MWSC Biathlon

The Wohnwagen adventure

2011-01-31T17:46:00.003-05:00

Being a biathlete has brought me more opportunity then I have ever imagined in my life. I have been able to travel places I never would have imaged and made some great friends from all over the world. This winter a new adventure came to life while looking for races to do mid-season. Myself and a couple good friends of mine were all looking for new opportunity through the month of February. Looking for great competition and some challenging events to help boost my racing level up a notch or two, we decided on traveling to Germany to battle it out in a couple German cups here. While looking to make this trip as economical as possible, we decided upon traveling and living in an RV, wohnwagen, for our duration here. As I stated earlier, biathlon has brought so many different adventures to my life. You never know where you might find yourself year to year or even month to month.
Our first stop in our Wohnwagen adventure is to Oberhof, a biathlon hotspot. Here is a quick overview of life here in Oberhof.
Oberhof in a smaller size town about three hours North West of Munich. It seems similar to Lake Placid, NY because it is home to many winter sports including bobsled, alpine skiing, Nordic and of course biathlon. It was actually the first stop on the Tour de ski this year. It was home of the 2004 World Championships for biathlon and hosts a biathlon world cup every year in January. It opened its own ski tunnel a couple summers ago just down the road, so not only do you have skiing all winter long but through the summer now too. The venue is home to one of the largest stadiums, which is packed full through the World Cup with somewhere around 30,000 people for every race. The World cup venue is only one of about five or six different biathlon ranges you can find here. One of which is indoors with huge doors that allow you to rollerski in and out of. This range also provides a video screen of your target next to every point, allowing you to look at your shots with a quick glance after every shot. Home to many German National team athletes, Oberhof is defiantly not a bad place to be a biathlete.
Nestled in the Thuringer Forest, with Nordic trails headed in every direction, this small German villages has a great Nordic population of all different abilities. The towering pine forests surrounding the area are all heavily weighted down with heavy white snow and makes for beautiful skiing. And it’s often foggy weather has earned this place a nice name of Foghof.
Our races start this weekend with an individual race. I am new to the German Cup scene, so I am excited to get things underway with Saturday's individual race. No matter the fog, wind or crazy hilly race course, I am just happy to be here and to have a race bib on.
More stories still to come.....stop by again soon,

BethAnn

Jericho Vermont

2011-01-23T16:25:00.002-05:00

Back in Vermont! We just competed NorAm #5 with a sprint race held on saturday and pursuit sunday. The weather cooperated and stayed within legal racing limits and we had two well run races. On saturday both Russell Currier and Katrina Howe were second in the senior sprint races, and Andrea Mayo won the Junior womens sprint race. On sunday Russell sat out in favor of training prior to Lake Placid NorAm's. Katrina came back with a strong race taking the victory in the senior womens pursuit race. Andrea Mayo completed a great weekend taking her second victory in as many days winning the junior womens pursuit race.

For full results visit the Ethan Allen Biathlon Club website
http://www.eabiathlon.org/

World Junior/Youth Team Trials

2011-01-01T10:34:00.004-05:00

Happy New Year!

MWSC Juniors get off to a great start for the new year. Four Qualify for the 2011 USA Junior World Championship Team that will be competing in Nove Mesto CZ! Corrine Malcolm, Grace Boutot, Ben Greenwald and Raleigh Goessling all had strong performances in trials and will represent the USA in the Junior competitions January 29th through February 5th. Follow the teams progress as they compete at www.biathlonworld.com with live results and video coverage.

The 2011 USA Junior/Youth Championship Team

Minnesota Cup 2/USBA IBU Trials Sprint

2010-12-18T16:00:00.006-05:00

It was a good day for MWSC athletes, in the women's race BethAnn lead the way in second place with strong shooting and skiing with only Haley Johnson (former MWSC teammate) in front of her. Katrina Howe struggled a little with shooting but posted one of the faster ski times for the day to keep her right in contact in fifth place. Junior Corrine Malcome notched up another strong ski performance but struggled on the shooting range.

In the men's race Raleigh Goessling and Ben Greenwald put in yet another great set of performances showing that they are coming into great form prior to world junior trials to be held at the end of the month in Jericho Vermont. Both put in strong skiing efforts from the start and cleaning the first shooting stage, continuing to ski strong they were able to stay in contention with a strong senior competitor and former 2010 olympian Wynn Roberts. In the final shooting stage both Raleigh and Ben picked up two penalties to finish the day with a strong 80% shooting.

We have just one more race tomorrow, a pursuit format (four shooting stages, two prone, two standing) individual start race. Below are some photos from todays event. Also check in on our XC team in their first events of the season in the NENSA Eastern Cup openers, good luck to all of them.

Ben Greenwald

Raleigh Goessling

Katrina Howe

Haley Johnson

BethAnn Chamberlain

Corrine Malcome

Grand Rapids Minnesota and Mt Itasca

2010-12-17T10:21:00.003-05:00

We all arrived in Grand Rapids a couple days ago and were greeted with cool temps (not the -15 to -20 degrees of last year) and lots of natural and man-made snow, so the skiing is great. Yesterday was the first of three races and the MWSC crew had some great races and some are hungry for the second race. The junior men's field of three was lead by two MWSC guys, Raleigh and Ben, who both put up strong skiing days and solid shooting. The guys came in 2nd and 3rd over all only being bested by senior athlete and former Olympian Wynn Roberts. On the women's side it was good to see all of our ladies putting in strong skiing efforts through the entire race, shooting not where any of the ladies can shoot and they are all looking to pick it up for the next two competitions. The women's field had pressure put on at the front of the race by Haley Johnson and Susan Dunklee who shoot the same 2 penalties through the first three stages and were skiing close, in the final stage Haley was able to take the lead for sure with 2 more penalties, one less penalty the Susan's 3. It was a very exciting day and everyone is now resting and focusing on tomorrows sprint race!

Filling in the gaps

2010-11-27T23:08:00.003-05:00

As we work our way into the racing season, our hours of training start to decrease slowly and the intensity levels rise. This creates an influx of free time, especially while at a training camp or while racing. A big part of being able to perform at a high level regularly is making sure you are getting enough rest in between workouts and races. We all stretch, dryfire, sleep and practice other good recovery activities we are also often left with hours of the day that need to be filled with activities that promote recovery without having to work for it. The last couple weeks here in Canmore have given us a good taste of that time for the first time this year. And from my observations, this team has been pretty darn creative with their time.
In addition to the normal movie watching and book reading, our group here in Canmore has really made the most of our recovery time. All of the females of the team have committed quite strongly to what the European call “fancy work”, also known as knitting. I think we could keep just about any knitting store in business for quite some time with this crew. Eileen especially, will make sure that there will not be a cold head in the house with her exceptionally fast hat knitting cadence. I try to keep up but just can’t hold the pace for long without messing something up.
I was impressed at the fore thought of the team as well with three of us each bringing our own separate game of Banana Grams. We put two of the games together to make one epic game. It turned out to be a pretty long one but also a good one. A travel size game of Monopoly, in both English AND French!, was purchased during one of the very frigid days we encountered during our stay. I steered clear of these grueling and what sounded like, very cut throat games.
And last, but by no means least, I contributed to our “after school activities” with my putter and golf balls. Yes, I traveled all the way out here with a golfing putter in along with my skis. Having a father that is as dedicated to the game of golf as I am to biathlon, I have made and heard many comparisons between the two, especially between shooting and putting. I decided that it might be fun to bring a putter with me this winter and practice a bit of putting here and there. It is as much of a mind game as shooting is and kind of fun to do at the same time. It also can become a great source of entertainment amongst the team.
So while we are working very hard out on the ski trail and shooting range every morning and afternoon, we are also working hard in a different kind of manner when we are settled into our rooms.
Wishing you all a snow covered December!
-BethAnn

Canmore!

2010-11-22T14:02:00.006-05:00

We are entering our final week in Canmore, the first two have been filled with ski care, getting use to skiing on snow again, and preparing for USBA Trials races. The first week was very warm, and a mix of roller skiing, running and some skiing by the end of the week. The Canmore Nordic Center does an amazing job of making snow once the weather cooperates and gives cold temps. In the matter of a week with cold temps and some natural snow we have gone from 1k of skiing around the range to over 15k of skiing (mostly on rock skis, but still good skiing).

We lucked out on the weather for the USBA Trials races for both World Cup and IBU Cup positions. The weather provided the temps for snow making but refrained from being so cold that we could not hold races, each day we had cool temps, good shooting conditions, and a clean track to ski on. There were great efforts being put forward on all fronts, we saw great skiing from all of our athletes and very promising shooting. In the end one current MWSC biathlete, Russell Currier came out on top for the men to be selected to compete on the World Cup in December, and three MWSC alumni (Laura Spector, Tracy Barnes, and Bill Bowler) will be joining Russell at either the World Cup or IBU Cup events this december.

With our last week in Canmore we will be taking advantage of the snow that is available and skiing lots. On the schedule will be a trip to Banff to watch the new Harry Potter movie this evening, a long classic ski in Lake Louise, a large Thanksgiving dinner (round two, we tested out this meal while in Utah in October). Below are photos taken since we have been here. We hope that you all have a great Thanksgiving where ever you are!

BethAnn hard at work

Corrine Malcome during first sprint race

Russell skiing out of the range

Wax table at work

Snow making

Men's Mass Start

Raleigh finishing shooting standing

Kat skiing

Andrea starting second sprint race

Corrine and Andrea shooting standing during first sprint race

Women's Mass Start

Women shooting prone during Mass Start event

On the road in October

2010-11-08T20:41:00.001-05:00

With just a few weeks at home in the county we are yet again preparing for travel, this time to Canmore, Alberta where the senior athletes have trials races for the December World Cups and IBU races. For the rest of the team it will serve as some solid on-snow (hopefully) training before heading to Minnesota in December for our first Nor-Am Cup races of the ’10-’11 season.

October took us to Midway, Utah for a two week stint of training at Soldier Hollow, home of the 2002 Winter Olympic Nordic events. Overall the camp was a success, complete with lots of training, cooking, baking, Bananagrams, pool, and team bonding. We also got a bunch of skis stone ground while we were there, so lots of waxing took place in our very spacious garage which was also the only spot where we had wireless internet! The weather held up wonderfully and handed us but one rainy day. The rest of the time we had chilly clear mornings with temps warming up into the 60s and low 70s most afternoons.

Aside from training at Soldier Hollow, we hiked at Park City Resort on their single-track mountain biking trails, classic skied up East Canyon, and hiked andran on the slopes of Mount Timpanogos (2nd highest mountain in Utah’s Wasatch Range – 11,749’). The trip to Timpanogos was probably the most scenic of our trip even though we didn’t have enough time to make it all the way up the mountain. Free-time activities included a trip to the Zermatt Resort’s mini golf course, shopping at the outlet malls in Park City, visiting with our neighbor’s dogs (Iggy, a pug, lived to the left and Cajun, a black lab, lived to the right), and visiting the Park City Farmer’s Market.

Our condo was very well equipped for cooking and we found ourselves quite inspired to do so. We were joined by Andy and Betsey Shepard halfway through our camp for an awesome Shepards Pie (or should we say three awesome Shepard’s Pies!) and pecan pie for dessert! Bethann went crazy baking loaves of molasses-oatmeal bread, Ben and Raleigh made an awesome peach crisp one night, , Corrine made a huge (and delicious) pot of chilli, and we all chipped in on a huge Thanksgiving meal (a little early, we know). Over all the food rating for our camp had to be pretty high.

