Tuesday morning, with Monday’s schedule of events, including the sprint competition and the opening ceremonies.

“The thing is, within 24 hours (of Monday morning), the temperatures are supposed to drop into the low-20s, and within 36 hours we’re supposed to see some sub-zero numbers, and that should make the snow very raceable if we’re patient,” Zurhorst said.

The Adaptive sit ski sprint races that were to be held Tuesday are moved to Wednesday morning starting at 9 a.m.

The Freestyle 15K Men and 10K Women’s races that were to be held on Wednesday have been moved to Thursday at the same times.

The sit ski race scheduled for Thursday morning will be held on Thursday afternoon following the 15K and 10K races. The race schedule will remain the same as published for Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Thanks to what Zurhorst called an “intricate communications protocol,” none of the more than 400 racers gathered in the Rumford area needlessly arrived on site expecting to race Monday morning. Instead, the skiers lost a day of training, and will return to the ski area Tuesday to begin racing.