This last weekend a half of our team (Kat, Raleigh and Ben) traveled with Seth down to two rollerski events near Freeport. The first was the Lobster Roll, a 15k skate race that took place on North Haven Island. Most of the MWSC XC team actually joined us for this one, along with collegiate skiers from Bates, Colby, Bowdoin, UMPI and UMO. We got really lucky with the weather (cloudy and very windy but NO rain!) and the roads out there were really great for a ski race. No traffic, potholes or angry dogs. It seemed like everyone put in a solid effort and had a good time. Sunday took us to the Eyes on the Pies race at Pineland Farms in New Gloucester where we did a skate, mass start, 10k. The race was a fundraiser for the Southern Maine Biathlon Club so skiers of all ages were in attendance. Raleigh took the win in the men’s overall category followed closely by Ben in third. Seth and Kat both won their respective Masters categories (if you can be a master when you’re still in your twenties!).
This week has been chilly for training but it’s good to get an adjustment period before we plunge to much colder temperatures when the snow really flies. Sunday night brought snow in Fort Kent but most of it has melted already. We have our computers locked on the webcam for Canmore and we’re watching the forecast. Hopefully we won’t have to bring rollerskis. Think Snow!

MWSC welcomes One Way to the Team!

2010-09-20T16:07:00.003-04:00

The MWSC Biathlon and Cross-Country Teams welcome One Way ski poles to the Team. Select members of both Teams will be using the new DS 10 pole, including Biathlon Team members Russell Currier, BethAnn Chamberlain and Grace Boutot.

Rossignol / Oneway are excited to introduce the new DS 10 pole. The new DS 10 pole has a 100% carbon super light shaft with a new titanium coated carbon insert making the pole stiff and ultra light weight. The rabbit strap allows for twice the adjustment of a regular strap and the cork grip provides warmth, comfort and an anti-slip grip.

Carbon Strap

New Flash basket

A letter to the IOC

2010-09-19T11:51:00.004-04:00

It doesn't get any better than this!

Presque Isle's Nordic Heritage Center gets a new look

2010-09-15T10:56:00.006-04:00

Six months ago, the U.S. Nordic community descended on Presque Isle for the X-C skiing Jr. Nationals. Families, athletes, and staff from around the country experienced the best the communities in and around Presque Isle could dish out at the Nordic Heritage Center.

Fast forward to September and we sit now only six months away from the next big event. The IBU Biathlon World Cup will come to the County not just for one WC, but for two! Two weeks of racing at both the NHC and 10th Mtn. Center will take place this February and the County will be on center stage once again. This time however it will be the international stage with millions of viewers from all around the world.

This past week, the NHC started some of its renovations. The range was taken apart completely and will be moved back and to the left to create more space in the stadium/range area. In addition a handful of spots on the competition trails will be widened to ensure enough room for head to head racing, and smaller projects like lighting and stadium production will be updated as well.

Behind the target line

Left side of range being expanded

Wider trail entering the range/stadium

Katrina standing where the old trail ended...much wider now!

European Camp 2010

2010-09-14T09:16:00.006-04:00

A five week training camp in Europe might seem a little expensive for old USBA, but when you take into consideration that the only Americans on the US team are the athletes themselves then all of a sudden training in northern Italy, Austria, and Germany doesn't seem like such a bad idea. All of the team's coaches, wax techs and staff live in Europe. So you can see where it would even out. So the US mens A and B team ended up spending the month of August bouncing around central Europe. The venues and equipment we used provided some very unique opportunities. Every camp I go to I always come back with more than enough to work on and this camp proved no different.

First off was Antholz, Italy. Antholz is one of the most popular venues to be at in the winter and always puts up impressive spectator numbers during their January world cup. Turns out the training is just as great in the summer as it is in the winter. It also helps that one of our head coaches lives in Antholz. While we were there we did some good hiking. With in 30 minutes of run/hiking from our hotel it felt as if you were in the Lord of the Rings. A half kept path lead us up to the summit. We had to be careful as to not anger the Yaks on the way up.

That's what the hiking felt like. The cycling was also epic in it's own right. Our coach, Armin, had some pretty good contacts that were able to supply us with road bikes. These bikes were not your typical Wal Mart specials. One of them was a pro tour bike that would have cost around ten thousand dollars! We covered about four passes in one ride. Then there was the Kronplatz ride. I turned around a little early, but the guys that went on said they could have used a mountain bike towards the top. The Kronplatz is just a steady climb that takes some of the best riders in the world an hour complete and takes us... well, longer than that.

Hiking and cycling was not the only reason for the Antholz portion of the camp. Of coarse there was plenty of rollersking and shooting, but this particular region of Italy sits at just under 3000 meters elevation. Don't ask me what that is in feet. The first few days at altitude are never easy when you're coming form sea level. The lack of air pressure forces your body to be more efficient and adapt to new standards. Altitude training still is and will probably always be a training mystery for exercises scientist. Basically each athlete responds to altitude differently. The timing and what kind of training the athletes should do is the mystery. We took this opportunity to gather data and find out what works best for us. To do this each athlete went to bed with a clip attached to there finger tip. The clip had a wire going to another devise that could measure and record what our heart rate and blood oxygen saturation was while we slept. When we woke up we would get our finger pricked by a USOC altitude training specialist and record our blood glucose levels, lactic acid values. Evan our blood pressure was monitored. This may sound a little confusing and trust me there is a lot more to it, but that's why there are altitude training specialist who study this kind of thing for a living.

About and hour away from Antholz in Austria is small valley town called Obertilliach. This place is a popular training spot. The greatest biathlete of all time, Ole Einar Bjorndalen can be found training there. When we showed up the Germen Women's A and B team were also there. As well as a few other eastern European teams and of coarse the Austrian team. The roller loop had a nice layout and was in good shape.

The weather was not so good. The last time I had been in Obertilliach was in the winter. With no exaggeration it snowed 10 feet in less than a week!
Well precipitation is still pretty high in the summer. We were either in a cloud or in the rain for most of the time we were there. On the other
hand, a little rain never hurt any one.

Training was still great and included a time trial we did at the end of the week. 15 km with four shooting stages and 45seconds per miss was just the right equation to get me on the podium for the team. I had three misses (85%) total and a solid ski time. Including the fast last loop time. It was nice to see both ski speed AND shooting coming together for a change.

The time trial along with two and half weeks of hard training had the whole team pretty tired and very much looking forward to the three days of rest on our camp schedule. The problem was we didn't know what to do with ourselves for these three days. The place we were staying at was on a side hill in the middle of nowhere basically. In fact this house could be used for a horror movie setting to give you an idea of what we were looking at.

Well that all changed when team member Lowell Baily noticed that Croatia had a fairly large coast line and was not to far from us. And so it was decided, Croatia is was! Five hours later (that's about the amount of time it took me to get to the airport I flew out of) we were staring at the ocean. We found a cheap but still very nice place to stay. We spent 48 hours exploring the Mediterranean climate of Croatia and getting tanned (or burned) next to the ocean. The trip was success. We left with a full physical and mental recovery. Needless to say leaving this paradise was
not easy.

Next thing I knew I was eating dinner at a restaurant in Salzburg, Austria. The next morning was the hardest time trial of the year. From swimming in the ocean to a 12 km all up hill roller ski time trial there never seemed to be a dull moment. It took me just over an hour and to make it to the top. I had the second fastest time on the team. In the end though, I was just glad to say it was done. The coaches were glad to see a strong effort from me, but I could have really use some better V1 technique.

That was only the skiing part of the test Salzburg had in store for us.
The local sport university just so happen to have an indoor shooting range. This shooting range had some advanced tools at it's disposal. I was excited for this test because I had just fitted my rifle with a knew stock. This time it's from Finland with a little bit of Italian craftsmanship mixed in. They fitted my rifle with all sorts of measuring components and gathered data as I shot a few clips. The goal of this was to potentially isolate certain weak points in our shooting mechanic. As it turns out scientifically speaking I'm a good shooting. Trigger squeeze was almost perfect and all of the other values were solid. The conclusion was that I might be a bit of a head case when the shooting matters.

The Euro camp 2010 wasn't over just yet. After several hours of driving I was unpacking my back in Oberhof, Germany. Oberhof has a lot to offer. It is considered the biathlon mecca of the world and is likely the most popular world cup venue of the racing season. In terms of training opportunities you're looking at 60 km of running trails, three shooting ranges (one world class and one indoors), two expansive roller ski loops, and a ski tunnel. The unpredictable weather and gradual rolling terrain of horizon after horizon of trees makes Oberhof feel like home. The team did a couple hours of skiing on snow in the ski tunnel in the mornings and some roller skiing with shooting in the afternoons. As usual the coaches took the opportunity of skiing on snow to break down my skate technique and try to sculpt it into some thing more efficient. I'm still trying to get used to it now, but it's going in the right direction

The trip home was pretty uneventful. All my luggage made it in and I was back in Stockholm before I knew it. This camp was an all around success for me. There is just no better way to describe it. I've shown up to camps before only to get sick and miss out on training. This camp had almost no speed bumps to slow me down. I would go as far to say it was the most successful camp I've ever done. So far everything is on track. I couldn't have asked for more as far as training in August goes... Alright I take.

Contributed by Russell Currier - Russell is a member of the MWSC Biathlon Team and U.S. Biathlon National Team

Mountain Bike WCH's

2010-09-10T10:31:00.003-04:00

Just back from a great weekend up at Mt. Sainte Anne, Quebec. The best of the best mountain bikers from all over the world were there competing in a variety of events from cross-country to downhill, 4-cross, and trials.

Willow Koerber on her way to a bronze medal!

A large group of us camped just minutes from the venue and spent the majority of our days, riding some killer single track, testing out some of the new gear for 2011, and of course cheering on the good ol' Red, White, and Blue at just about every event!

Some of the highlights included watching Elite Women's x-c racers Willow Koerber and Heather Irmiger finish 3rd and 6th, the 4-cross (kind of like skier-cross, but on bikes) finals at night under the lights, and a ride with Team Speicalized where the "Captain" and 1990 World Champion Ned Overand joined us along with 2008 World Champion Christoph Sauser of Switzerland, 3rd place in 2010 Burry Stander of South Africa, and U.S. National Champion Todd Wells also joined the ride.

This was a good break from our normal training regiment and a good re-charge for everyone as we head into our next training block. Now back home, fall is in the air, and it's back to work!!

D2R2 - One of the hardes century rides around

2010-08-23T07:12:00.005-04:00

Sometimes you hear about a special hike, cook bike route, or just plain cool event and you think to yourself, "I have to do that". The Biathlon Team heard about D2R2 through some local riders and we thought that this was one of those "I have to do that" events! Started as a fundraiser for a local Land Trust company called the Franklin Land Trust, the D2R2 has grown year after year, even after riders take a beating for no less than 8 hours as they cover the tough roads and climbs.

There are three rides, a 180km, 100km, and 50km. The 180km along boasts, 16,000ft of total climbing, over 70% on dirt roads, a few climbs nearly 2 miles long, with a few reaching between 25-27% grade. Last year one old fella was asked before Ambrosia Rd. (.6 miles and 27% up loose gravel) if anyone had made it up. He replied back, "I haven't seen anyone make it up this road since I was a boy"! Patten Hill was another 25% grade road, this time on pavement for half a mile before it continued up for another 1.5 miles on loose gravel that was supposedly a road.

But the ride was more than just a "gut check" training ride. This route and region proved to be some of New England's finest. The entire way we rode along beautiful streams and rivers, up and over passes with some really awesome views, and around some farms that made you want to quit your day job just to go and work on them. The local volumteers were engaging and really excited to have us all there. This may need to become an annual tradition!

Who did it?
180km - Gary, Seth, Tracy, Mark Rossignol, Matt Michaud and Taylor
100km - Grace, Katrina, Andrea, and Corrine

This ice cream truck was strategically placed!

A field of sunflowers at one of the rest stops

Sugarloaf Camp

2010-08-23T06:58:00.005-04:00

Just finished up a great week of training in Sugarloaf last week. After a big intensity week in Jericho it was a welcome change to hang out in the Western Maine mountains and put in some easy volume with our X-C Team. Fall was in the air with some really nice evenings where you welcomed the warmth of an extra blanket on your bed. We only took out the rollerski for a couple workouts, otherwise we were running and hiking up different mountain ridges, exploring the region on bike, bounding up the famous ski hill, and we even got in some skeet shooting! Thanks to the folks at the Carabassett Vallley Academy for putting us up and fueling us so well!

The crew hanging at the top of West Peak

BA with a great view behind her

The ladies

Smack dab in the "middle". Check out the sign.

Jericho Camp & NorAm Cup Summer Races

2010-08-07T14:38:00.006-04:00

Our annual camp in Jericho, VT just finished and now we're hanging in Sugarloaf with our X-C teammates. Jericho was what Jericho is good for. It's a reminder of what we have left to work on in the next months before we get on snow. We did a few time trials and it's something foreign to most of the athletes now - skiing really hard and trying to hit targets. we've done a lot of shooting and a lot of training, but nothing like the real thing we call a biathlon race.

Everyone is really excited to be here in Sugarloaf now. It's a great place for just being outdoors and putting in some quality training hours. The atmosphere is awesome with our entire MWSC Team here. We're staying on the campus of the Carabassett Academy, which has a reputation of producing some top alpine and snowboard athletes. Seth Wescott's brew pub is just down the road and the spirit of Bode Miller still lingers!

Raleigh cruising through the range

A strong day on the skis for Kat

Grace heading out back on course

Grace and Corrine on the podium showing off their new Team shorts

Corrine in her first race with MWSC colors

An up and comer...Chester Jacobs

Tracy sporting her Team Otis uniform

BethAnn throwing down!

Ben leaving the range

Andrea with a strong start

MWSC alumni...Tracy, Lanny and Laura

Even Kat's younger brother raced...and he cleaned prone!

Maine Team Camp (lots of pictures)

2010-07-11T21:40:00.013-04:00

Just finished up our annual Maine Team Training Camp. MWSC started and has been hosting this camp for the past four years. This was the largest contingent of Mainers we've ever had; this camp in the past has also been in conjunction with skiers from Quebec's Provincial Nordic Team.

The campus of the University of Maine-Ft. Kent was transformed partially into a training center where the athletes not only ate and slept, but used the weight room and gym for strength testing and daily classroom sessions ranging from basic physiology, nutrition, and life as a full-time athlete. The group also took part in a classic sprint time trial, uphill run, and the Speedball World Championships of the World. Daily training was a mix of dryland and rollerski technique sessions, running, biathlon shooting, and other games.

Start of the Men's Classic Sprint

Eventual Men's winner "Big" Joe Bard followed by Welly

Women's Final

Emily and Lauren pushing to the finish

Ashley throwing down

Andrea cornering in the skate TT

Emelie Donahue putting in the k's on the roller loop

Welly digging in and looking for his competition

Ben and Raleigh pushing each other

Daboullie

2010-07-06T13:00:00.006-04:00

Daboullie Mountain doesn't have the grand size of a Mt. Katahdin, but makes up for it in the diverse terrain and beautiful lakes along the trail. With the windshield wipers on high the entire drive over to the trailhead we knew we were instore for a wet run. But it was one of those runs where you actually enjoyed the rain. Besides keeping the temperatures down, the rain and fog added to the mystique of the area. Photo: Corrine and Grace

Tracy heading up the trail

Gary enjoying the rainy weather

Leif letting everyone know that he was the first to the top

Mt. Katahdin

2010-07-01T08:20:00.014-04:00

The MWSC Team (Deveopment, Regional, X-C, and Biathlon)came together this week to tackle Maine's highest point. Mt. Katahdin stands tall at 5,267ft. and is a highly active place as it represents the finish line of the world famous Appalacian Trail. Photo: Looking up towards the summit

We met up the night before to camp out just on the outskirts of Baxter Park. After some tasty smores it was off to bed as an early morning awaited everyone. 5:30am camre around quicker than most of us thought, especially since it was 4:30am when then young Devo Team decided enough is enough and it was time to get up! After a quick breakfast, we were off and on the trail by 6:45am heading first along the Katahdin Stream and then turning up towards the Hunt Trail all the way to the top. Three hours of up and we found ourselves standing on top and just for a short while we were able to take in some of the spectacular views before getting swallowed by the clouds. We headed down the Knife's Edge which was a narrow ridge of boulders with steep drops on both sides and high winds blowing from both directions. Once off the Edge it was a downhill trek all the way to Roaring Brook. The sun was now out again and Roaring Brook served as a perfect natural ice bath for some tired and shaky legs.

The Devo and Regional Teams approached Baxter Peak from a different direction and summitted just in time for some stellar views. It was a first for many of these youngsters. A job well done, especially with the 4:30am wake up!

Hanging out at the campsite skippig rocks and watching the sunset

A nice view from the top just before the clouds rolled in

The final push to the summit

The Knife's Edge

Leif checking out the views below

Big Joe Bard livin it up

Corrine all smiles as usual

Ben enjoying his first time up Mt. Katahdin

Double dose of Mars Hill

2010-06-28T22:47:00.007-04:00

Driving from Ft. Kent to Mars Hill this morning you could tell it was going to be one of those great days to run Mars Hill. Russell and Leif missed the first go this past May so I took them down today to help them get their fill before they head off to their next National Team camp. Photo: A view of the finish

Rain was in the forecast and it started up just outside of town and gradually got heavier as we neared Presque Isle where we picked up Russ at Farmhouse #2. Someone had been playing Betty Crocker recently as fresh ruhbarb pie, some kind of tasty looking bars, and some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies sat on the counter. Now that's motivation right there to run fast so we could get back before everything was gone. As we neared Mars Hill the rain increased and from the road we could only see about 2/3 of the hill as the top had already been swallowed up by the clouds. What a perfect day for an uphill run...or two!

I headed up first with the guys starting 15min behind. Despite the rain and wind, it was a good day for putting up a good time. Russ had a new personal best on his mind and Leif was running this for the first time. Russ came blazing up and got his personal best by 1 second at 12:50. Leif ran solid for his first time up clocking in at 14 even. Feeling the good vibes from the first trip up, the guys decided to give it another go. Two more solid times with Russ clocking a 13:24 and Leif a 14:20.

With the wind and rain blowing hard, it didn't take much convincing to start heading back down the hill, this time with "Betty Crocker's" goodies on our minds after a very productive morning!

Russ on his way up to a personal best

The final pitch is steep and rocky, and today it was very slippery

Leif getting his first and second taste of Mars Hill

Middle School Racer Camp

2010-06-28T22:08:00.006-04:00

This past weekend 20 M.S. Racers from Maine gathered at the 10th Mtn. Center for their first summer Nordic camp. The kids were greeted by an enthusiastic group of coaches and athletes. The morning of day one consisted of some speed, agaility, and strength activities led by the highly coordinated and graceful Russell Currier. In the afternoon the kids took to the range and learned some biathlon basics with the MWSC Biathlon Team instructing each group. Swimming at Jacuzzi Falls, games and Avatar for the first or third time, depending on who you were, filled out the evening.

Day two started off with some rollerski basics on the grassy infield. Eventually moving on to the roller loop the kids found their ski muscles and zoomed around the stadium working on their balance and coordination skills. Eventually they were able to venture out on to the 3km of paved trail at the 10th Mtn. Center. The day ended with a little biathlon obstacle course relay.

For two days in a row, these M.S. racers only sat down to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. Outside of that, they were on the go, learning, being active, and having a blast! As the road signs read, "Maine - the way life should be".

Range during the obstacle course relay

Warming up with some coordination skips

Russell leading by example

Getting their crab walk on

10th Mtn. Skate Time Trial

2010-06-20T15:24:00.009-04:00

Summer is here finally! It was hot and humid for our first time trial of the new season. Most of the biathlon and x-c crews are up in the County working hard so we brought everyone together for a 5.5km and 11km skate time trial. We do this on the roller loop at the 10th Mtn. Center and it has become one of our standardized tests for our Teams. No one has done a ton of roller skiing, but the group still looked solid. Photo: Corrine looked strong and put down the only negative splits in the ladies field

BethAnn led a strong team of biathlon ladies today

Joey represented the x-c crew with smooth skiing

Andrea showed good pacing and some of the most improved technique

Grace powered through the V2 sections

Kat skied strong both loops putting together nearly even splits

Raleigh took the win today

Demolition Day #1

2010-06-08T18:45:00.006-04:00

Today was the first day of demolition on the new house. Andrea, Corrine, Grace, Katrina, Leif, and myself tackled the 70's style architecture with the help of Phyllis' cousin Jim; eight hours later and the house was transformed. The tasks included pulling up carpet, taking aparrt cabinets, taking apart old base board heating, and many other surprises created over the years. Tomorrow is day two!

Trees and shrubs were removed to allow natural light into the house.

Carpet and and other pieces that once were inside.

More piles inside; cabinets from the kitchen, bathrooms, and dining area.

The ladies gettin'r done!

Corrine and Grace taking apart the kitchen.

Leif making friends during lunch.

The living room.

Preparing the kitchen for a makeover.

The girls having fun and showing off their new pink gloves!

Jalbert Residence Center, LLC

2010-05-17T11:32:00.008-04:00

Thanks to Phyllis Jalbert and the Jalbert Residence Center, LLC, the MWSC Biathlon Team has a new place to call home. Tucked in on the hillside, overlooking the beautiful St. John River and into Canada, the house is within walking distance to the 10th Mountain Center as well as town itself. Athletes will be able to call this their home and feel like a part of the community as they train daily in and around the surrounding area.

The house will be renovated over the summer, but we took a few pictures of the "before". Check back to see how the new athlete residence center evolves!

Phyllis and the crew.

A view of the front entrance

The back side showing both levels and a nice deck ready and waiting for a grill to "accessorize" it!

The view off the deck looking towards the St. John River and Canada.

The living room. Take note of the cieling...ouch!

Russell admiring the design in one of the bedrooms.

Appliances that "pop" out at you. Push the button and presto, you have a blender!

Most definitely from the 70's!

Uhhh, not sure what this is?

Currier and Boutot invited to first National Team Camp

2010-05-11T22:07:00.003-04:00

The first period (4 weeks) of training are just about over. It has been a gradual process for the athletes and coaches working their way back into the new season, but so far everyone seems to have their batteries just about on full and ready to go.

Next week marks the beginning of the first National Team Camp in Lake Placid. Russell was named to the B-Team and will attend the full three weeks. Grace also recieved an invitation as the top Jr. to attend the first two weeks. In the past we've tried to get at least one Jr. athlete to some of the National Team Camps for experience and it has been a good opportunity for the younger athletes to work along side of our best athletes.

Spring time!

2010-04-30T15:11:00.012-04:00

It's been a month now since the final races in Ft. Kent and Madawaska. Since then, the Team headed out in a variety of directions, some heading back home, some to school, some on a much anticipated vacation.

The Biathlon Team has seen some turnover, most notably the retirement of Walt Shepard who has been the face of this Team since the MWSC's inception. Below are some pictures to give you an idea of what the Team (current and new) have been up to.

Spring has sprung and baseball is back. What better way to spend an evening than at a Red Sox game! BethAnn, David and crew hit up the first Sox-Yankees series of the season.

Roaming around down in Florida, I found this little place. It was the perfect end to my bike ride the next day.

Ocean, sun, and a book...Grace found the perfect place for some R & R

One of our new teammates, Katrina Howe spent some time in her families green house. Kat is from Gilford, NH and her family runs a small store with all kinds of goodies in it.

"Mud Season" in the County is always epic. Andrea cruisin her driveway. Before...

...and during!

And yes there was still some skiing to be had up here. Nick and Russell on one of their final spring skis.

Another new addition to the Biathlon Team, Corrine Malcolm from Hayward, WI via Montana State University. A little late season skiing up at Bohart Ranch.

Mountain biking! One of our favorites and spring kicks off the season for most of us "single track" minded folk. Raleigh Goessling spent last summer with us and he'll be moving in full time come June.

Tennis anyone? Changing it up, new teammate Ben Greenwald (left) enjoying the spring with a friend.

Pictures!

2010-03-29T12:29:00.002-04:00

It's been a busy three weeks of racing. Cross-country Jr. Nationals, Biathlon Nationals, and cross-country Super Tour Finals all up in The County! You can view pictures from all the events at http://gallery.me.com/mwsc

Caribou Downtown Sprints

2010-03-07T22:46:00.003-05:00

Last year the town of Caribou (Carl Soderberg!)covered an entire parking lot with 12" of snow for the 1st Annual Downtown Sprints. This year's event took place right outside the Middle School at Teague Park. A bit more challenging this year with warm temperatures making for soft conditions and this time around a hill was added to the course! In addition to the races, there was a great terrain park, biathlon laser rifles and what would a Nordic event be without firing up the grill!

Giant teeter-totter

The range set up

Coach Gary instructing

The next generation

Thanks to Brent Jepson for the photos.

Boutot 22nd in Individual

2010-03-02T13:41:00.001-05:00

Otepaa, Estonia - In tough conditions with gusting winds and blowing snow athletes struggled with consistency in the shooting range. The MWSC's Grace Boutot was on good pace hitting 9 of her first 10 shots. In her 3rd stage Boutot struggled to find the center in swirling winds missing all 5 targets, but recovered in time for her final stage to hit all 5. Boutot finished 22nd overall, but showed good signs on the tracks. "I was really happy with how I felt today. I was disappointed with my 3rd stage, but minus that one stage the rest of the race was pretty good", stated Boutot afterwards.

The rest of the American Team struggled at times too in the range. Annelies Cook was the top female hitting 16 of 20 finishing 28th, Susan Dunklee finished 37th with 8 penalties and Laura Spector and Hannah Dreissigacker finished 51st and 52nd with 11 penalties. Leif Nordgren finished 17th in the Jr. Men's race with 5 penalties. Casey Simons led the Sr. Men hitting 14 for 20 to finish 40th. Wynn Roberts arriving from Vancouver missed 7 to finish 45th and Zach Hall 46th with 5 penalties.

The next race is Thursday with the Relays.

Grace Boutot to compete in IBU U26 Championships

2010-02-28T13:19:00.004-05:00

Otepaa, Estonia - The 2nd annual European U26 Championships begins this week with 274 athletes from 29 nations registered. The MWSC's Grace Boutot will race in the Jr. category where the competition will be just as strong as the Jr. World Championships field seen earlier this season in Torsby, Sweden. "Grace is in a good spot mentally and physically and even with the short preparation time (2 days) I think we'll see some strong performances from her", stated MWSC Biathlon Coach Gary Colliander. Boutot will be joined by 8 members of the US Team.

Sr. Men - Wynn Roberts, Zach Hall, Casey Simons
Jr. Men - Leif Nordgren
Sr. Women - Laura Spector, Annelies Cook, Susan Dunklee, Hannah Dreisigacker
Jr. Women - Grace Boutot

Tuesday begins with the Individual competition followed by the Relay, Sprint, and Pursuit. Check back here for more updates and full results at www.biathlonworld.com

Class C takes "aim"

2010-02-18T22:20:00.005-05:00

Nordic and Alpine teams from the Maine Class C schools ventured up to Ft. Kent this past week to compete for the title of State Champion. During the training day between Nordic events, about 80 athletes, coaches and parents spent a couple hours of their day sharpening their skills on the biathlon range.

Welcome to Ft. Kent!

Grace, Vicky, and Russell sharing their expertise

Former Youth World Championship Team member Nick Michaud

Russell working with the eventual winner of the classic race, Zoe Chase

Lake Placid NorAm

2010-02-16T21:31:00.002-05:00

Great conditions this past weekend in Lake Placid. A good size crew was on hand and the MWSC Team was back in action after a short break and return home from IBU Cups in Germany and the Czech Republic as well as the Youth & Jr. World Champs in Sweden. Picture: BethAnn and Tracy Colliander during the Pursuit

Andrea putting the hammer down

In the sprint race Walt Shepard placed 2nd with 3 misses and posted a strong ski time just missing out on the top spot by 8 seconds to Zach Hall. Russell and Bill placed 6th and 7th repsectively. BethAnn and Grace finished 4th and 5th in the Women's race with 3 and 2 misses each. Andrea won the Youth Women's race with 7 hits on the day.

Walt leaving the range

In the Pursuit, Grace and BethAnn traded places placing 6th and 7th. Andrea again won the Youth Women's race, but this time it went down to the final stage where strong nerves helped her hit 4 of 5 to seal the win. In the Men's race, Bill had his best shooting performance hitting 17 of 20 placing 2nd followed by Walt with 7 misses on the day. Russell was just 22 seconds back in 6th place with 8 penalties.

Grace on course

Bill moving up during the Pursuit

Overall a great weekend to be in LP for a little bit of racing and Olympic festivities. Up next is some local x-c racing and U-26 Champs in Estonia.

Vancouver Island

2010-02-11T08:25:00.006-05:00

Prior to moving into the athlete village in Whistler, the US Biathlon Team trained on Vancouver Island at Mt. Wasshington. Five other teams from Germany, Sweden, China, France, and Canada were also present going through their pre-Olympic camp. Vancouver Island didn't hold much snow, but high up on Mt. Washington the snow fell daily and usualy in pretty good amounts; piston bullies were used to clear out parking lots and roads so residents could go about their daily work. The ski tracks were very similar to those of the Olympic course and the weather also making this an ideal place for a pre-Olympic camp.

Loading on to the ferry

One of two ways to get to Vancouver Island

Wynn starting his Olympic experience

Sunrise over Vancouver

Looking towards Whistler

Tim and Lowell Training

Teams from Sweden and France

The range. The targets are on mechanical stands that allow them to move up and down because of the extreme amounts of snowfall each season!

Biathlon Finds a Home in Northern Maine article in the N.Y. Times

2010-02-08T17:15:00.000-05:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/07/sports/olympics/07maine.html?scp=1&sq=Biathlon%20finds%20a%20home&st=cse

Youth/Jr. World Champs - Individual

2010-01-29T14:23:00.003-05:00

Breaking through for the first time in what seems like weeks, the sun graced the athletes in Torsby, Sweden for the second day of opening competition.

With strong anticipation of her first international start, Andrea Mayo led the U.S. Women with a 57th place. Hitting 14 of 20, Mayo paced the young group of ladies, all of whom are racing internationally for the first time. “I had so much fun out there today”, stated Mayo afterwards. “This was the eye opener that I was looking for. There are so many girls here who can ski really fast and shoot really well.”
Also anticipating her debut at these Championships was Grace Boutot, last year’s silver medal winner in this event, but in the Youth category. Starting out in her normal fashion, Boutot hit all 10 of her first 10 shots. In her second prone shooting, she hit her first target and uncharacteristically missed her last 4 shots. In her final stage she missed just 1 shot to finish 34th with 5 penalties on the day. “I don’t really know what happened in that stage”, stated Boutot. “They seemed like good shots. I have to put it past me now though and just focus on the next race.” Picture: Grace and teammate Addie Byrne

Both Men and Women compete tomorrow in the Sprint competition. The top 60 finishers will then qualify for the Pursuit event on Sunday.

Youth and Junior World Championships Ready to Roll

2010-01-26T06:32:00.004-05:00

Torsby, Sweden - The Youth and Jr. World Championships are set to get started January 27th with both of the Men's Individual competitions, the Women will compete in their first race the following day. 33 nations registered for this year's Y/JWCH's making it one of the largest to date. Over 500 athletes and staff, not including families will inhabit the small Swedish town over the next week.Leading the way for the MWSC is Grace Boutot. The now veteran leads a Team of young rookies in their first World Championships. Boutot was the winner of a silver medal at last year's YWCH's in the Individual race and also a 9th place in the Sprint.

Andrea Mayo is making her debut at the YWCH's. After some strong performances at the Youth Team Trials, Mayo is coming to these Championships on the up looking for a strong performance especially in the Individual race.

Follow the MWSC athletes here. Full results can be found at www.biathlonworld.com

Live TV Broadcasts of the Junior Sprint and Pursuit Competitions

The weekend Junior Sprint and Pursuit competitions for men and women will be broadcast live by several television stations across Europe, including TV 4, Eurosport, NRK, YLE and ZDF. The host for TV 4 will be Maud Bernhagen; the channel will also have a studio right at Valberget. The production team from New Century Production (NPC) has visited the stadium and courses in order to map out the necessary camera positions.

Schedule
27.01. 10:00 12.5 km Individual Youth Men
27.01. 13:30 15 km Individual Junior Men
28.01. 10:00 10 km Individual Youth Women
28.01. 13:30 12.5 km Individual Junior Women
30.01. 08:50 7.5 km Sprint Youth Men
30.01. 11:05 10 km Sprint Junior Men
30.01. 13:30 7.5 km Sprint Junior Women
30.01. 15:25 6 km Sprint Youth Women
31.01. 10:00 10 km Pursuit Youth Men
31.01. 11:00 12.5 km Pursuit Junior Men
31.01. 13:30 10 km Pursuit Junior Women
31.01. 14:30 7.5 km Pursuit Youth Women
02.02. 08:50 4 x 7.5 km Relay Junior Men
02.02. 11:15 3 x 7.5 km Relay Youth Men
02.02. 13:30 3 x 6 km Relay Junior Women
02.02. 15:35 3 x 6 km Relay Youth Women

2010-01-25T06:40:00.002-05:00

The 2010 Olympic Team has been named, the athletes are preparing for the Games in the best way possible and for those who did not qualify, they have been planning their next phase of racing for the remainder of the season.

A lot has happened since the last post. The final race in Altenberg, Germany was cancelled due to fog. It was crazy, the Men's race got of just in time and it wasn't until their final two shooting stages did the fog roll in. And roll in full force it did as the guys struggled to see the targets. Lowell Bailey commented afterwards, "I'd look above my sights to see how far below the target I was, then I'd exhale up the amount I think I needed, and then just listen to see if it was a hit or miss." For the Women's zeroing, they allowed the coaches to stand next to the athletes on their shooting points and we couldn't see a thing!

After Altenberg, the full Olympic Team met up in Rupholding, Germany, the rest of the U.S. Team headed off to Nove Mesto, Czech Republic with a stop first in the beaufiful city of Prague. Nove Mesto has hosted the Biathlon European Championships and Tour de Ski, and will play host to the 2011 Biathlon Jr. World Championships and the 2013 Sr. World Championships. In the Individual race Grace Boutot hit 19 of 20 placing 29th overall and 2nd American and then 52nd in the Sprint. BethAnn Chamberlain continued to show her ski speed with some of the fastest skiing for the Americans placing 39th and 50th on the weekend. Walt placed 51st in the Individual and 35th in the Sprint with 90% shooting!

Most of the Team is back on U.S. soil now. The plan now is for a mix of cross country and biathlon races. Grace and Andrea are now in Torsby, Sweden preparing for the Y/JWCH which start this week. Check in for updates!

Olympic Trials Day 1

2010-01-08T05:59:00.001-05:00

Altenberg, Germany - It was a perfect day for biathlon, with no wind, clear blue skies and a picturesque mountain venue in Germany for the first day of U.S. Olympic Biathlon Team trials. On the Men's side, MWSC alumnus, Lowell Bailey (Lake Placid) was able to overcome two penalties to beat Zach Hall (Alaska) by 9 seconds. Hall had a perfect day on the range and took second place, 23 seconds ahead of Leif Nordgren (Minnesota), who had one penalty. Walt Shepard (Yarmouth) had two penalties to finish in 5th place.

On the Women's side Sara Studebaker missed one target and posted a blistering pace to win by 23 seconds over MWSC alumnus, Laura Spector, who had a perfect day on the range. MWSC alum Tracy Colliander, with one miss, was 1 minute 20 seconds off Studebaker's pace for third. Colliander's twin sister, and fellow MWSC alum, Lanny Barnes, also with one miss, was 1 minute 41 seconds back and MWSC skier BethAnn Chamberlain was 1 minute 57 seconds back for 6th. Training and competing in Altenberg, Grace Boutot (Ft. Kent) hit 80% finishing 7th in the time trial. Boutot is preparing for the Jr. World Championships in Torsby, Sweden later this month.

The team has tomorrow off to prepare for the IBU Cup, which starts on Saturday with another Sprint competition. The top 60 finishers in both fields in the Sprint will move on to the Pursuit on Sunday. At the end of competition on Sunday the scores will be added up for the racers top two scores. The 2 highest Men's scores and the three highest Women's scores will be nominated to the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) for inclusion on the Olympic Team. The USOC will announce the final Team on Monday.

Final stage of Olympic Biathlon Trials set to begin

2010-01-06T11:09:00.002-05:00

Altenberg, Germany - Most of Europe has been experiencing unseasonably warm temperatures through the month of December, but a new front moved in on Sunday and has brought enough snow to bring winter sports back to life. It was just in time for Olympic Biathlon Team Trials, which start on Thursday, January 7th at 4AM EST.

The Maine Winter Sports Center is well represented at these trials, with six of the twelve athletes having come through our programs. They are looking to join Tim Burke, Jeremy Teela and Jay Hakinnen who have already been named to the Men’s Olympic Team, and Haley Johnson who has already been named to the Women’s Team. Those competing at Trials are vying for two available spots on the Men’s Team and three spots on the Women’s Team.

The Trials will start with a time-trial Sprint race Thursday at 4AM EST. That first race will be contested just between the U.S. Team, and will be scored using percent-back. It is a formula in which the three top times are averaged together to get a base score. All the competitor’s times are then compared to that base. In this system at least one racer will typically wind up with a score of 100 or better. The racing continues on Saturday with another Sprint race, also scheduled to start at 4AM EST. There are estimated to be close to 300 competitors combined in the Men’s and Women’s races, so it the competition should last for a while.

The top 60 Men and Women from the Sprint will qualify for the Pursuit on Sunday. The athletes will keep their two best scores and the top two men and top three women will be nominated to the U.S Team, to be made official by the US Olympic Committee on Monday the 11th.

The IBU is promoting live streaming coverage of the races at: http://services.biathlonresults.com/DataCenter_IBU.aspx
In any event, we will post results at www.mainewsc.org as soon as they become available.

50,000 fans and 116,000 Euro grand prize on the line!

2009-12-27T20:39:00.006-05:00

US Biathletes Jay Hakkinnen (Kasilof, AK) and Lanny Barnes (Durango, CO) will team up for a second year in a row in the ODLO Biathlon World Team Championship in Germany. The event will take place within and outside the Veltins Arena, the stadium for the German soccer club FC Schalke 04. In previous years as many as 50,000 fans have come out to watch the biathlon stars compete.

The athletes compete in a shooting competition where the adrenaline is pumping and the heart rates are racing even before the actual race begins. Next, the two person, mixed relay leads off with the women starting first in a mass start. The order of finish determines the start order for the second race, the pursuit! 24,000 Euros will be awarded to the winning team along with a brand new car; in total 116,000 Euros are up for grabs!

The participants of the ODLO Biathlon WTC 09
1 Oksana Khvostenko 1 / UKR Andriy Deryzemlya
2 Michael Greis / Simone Hauswald GER
3 Kati Wilhelm / Christoph Sumann GER / AUT
4 Olga Zaitseva / Maxim Tchoudov RUS
5 Marie Laure Brunet / Vincent Defrasne FRA
6 Magdalena Gwizdon / Tomasz Sikora POL
7 Eva Tovalfi / Daniel Graf RUM / GER
8 Dara Domracheva / Dominik Landertinger BLR / AUT
9 Lanny Barnes / Jay Hakkinnen U.S.
10 Solveig Rogstad 10 / Henrik L'Abee-Lund NOR

More information and live webcam at www.biathlon-aufschalke.de
Photos: Karsten Rabas

Chamberlain and Shepard depart for Rupholding, Germany

2009-12-27T20:29:00.004-05:00

MWSC biathletes BethAnn Chamberlain and Walt Shepard, along with MWSC alum, Laura Spector, headed to Germany today for the last stage of Olympic Trials. They will be joined by Zach Hall, Susan Dunklee and Sarah Studebaker for a training camp at Rhupolding, Germany. The contingent will then travel to Altenburg, Germany to meet up with the rest of the US Team, competing for the ffinal two spots on the Men's Team and final three spots on the Women's teams.

The competitions start Thursday January 7th with a 10K Sprint time trial between just the US Team. That will be followed by another Sprint competition on Saturday, this one as a part of the Altenburg IBU Cup Race. The last race will be a Pursuit race on Sunday, also as a part of the IBU Cup.

Each race will be scored with a percent-back score and the two highest scores from the three race series will count for each athlete. The top two Men and top-three Women will be named to the 2010 US Olympic Team on Sunday January 10th, after the final race.

The athletes who make the Olympic Team will join the World Cup Team for races in Rhupolding, Germany and Antholtz, Italy. The rest of the athletes will travel to Novo Mesto, in the Czech Republic for an IBU Cup series.

The following athletes will be competing for the final spots on the Olympic Team:

MEN
Walt Shepard (MWSC), Lowell Bailey (MWSC Alum), Wynn Roberts, Zach Hall, Lief Nordgren, Kevin Patzholt

WOMEN
BethAnn Chamberlain (MWSC), Tracy Colliander (MWSC Alum), Lanny Barnes (MWSC Alum), Laura Spector (MWSC Alum), Susan Dunklee, Sarah Studebaker

Shepard, Colliander and Chamberlain Named to Olympic Trials Team; Boutot and Mayo named to World Junior/Youth Team

2009-12-23T10:32:00.005-05:00

MWSC athletes Walt Shepard and BethAnn Chamberlain, along with MWSC alumnus Tracy Colliander were named to the team that will compete for the final spots on the US Olympic Team next month in Germany. Colliander won the overall points title for the Olympic Team Selection series and Chamberlain needed her win today to vault from 7th place to claim the final spot on the four woman team. Shepard qualified second and had the highest shooting percentage for the five race series. Pictures: Shepard (above) at the finish and BethAnn (below)

Wanting it!

Grace Boutot from Fort Kent was named to the World Junior Team. Teammate Andrea Mayo from Soldiers Pond, was named to the World Youth Team following todays Sprint competition at Mt. Itasca, Minnesota. Grace qualified first in the Women's Junior category after the three race series and Mayo qualified second in the Women's Youth division.

Grace fighting for every second

Andrea heading out in search of a "W"!

Photos by Ron Kutsi and Roy Kjorlien

BethAnn Chamberlain Takes Sprint on Final Day; Mayo and Boutot Win Youth and Jr. Titles to sweep women's races for MWSC

2009-12-22T14:48:00.001-05:00

With a trip to the winner-take-all Olympic Trials Finals in Altenburg, Germany on the line BethAnn Chamberlain proved that she has what it takes with her win today, and vaulted into fourth place in the overall standing. Her score of 293.51 for the top three races is just shy of the qualifying standard of 294 points, so her fate is in the hands of the US Biathlon’s International Competition Committee. In her favor is the fact that she has been skiing very well all week, and her clean shooting today shows what she is capable of when she puts it all together.

Chamberlain, who has struggled on the range this series, but skied well, shot clean to lead from start to finish. In second place was MWSC alum, Laura Spector, 5.6 seconds off the pace. Overall points leader, Tracy Colliander, had an uncharacteristic tough day in the range, missing 4 shots to finish 5th place, 1 minute 38.7 seconds back.

In the Men’s field, Wynn Roberts took the sprint race with 2 misses, beating fellow Minnesotan, Lief Nordgren, who had only 1 miss, by 3.3 seconds. MWSC’s Walt Shepard, like Colliander, had his toughest day in the range, missing 5 to finish in 9th, 1 minute 52.4 seconds back. Russell Currier continued his blistering pace on the trails, but missed 4 shots to finish in 6th place, 48.6 seconds back.

With the final Results are in it is anticipated that the US Team heading over to the final round of the Olympic Trials in Germany will be the MWSC’s Walt Shepard, Wynn Roberts and Lief Nordgren from Minnesota and Zach Hall from Alaska.

On the Women’s side it will be MWSC alumni, Tracy Colliander, from Fort Kent and Durango, Colorado and Laura Spector from Lenox, Massachussetts. The third spot will be Susan Dunklee from Vermont. A final decision on the fourth Women’s spot will be made later today.

Making it a clean sweep for MWSC Women, Andrea Mayo won the Youth Sprint today and Grace Boutot, last years silver medalist at World Youth Championships, won the Junior Sprint. Mayo has been skiing fast all week, but has had a tough time on the range. She found her shooting touch today, hitting 8 of 10.

An announcement on the Youth and Junior teams for World Junior Championships will be made later today, but both Mayo and Boutot are expected to be named to the team.

2009-12-20T22:10:00.003-05:00

Coleraine, Minnesota Walt Shepard and Tracy Colliander used strong shooting to take the Pursuit competition in day #4 of the Olympic Team Trials Section series. With the pressure heating up for the four slots going on to the final round of Olympic trials, both Shepard and Colliander showed the poise in the shooting range that has won them numerous National Championships. Photo: Tracy Colliander

Shepard beat Leif Nordgren by 5 seconds, hitting 19 of 20 shots and continues to lead the competition in shooting percentage, hitting 88% of his shots over the first four days of competition. Russell Currier was showed improvement posting a 6th place finish. Bill Bowler hit 15 of 20 to finish 9th.

In the Women's race, MWSC alum, Tracy Colliander also hit 19 of 20 shots to run away with the race, winning by 1 minute 21.6 seconds. Caribou's BethAnn Chamberlain hit 14of 20 targets and posted one of the top ski splits to place 6th. Both Shepard and Colliander lead the overall standings after 4 races (with each competitor throwing out their worst result). Below: BethAnn

In the Jr. Women's Race Grace Boutot hit 15 of 20 on her way to the win. Addie Byrne placed 2nd with 4 misses; Hilary McNamee placed 4th with 5 penalties. Andrea Mayo placed 3rd in the Youth Women's Race with 11 of 20 shooting.

In the Youth Men's Race Eliot Neal struggled in the range hitting just 50% of his targets to place 9th. Sam Humphries followed Neal placing 10th with 8 penalties. Below: Hilary and Grace

History is made as Tim Burke takes yellow bib!

2009-12-20T16:02:00.003-05:00

Today Tim Burke took over the yellow bib as World Cup leader in Biathlon. For the first time ever an US athlete is the best biathlete of the world.

With an amazing performance in the pursuit of Pokljuka, Slovenia Tim Burke did not only manage to finish on sixth place but he also stayed ahead of his strongest competitor for the yellow bib, French athlete Simon Fourcade.

It was one of the most exciting races so far for the team. Fourcade and Burke were seperated by only one point in the overall world cup so Burke had to stay ahead of the strong Frenchman to take the yellow bib. In the first two shooting stages he cleaned all ten targets with Fourcade already losing time after two misses. The first standing though Burke missed two targets. "I just don't know what happened then. It probably was a head thing but seriously? I don't remember anymore", Burke laughed after the race.

With Fourcade just at his heels Burke came to the last shooting and again missed one target. Nine seconds after the Frenchmen he left the stadium - with all of the team members out on the tracks cheering on him. "I just saw it in his eyes. I just knew that he would get Fourcade", team leader Bernd Eisenbichler was sure. Head coach Per Nilsson's impression was just the same: "He was on fire, that's for sure."

What followed then was - according to Burke - the loudest last loop ever. "I just saw yellow. I completely stopped thinking and with all my team members cheering at the track I just flew over the course!"

As Eisenbichler stated: "I am completely speechless. We tried not to talk with Tim about the possibility to get yellow but of course we all thought about it. It's truly unbelievable. The world's best biathlete right now is an American!"

Roberts and Colliander take Day Three of Olympic Trials, Shepard solid with 3rd Place

2009-12-19T16:46:00.003-05:00

Coleraine, Minnesota – Wynn Roberts and MWSC Alum, Tracy Colliander, won the Men's and Women's Sprint Race on Day #3 of Olympic Trials Selection races at Mt. Itasca, Minnesota. MWSC's Walt Shepard put in another solid performance with a 3rd place finish today, 39.3 seconds off the lead and 14 seconds out of second. Bill Bowler and Russell Currier finished in 9th and 10th place respectively. After three days of competition Zach Hall (299.76 points), Wynn Roberts (298.11), Walt Shepard (297.44) and Mark Johnson (294.44) occupy the four spots to move onto the next round of Olympic Trials in Germany. With two races to go there is still time for others to make their move. Picture: Walt Shepard turning in another strong performance

Today's winner, Wynn Roberts

In the Women's Race, Tracy Colliander, wife of MWSC biathlon coach Gary, continued her impressive performance at trials with a solid win, 27.9 seconds ahead of Susan Dunklee. BethAnn Chamberlain skied very well today, but ran into some difficulty in her prone shooting stage, missing three targets. The top four women after three races are: Tracy Colliander (299.32), Susan Dunklee (298.38), Laura Spector (295.91) and Annelies Cook (291.59). Colliander, Spector and Cook are all MWSC Alumni.

In the Jr. Women’s Race Grace Boutot of Ft. Kent finished 2nd with 90% shooting, 25 seconds behind winner Addie Byrne of Bovey, MN. Hilary McNamee of Ft. Fairfield finished 4th with 6 penalties. Andrea Mayo of Wallagrass skied a strong race finishing 2nd in the Youth Women’s Race with 5 penalties just 51 seconds behind Kelly Kjorlien of Grand Rapids who hit 8 of 10 targets.

MWSC’s Eliot Neal of Wilson, WY skied a strong race hitting 5 of 10 and finishing 7th behind winner Conrad Roberts of Battle Lake, MN who hit 8 of 10 targets. Sam Humphries of Yarmouth finished 12th with 60% shooting; Humphries missed his start by nearly a minute and a half.

MWSC holds the top spot in shooting percentage for the trials with Walt Shepard and Grace Boutot both hitting 85% over the first three races.

Tomorrow's Pursuit race will start at noon eastern time and will have four shooting stages, placing more emphasis on shooting accuracy.

Full results can be found at www.minnesotabiathlon.com

Nothing less than "full gas" for Mr. Currier

Fastest ski split today. Leif was on a mission.

Bill's been strong, working on the process, fighting back spasms, but still giving 100%

MWSC Biathletes prepare for second weekend of Olympic Trials. This weekend is also the Junior World Championship Team Trials

2009-12-16T23:47:00.003-05:00

The US Olympic Trials Selection Races are back on tap this weekend from Coleraine, Minnesota. Race #3 is scheduled for Saturday, race #4 on Sunday and the final race of the series on Tuesday. The races to date have been defined by brutally cold temperatures, with the mercury struggling to reach zero degrees. The cold temperatures made a very difficult course even tougher and also made shooting consistency difficult for some. Temperatures for this coming weekends races are expected to climb to the upper teens, which should make for much better racing conditions for all.

Scoring for biathlon competition is based on taking the average time of the top three competitors and using that as the base score. Each competitor’s time is then scored as a percent of that time. This is a very effective way of rewarding the quality of each performance relative to the field.

The competitors will keep their three best results from the five races and after Tuesday’s race the top four competitors from this series move on to the next, and final, Olympic Trials races to be held In Germany in January.

The field for the last series of the Olympic Trials will be made up of the four Men and four Women from the Minnesota races, as well as the three Men and three Women currently on the World Cup circuit, who have not already qualified for the Olympic Team. Those seven Men and seven Women will race in a Sprint race on January 9th in Altenburg, Germany, and the Pursuit race on January 10th. The top three Men and top four Women from the weekend will be added to the Olympic Team and join Tim Burke and Jay Hakkinen, who have already qualified based on performances last season.

Maine Winter Sports Center’s Walt Shepard is currently in second place with 198.56 points after the first two races, trailing Zack Hall of Anchorage, Alaska, who has 200 points. MWSC’s Bill Bowler and Russell Currier have struggled with shooting in the extreme cold, but with each racer able to throw out two results, there is still time for everyone in the field to post the results necessary to put themselves in the top four and earn the trip to Europe.

On the Women’s side, BethAnn Chamberlain, Grace Boutot and Hilary McNamee, have each struggled with the cold, but each has the time and experience to turn their fortunes around in the final three races.

Also being decided this coming weekend will be the World Junior Championship Team, to be held in Torsby, Sweden in January. Grace Boutot won a Silver medal at the Championships, held last year in Canmore, Alberta, Canada. Hilary McNamee, who has competed in four Junior World Championships, will also be trying to nail down a spot on the team this weekend. Vying for their first spot on the World junior Team are Andrea Mayo, Eliot Neal, and Sam Humphries.

Shepard 2nd, Chamberlain 5th in Mass Start

2009-12-13T20:07:00.003-05:00

Coloraine, MN - Walt Shepard finished second in the 15K Mass Start race on day #2 of the US Olympic Trials Selection Races today. Shepard was 2 seconds behind winner, Zack Hall. Shooting clean through the first two stages, Shepard skied out in front with a comfortable lead. Two misses in his first standing allowed the rest of the field to close the gap and in the final stage with Hall on point #1, Shepard shot quicker as both athletes left one target standing. Skiing together on the final lap the two shadowed each other all the way to the finish. Bill Bowler finished 10th with 13 of 20 shooting.Above picture: Start of Women's race

BethAnn Chamberlain was 5th in the Women's 12.5K race. Ensuring not to have a repeat of yesterday, Chamberlain fought hard today to hit her targets and it worked as she hit 16 of 20 and stayed with the main pack throughout the race.

Eliot Neal improved on yesterday's performance hitting 12 of 20 targets moving up one slot to get his first win of the season. Grace Boutot had another strong day on the range hitting 17 of 20 to finish 2nd in the Jr. Women's race. Hilary McNamee finished 3rd amongst the Jr. Women and Andrea Mayo finished 2nd in the Youth Women's field hitting 13 of 20.

With each competitor able to throw two races out and three more races to go, everyone is still every much in the mix. Below: Walt Shepard

Full results at www.minnesotabiathlon.com. Thanks to Tim Hipps of the U.S. Army for the pictures!

Shepard 5th in Trials Opener

2009-12-13T01:00:00.003-05:00

Coleraine, MN - Walt Shepard of Yarmouth hit 8 of 10 targets to finish 5th in today's 10km competition. Finishing in a time of 27:12, Shepard was 53 seconds back of winner Mark Johnson of Grand Rapids who hit 9 of 10. Russell Currier of Stockholm turned in one of the strongest ski times on the day, but struggled in the range finishing 9th. Bill Bowler of Wassau,WI finished 11 with 5 of 10 shooting. Picture: Walt skiing to 5th place!

Grace Boutot of Ft. Kent led the MWSC women finishing 9th with 80% shooting on the day. Teammates BethAnn Chamberlain of Caribou finished just 14 seconds back with 7 penalties. Hilary McNamee in her first race of the season finished 11 with 5 of 10 shooting.

MWSC Biathlon Coach Gary Colliander commented afterwards, "This was a typical first day for an Olympic Trials, there were quite a few misses in the range, a few surprises in the results, and some obvious nerves out there. Tomorrow is a new day and I believe this group will get stronger over the next nine days."

Eliot Neal of Wilson, WY skied a strong race today to finish 2nd in the Youth Men's race. Hitting 4 of his 5 prone targets, Neal led the race up to his standing stage. Three misses were probably one too many as Neal pushed hard the final loop to overcome the deficit finishing 35 seconds shy of 1st place. Conrad Roberts of Battle Lake, MN was the eventual winner on the day with a time of 22:37 and 8 of 10 shooting.

Andrea Mayo of Wallagrass had a breakthrough race hitting 70% and skiing her strongest race of the season. Struggling this season thus far to get above the 50% shooting mark, Mayo really focused in faltering just once in prone and twice in standing. "Andrea looked to be in the zone today. She showed good patience with most of her shots and on the course she looked really aggressive out there," commented Colliander.

Sunday will be the Mass Start competition and then the athletes will have a five day break before starting back up again next Saturday.

Russ was definitely flying today!

First start of the season for Hil Dawg!

Grace - Improving with each opportunity.

All the Cows are in the Barn…the work is done; now it’s time to race!

2009-12-10T23:32:00.003-05:00

The Olympic Trials Selection Process is about to begin. Two men, Jay Hakinen and Tim Burke have already pre-qualified, but for the other athletes their journey is about to begin. For the athletes in North America, their trials process begins with five races over nine days. These races will take place in Coleraine, MN, just 15 minutes outside of Grand Rapids, where the athletes are currently preparing. The best 3 of 5 races will be scored and used to select up to 4 men and 4 women to head to Europe and compete in 3 competitions in Germany January 7-10. They will be joined by the athletes currently competing on the World Cup and not qualified already for the Olympics. These competitions in Germany will be the last opportunity to show their metal and make their bid for an Olympic berth.

Current conditions in Coleraine

The current weather in Coleraine is cold. Temperatures are well below zero and the wind chills are even lower. Yet, the athletes continue to head out each day to get their workouts in, to fine tune and stay in sync with their routines.

The venue

Snow finally hit east of the Rockies, although not much in most places.
Grand Rapids unfortunately was missed by the storm so the amount of natural snow is only a few inches. Luckily a strong core of volunteers from the community under the leadership of the Mt. Itasca Nordic Ski Association has laid out a 2.5km loop of manmade snow. Working around the clock blowing snow, pushing it out on to the loop, and grooming, the course is just about set for this weekend.

Ready to go

Walt Shepard of Yarmouth had two strong finishes for the Maine Winter Sports Center in the opening weekend of racing placing 4th and 8th. Last weekend, Russell Currier of Stockholm cleaned (hit 10 for 10) his first race ever and won in the 2nd NorAm weekend. BethAnn Chamberlain of Caribou has also performed well in both weekends and looks poised to make a push on her “home course”. Chamberlain grew up and attended high school in Grand Rapids before moving out to Maine. Also competing for the MWSC:

Bill Bowler – Wasau, WI
Eliot Neal – Wilson, WY
Grace Boutot – Ft. Kent
Andrea Mayo – Wallagrass
Hilary McNamee – Ft. Fairfield

Grand Rapids, MN

2009-12-09T14:42:00.004-05:00

Calgary to Minnesota - After a fourty-five minute delay for de-icing we were finally off, leaving the cold (-31 Celsius) temperatures of Canmore behind and on our way first to Phoenix and then finally to Minneapolis. It was odd landing in Phoenix, seeing brown and green landscapes and feeling 60+ degrees after skiing for two and a half weeks. As we waited at our gate the three gates to our right read Oahu, Kona, and Maui, Hawaii, long story short we're here in Minnesota now.

Lot's of snow being made here!

The cold temperatures followed us to Grand Rapids. Highs in the single digits and windchills reaching far below zero (-19F). Training is tough in these conditions, but the athletes are doing well to get the work in. For the organizing committee, the cold temperatures are a blessing as they can now make a ton of snow. They're doing a great job in a very short amount of time. 1km awaited our arrival yesterday and today there was nearly 2km, with 2.5km expected by day's end. The work here is like most Nordic venues where volunteers make things happen. Two piston bullies, one front end loader, a few snow guns, and a lot of volunteer hours!

Francis Pelkey: Goomer for the local snowmobile club. 83 years old and over 50 years of experience!

Early mornings, late nights = long days and great skiing. Thank you Mt. Itasca Nordic Ski Association!

Currier 10 for 10 in win!

2009-12-07T09:44:00.004-05:00

Canmore, Alberta – Russell Currier of Stockholm hit all 10 of his targets to win the Sprint competition in the 2nd NorAm Cup of the season. Coming off a small head cold, Currier looked strong as he flew around the course winning in a time of 28 minutes and 22 seconds, 21 seconds ahead of 2nd place finisher Dan Campbell of Bozeman, MT. Freshly fallen snow overnight set up well overnight making for fast conditions and gusting winds made for tricky conditions in the range. Currier’s 10 for 10 was his first ever “clean” (hitting all targets) shooting race. 3rd place went to Wynn Roberts of Battle Lake, MN who finished with 9 of 10 shooting and a time of 28:52.

Representing the MWSC in the blue and white, Eliot Neal of Wilson, WY shot confidently through strong gusts to finish 7th in the Youth Men’s field. Two shots in each stage failed to find the center, but Neal’s actions didn’t alarm MWSC Coach Gary Colliander. “Eliot looked really smooth in the range. He looks more natural with each practice and with more practice and time he will figure out how to adjust in these conditions.”

Also returning from a small battle with a head cold, Grace Boutot of Ft. Kent put on the race bib for the first time this season. Struggling to find her mark, Boutot like Neal missed two shots in each of her stages to finish 2nd in the Jr. Women’s race, 23 seconds behind Tana Chesham of Canmore who missed only 2 shots on the day. “Today was tough. I didn’t feel that great, but I just need some time to train and get back into my normal routine,” stated Boutot afterwards.

BethAnn Chamberlain of Caribou struggled on the range missing 7 of 10 targets to finish 6th in the Sr. Women’s race. Using the race as an opportunity to prepare for the upcoming Olympic Trials, Chamberlain continued to push hard straight through to the finish. In the Youth Women’s race Andrea Mayo of Wallagrass hit 5 of 10 to finish 10th. “I felt pretty good out there today and as I was starting Grace came out of the penalty loop and I was able to keep her in my sights for the first loop,” stated Mayo.

The Team now travels to Grand Rapids, MN for the start of the Olympic Trials. Races begin December 12-13 and continue on December 19, 20, and 22. The final three races will also be used as the Youth/Jr. World Championship Team Trials.

Time for a few laughs before the race

Grace in her first race of the season

Andrea heading out on course

2nd Podium for Burke!

2009-12-05T22:13:00.003-05:00

Ostersund, Sweden - He might only have slept one hour after his 2nd place on Wednesday but Tim Burke proved once again in today's sprint competition that he can focus on his game the second it counts. As one of the first starters he set the time to beat after two clean shooting stages. Only the strong Norwegian men could beat him. Record-Winner Ole Einar Bjoerndalen hit all targets and showed an extraterrestrial skiing performance, finishing ahead of the winner of the individual, team mate Emil Hegle Svendsen. Burke was back 37.2 seconds in the end.

High Performance Director Bernd Eisenbichler was even more satisfied with today's result than with the one on Thursday. "We knew within the team that Tim was able to repeat his result. But now everyone knows that the second place wasn't just a coincidence! I am really proud of him because he managed to handle all the stress with the press conferences and inquiries that followed after the individual and still came back as strong as before. He stayed focused and he made us enormously proud! Actually the thanks goes out to the whole team of technicians and physio and everyone who is involved. They made those results possible!"

For the rest of the team Tim's results continue to be a big motivation. Jay Hakkinen who finished 43rd with two penalties, was inspired by his teammate's result: "Tim lifts us up somehow. When I see that result I know that everything is possible. I might not be completely satisfied with my own result right now because I guess I need some more racing to really get into the game, but seeing Tim scoring those results makes it easier. It's a good thing for the whole team and for me it's the motivation to work even harder on the small missing details."

Women learned from experiences in Sweden

After there first two competitions of the season the US women also have plenty of reasons to be proud of themselves. With the fifth fastest shooting time and place 64 Lanny Barnes proved today that she found a new confidence on the shooting range. “Of course I am sad that I missed that one target but I felt quite good on the range anyhow. The only thing I still have to improve is my skiing. But for me it always takes some time to get faster. The more competitions I raced the better I get!” A statement that should give new motivation for the races still to come. An even bigger motivation though seem to be Burke’s results. “I think the whole team get’s inspired by his results. His success helps us to be more successful as well!”
For Sara Studebaker and Haley Johnson it seems to be the other way round. Both of them showed some good results on the track with skiing times among the best 60 of the world. “After the race on Wednesday I was a bit calmer today”, stated Studebaker after her 59th place in today’s sprint competition. “I was mad at myself for not hitting all targets. I had good conditions on the range but still didn’t manage to use my chance. But anyway, it was a great experience and I think it will give me more confidence for the next stages.” Johnson is still struggling with her shooting but in the meantime also looking forward for the next chances to prove her current form. “I still have to get in the competition mode. It always takes me some time but I am feeling more confident with every race I skied.”

Source: U.S. Biathlon Association

Tim Burke 2nd in World Cup Opener

2009-12-03T18:02:00.003-05:00

Ostersund, Sweden - 4.000 spectators followed an exciting individual race in Östersund today. The Norwegian winner Emil Hegle Svendsen set the time to beat right from the beginning, as he was the first one to finish the race. 57 numbers later Tim Burke (Paul Smiths, NY) started what was meant to be his best race ever.

For three shooting stages Burke stayed clean on the shooting range and although the pressure was too high to repeat that result in his last shooting he managed to finish his race with just one penalty overall, making the race not only his personal best but also the best US result since 1992!

2nd Place for Tim Burke in the World Cup!
Viktoria Franke December 03, 2009
4.000 spectators followed an exciting individual race in Östersund today. The Norwegian winner Emil Hegle Svendsen set the time to beat right from the beginning, as he was the first one to finish the race. 57 numbers later Tim Burke (Paul Smiths, NY) started what was meant to be his best race ever.

For three shooting stages Burke stayed clean on the shooting range and although the pressure was too high to repeat that result in his last shooting he managed to finish his race with just one penalty overall, making the race not only his personal best but also the best US result since 1992!

"We did know that Tim was getting better and better. But that he showed a result like that in the World Cup opener, that's just unbelievable", stated team manager Bernd Eisenbichler after the race. One could hear the excitement in the US team all over the stadium as there was shouting, jumping and cheering. Even Kevin Patzoldt, who raced his first World Cup ever couldn't quite manage to stay focused on his race. "When I was on the track, I heard that Tim was up front. I got so excited for him that I really wonder how I managed to hit all the targets!" So even Patzoldt has a reason to cheer: With no missed targets he was just one of two athletes today who managed to stay clean.

Sources: U.S. Biathlon Association and International Biathlon Union

Shepard 8th, Currier 9th in Pursuit

2009-11-30T14:12:00.001-05:00

Walt Shepard of Yarmouth skied another strong race in today’s Pursuit competition. Hitting 13 of his 20 shots Shepard dropped back to 7th place overall. Entering the range in 3rd place Shepard had two shots miss their mark in his first shooting. Dropping back a few places Shepard would stay just out of reach from the lead pack with 5 more misses in his final stages. “My skiing wasn’t quite there today”, Shepard stated after the race. “I didn’t quite have the feeling today like I did yesterday. Nevertheless it has been a decent start to the season.” Shepard’s teammate Russell Currier of Stockholm also struggled with his shooting today hitting just 10 for 20 to place 9th. “Russell skied very well today, he looked like his usual self on the course today, just flying out there”, commented MWSC Biathlon Coach Gary Colliander.

Eliot Neal of Wilson, WY joined the Team last night after a few weeks of training in West Yellowston, MT. In his first NorAm Cup of the season, Neal skied solidly and shot on par with the field. Missing just one in each of his prone stages Neal moved up into the top 5. With 2 penalties in each of his two standing bouts, Neal slipped back to finish 9th overall.

The Biathlon Team will spend one more week training in Canmore and will race next Saturday in the 2nd NorAm of the season.

Shepard 4th in Season Opener

2009-11-29T00:05:00.007-05:00

The season kicked off with a bit of a bite this morning. After nearly two weeks of unusually warm conditions the athletes were greeted with high winds and some of the coldest temperatures they’ve seen this season thus far. With just over a 3km loop of manmade snow in place the course was hard packed and very fast.

Walt Shepard of Yarmouth placed 4th in today’s 10km competition. Hitting 8 of his 10 shots, Shepard was locked in a tight battle as places 3 through 8 all shot the same. Shepard’s final loop was a strong one as he placed 4 seconds in front of Canada’s Tyson Smith and was only 11 seconds from the podium. Russell Currier of Caribou placed 9th with 3 penalties. Bill Bowler of Wasau, WI kick started the season by wearing bib number 1. Bowler had just one penalty in prone but faltered in standing missing of 5 to place 14th.

BethAnn Chamberlain of Caribou had one of just a handful of clean stages in the Women’s race, however 4 penalties in windy conditions during standing left her working a little harder the final loop. Chamberlain finished 8th overall. In the Youth Women’s race Andrea Mayo of Wallagrass finished 9th with 5 penalties.

Life in Canmore

2009-11-26T19:10:00.018-05:00

Morning fuel up site before hitting the wax room

One of the perks of an early morning.

New boards, old board...lots of waxing

Each day athletes are out skiing in and testing new skis and grinds. Figure out your equipment so you're better prepared come race day.

Time for a little skiing and shooting...

Monitoring the athletes, making sure they're going easy when they need to and going hard when they need to.

Short winter days mean skiing in the dark sometimes

Even the shooting sessions have to be done in less light. There are a bunch of clubs here training so training times are divided up throughout the day. It's great to see some many young biathletes at the venue every day!

Canmore

2009-11-22T23:33:00.009-05:00

Just arrived in Canmore, Alberta a few days ago. Site of the 1988 Olympic Biathlon and Cross Country events the venue has seen some remarkable upgrades for recent cross country World Cup races and last season's Youth and Jr. World Championships.

We're enjoying the 2.5km loop of natural and artificial snow. It's fast and the loop they've laid out is pretty sweet. You have your choice of easy terrain or some big climbs. There are numerous Canadian National Team athletes for both cross country and biathlon training here in addition to many of the local clubs so the trails have been busy. Sometimes the downhills seem to be filled with a bunch of moving obstacles as we have to manuever our way through traffic. We've been skiing twice a day, lots of balance and coordination drills, lots of thinking about technique, just trying to find that comfortable feeling on skis. In addition, everyone has new skis to test and ski in so lots of time in the wax room as well!

This is our home for the next two weeks. We'll be training and racing while here with the first NorAm's starting next weekend. More soon...

Heading to training

Russell in the middle of our last "snowstorm"

Where can Skiing take you…Contributed by: Kathy Mayo

2009-11-06T15:59:00.003-05:00

You may think it would be difficult for skiing to take you anywhere…especially when you don’t ski. However, you would be very wrong. Picture: the author working the range

In The Beginning…My daughter got involved with MWSC and skiing between her freshman and sophmore years in high school. We lived an hour away from both Nordic Heritage Center and the 10th Mountain Ski Center. We decided to go to Nordic Heritage Center and Coach Will Sweetser. It didn’t take long before Will placed a biathlon rifle in my daughter’s hands. I remember the first time she shot, laying there on the mat. She turned around to me and said, “Wow, mom. I really like this!” Her love for biathlon began. It wasn’t long after her first biathlon practice that Andrea started focusing on biathlon and it became clear to me that I needed something to do during practice. I am not much of a shopper so I decided that getting involved in Biathlon would be a much more appealing option. So it began. That was 3 years ago. After spending the first year in Presque Isle and volunteering at the 2006 Biathlon Junior World Championships, we made the decision to relocate to the 10th Mountain Center in Fort Kent and biathlon coach Gary Colliander. That is when my Volunteer career took over. I was as hooked on biathlon as my daughter was.

Finding My Niche…Gary took me under his wing and taught me biathlon. I spent most of my time on the “range”. Learning the mechanics of shooting, scoping shots, wind factoring, taking a rifle apart, cleaning it and putting it back together again. I was also directed in the fine art of video-taping. I will be the first to admit I gave Gary and probably the athlete’s motion sickness on more than one occasion! After the first year I began to “travel” with the team during camps, Nor Ams and trials. I had the best of all worlds. Not only was I able to be with my daughter, I was helping Gary and getting to know the kids. Sharing their ups and downs, triumphs and setbacks. It didn’t take long before the kids started calling me the team mom. I had earned their trust and confidence and that was very rewarding.

Working 9 to 5…It wasn’t long after we started making the trek to Fort Kent and the 10th Mountain Ski Center that I was introduced to Nancy Thibodeau, who in turn introduced me to Jeff Dubis. They introduced me to the other side of biathlon. Nancy and I became very good friends immediately, it was if we had known each other a lifetime. She got me involved in the management side of the sport, working side by side. In my first year at the Mountain I was the Event Manager for the North American biathlon championships and then the Event Director for 10th Mountain’s first summer biathlon championships. I have also been on the range and most recently been asked to be the Chief of Timing. About a year and a half ago I was invited to join the Steering Committee of the 10th Mountain Ski Center and got involved with the operations of 10th Mountain events. Last year we received the disappointing news that the World Cup event scheduled for Fort Kent in 2009 would have to wait for another 2 years. We will be ready for 2011.

The Next Step On The Journey…I returned from a camp in Utah this past week where I worked on the range, did some timing and spent quality time with the athletes. During that time I also received a phone call, a phone call from Vancouver. The next step on my journey will be on the range as a volunteer for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Whistler Canada.

Where can skiing take you?

A Perfect Fit - Full-Time Athlete, Full-Time Therapist

2009-10-31T14:09:00.006-04:00

As an athlete it seems only logical that I often hanging out with athletes. As a massage therapist, it really awesome to be able to hang around a bunch of athletes. Bonus for me, I am both an athlete and a massage therapist.

Athletes are a different bread for a number of reasons. We like to spend their time in pain and suffering, which is a direct result from our own doing. A little crazy, yes, but there are many other great attributes in athletes. One characteristic that I appreciate is our sensitivity to how our body is feeling and how it responds to different stimulus. This are very important area for athletes, especially in sports like biathlon and cross country skiing. We all know there isn't one magic training plan that we all can follow and know we are performing our best. There isn't one cure all for an over use injury or random back spasm. Every person, no matter the level or skill, has to learn to listen to their body to learn and understand how they respond to different stimuli. As an athlete, we have so much riding on our bodies ability to perform, we can't afford not to pay attention to how we feel. This causes us to become much more sensitive to the small changes our body experiences throughout a training session, day of travel or over an entire season.

As a massage therapist, who is always eager to learn new tricks to make a sore body feel better, a sensitive athlete is the perfect genie pig! While they may not realize it, when my teammates are hurting because of a stiff neck or inflamed ankle and ask for my help, they are providing me with a great learning opportunity! Given I have the time and energy, which I regret to admit I don't always have, helping out my teammates doing massage or kinesio taping allows me to try new applications and get really great feedback. (If you don't know about this check out this website or ask me about it. It truly is amazing!, http://www.kinesiotaping.com/) The other bonus that comes out of this situation is I have the ability to help out my teammates in a way that not many have the opportunity to.

I feel pretty lucky to have both my teammates to help me grow as a Massage Therapist and to have the chance to help them out when they need a little extra TLC.
Here's to T.E.A.M., Together Everyone Achieves More

Utah Camp

2009-10-28T14:01:00.003-04:00

…and already, the last week of Utah camp is here! Amazing how fast the time flies! It has been a very productive camp. As I was packing for this trip, the thoughts going through my mind were “oh, its usually pretty hot in Utah, I’ll pack all of my summer clothes and a few long sleeve shirts, just in case.” Ya well, it turns out I could have used a few more long sleeve shirts. Lows in the 30’s and highs in the 60’s is not exactly ideal weather for tank tops and shorts.

Altitude is always an interesting factor to add into training. What is usually your easy, over-distance pace at low altitude has just become your “almost race pace”…pace. So, your level 4, solid race pace, has just turned into…well…who knows what level that is called. It’s a hard level, to say the least. Thus, it is important to make sure you are acclimated before thinking about doing any super hard intervals, and appropriate amounts of rest is crucial. And! Drinking water has even more importance here than it normally does!

There have definitely been some interesting moments at this camp. There was the day when the cows were roaming freely on the roller ski trails, and the question of the day was “ok so I think I saw those cows back there a little ways, so I should be able to go down this downhill without any problems, hopefully?” Such was not the case for Eliot Neal, who came barreling down a steep downhill, and was presented with the sight of 2 cows in the middle of the trail, and was unable to stop. Don’t worry though; he skimmed by without any harm done. And luckily, the cows moved off to the side of the trail before anyone else could have a close call. They did leave us some obstacles of a rather green nature to go around during training though.

Then there was the day that I tripped on a rock while skiing, and got some pretty sweet road rash on my hip and knee. I actually got a rock roughly the size of my thumbnail imbedded in my knee. And guess what? I got up, and picked the rock out. I ripped it out of my knee! It was so sweet. It was something Indiana Jones would have done…I’m assuming, I’ve never actually seen the movies. Those two road rashes have definitely made shooting interesting though. I can’t put my knee down while going to shoot prone, and my elbow goes right into the scrape on my hip for standing.

What else…morning hunting shows, attempted cow tipping trips with Lanny and Tracy Barnes (we failed, miserably), mom getting stopped by the police because she had Maine plates on her car (the officer was from Van Buren), Grace, Maddi and me decorating the driveway at Gary’s house with sidewalk chalk, trips back and forth from Park City to Soldier Hollow with Vlad’s crazy driving. Oh indeed, it has been fun.

So, the races have come and gone for the women, and one race left for the men. I think most of the women were content with their races, but each athlete definitely found some things that need some fine-tuning before the race season starts. My races were not up to par. It should be interesting to watch the final men’s race on Wednesday. There are more than 15 men competing for the last spot on the Men’s Olympic Team, and the field is very intense. It could be anyone as of right now, so it makes for some fun spectating! On Saturday, I finished my first 15 km individual. That was the hardest race I have ever done. Ever. And its funny, before that race, the hardest race I had ever done was the race I did in Soldier Hollow last year at this camp. I am sensing a trend here. No but seriously, it was hard. It was like all my muscles had been turned off. I had no strength in my legs, and my arms felt like they weighed 300 pounds…each. And that all happened in the first loop. Just think, I had 4 more loops after that. I was pleased with shooting, though. Even through all my pain and suffering with skiing, I was able to hit 15 out of 20 targets. That was a very pleasant surprise. I have been having some trouble with shooting lately, but I tried to go into the race feeling confident. Today (Monday) was the Sprint race. It felt so short compared to the previous race! The feeling was pretty similar to Saturday. I felt a little better, but the shooting kinda fell apart for me, as I only hit 5 out of 10. But hey! That’s alright. It’s October. The race season is approaching, but its not quite here yet, is it? There’s time. It all depends on how I use it. Hope all is well with everyone!

Waking up to snow!

Storm Clouds do not joke around in the west.

Blog and picture contributed by Andrea Mayo

2009-09-23T16:58:00.004-04:00

Fall is here! The temperatures are changing, we’ve already had a handful of frosty nights, the trees are changing, and they’re lighting up the cloudy rain filled days. These are the first signs that the weather will get nasty for a while before eventually the temperatures really drop and cover the land with white fluff. This is one of my most favorite times of year. The air is cool and crisp and the smell of the land is so distinct. The farmers are in full swing harvesting their final crops and schools are on Harvest Break allowing the students time to work on the farms. Picture: The 10th Mtn. Stadium

The Biathlon Team is together once again with a few guests. Leif Nordgren and Wynn Roberts from Minnesota are up here this month training. Joining Russell, Walt, Bill, BethAnn, Grace, Meagan, and Andrea this is a great group with very focused mindsets. We’ve been putting in the hours, but also spending a lot of time relaxing and making each other laugh. The crew has actually put together a band, a “Rock Band” as the game is so famously known as. A typical night has turned into dinner, dryfire, and band practice! Picture: Andrea, Wynn Roberts, and Grace

Updates on other athletes: Addie Byrne who was with us for the past six weeks has headed back to Minnesota. Hilary McNamee is now down at Dartmouth preparing for her first year of college, and Eliot Neal is back home training and preparing for our next camp in Utah.

Get out and train and enjoy this beautiful time of year!

Photos:

Teamwork – Andrea pulling Grace, Grace chasing Andrea, Andrea & Grace pulling Wynn, Wynn chasing Andrea & Grace.

Same place, different day, same idea…Teamwork! Russell and Leif Nordgren.

Spent! Tired! Yeah, you should be. Job well done!

All the way to the top. 4-5x 12min uphill. Putting the work in to be stronger this season, next season, the following season...

Follow the Team, Show Your Support

2009-09-15T07:05:00.002-04:00

Become a follower on this blog and show your support! Show the athletes how big the Biathlon Family is and that you are staying current with their travels and training adventures. Share your own adventures and comments by interacting through this site, set up a blog, leave a comment. Only 3 months until race time!

A Summer Away

2009-09-11T17:32:00.001-04:00

Contributed by Raleigh Goessling - This summer I had the opportunity to go train at a world class venue in a town that was enthusiastic and supportive of Biathlon. I skied on a rollerski loop with World Cup athletes. I received great support from local families and community members, and was coached by a National Team coach. I didn’t go to Torsby Sweden, Ruhpolding Germany, or Lillehammer Norway. I spent my summer in Fort Kent, Maine.

I arrived in Fort Kent in early June. I immediately jumped into training. The rifle training was much more intense than I had ever experienced. Each shot taken had a purpose. The workouts where structured and there was always a goal for each session. I was thrilled to receive such specialized coaching. I learned a lot about shooting mechanics and training. It was really cool to be doing the same drills as National Team members and often doing them side by side with these athletes. This solid base of accuracy shooting was one of the most beneficial parts of my summer training.

The author in action on the 10th Mtn. roller loop

The physical training I embarked on in Fort Kent was excellent and the facilities at 10th Mountain raised the level of my training. Fort Kent is an excellent place to be a biathlete. It is surrounded by scenic trails, and boasts a 3.5k rollerski loop. The rollerski loop was one of my favorite things about training in Fort Kent. I will miss being able to do rollerski combos and skiing in a car free environment. This summer I trained harder than I ever have in past. At first it was a little daunting, but after a few weeks I got a lot better at recovering from hard sessions and making the most of recovery workouts. Over the course of the summer I saw the most improvement in my shooting ability, specific ski strength, and ski technique.

The best part about training in Fort Kent was being with motivated, professional, and dedicated athletes and coaches. Having other athletes around to push you through a hard workout and the constant threat of being ‘girled’ (beaten by a member of the opposite sex) was very motivational. I would like to thank Gary Colliander, Kathy Mayo, and Austin Ross for their coaching expertise. I would also like to thank the Mayo and Bernard families for helping me out this summer.

For more on my summer at the MWSC in Fort Kent visit raleighbiathlon.blogspot.com

Stelvio Update #2 - Bormio, ITA

2009-09-08T08:38:00.007-04:00

Well here we are, Lanny, Tracy, David and I are in week two of our two week stay here in Northern Italy. Our first week was spent up on the glacier on Stelvio Pass. We have now made the move to our new home for the week in the town of Bormio. We are about a thirty minute drive from the glacier and about 6,000ft lower in altitude.

Training has been going well. It has been a challenge for me to determine the right amount of training at such a high elevation. I have decided to take the morning off from skiing today to rest a bit after feeling a bit sluggish and tired over the last two days. Monitoring my morning heart rate has been a helpful practice throughout this trip.

The days seem to fly by here. Typically we ski for a couple hours in the morning. It is a little bit of a process to get up to the Nordic trails. First we take a tram up the mountain and then take a pommel lift up part of an alpine hill, ski across part of the alpine hill, take our skis off and walk a short bit across part of the glacier that is not groomed to the Nordic trails. It sounds like a lot but it really doesn’t take too long. After skiing in the morning we come back and have lunch, take a nap and then usually head out to the range and shoot, rollerski or run. We are lucky enough to have two different shooting ranges to practice at. One has about a 7km rollerski loop. I would desrible the loop as…European? Let’s just say there are a few nearly 180 degree turns I am not yet quite comfortable on. I have been avoiding these loops and staying on the more “mellow” ones. They definetly have the most terrain I have ever seen on a rollerski loop. There is just a little eight point range on this loop, which serves us just fine. When we are just shooting or have a shorter lighter workout in the afternoon, we go to the other range, the 30 point, electronic target range. What a treat! We were given keys to the place so we can use it any time we like. There is a 1km paved loop at this range and all kinds of other trails around that we have yet to explore.

Overall, I would say we are in pretty good shape over here. To have the opportunity to be training on snow in Italy for two weeks is something really special. I am very grateful for this.

Now that we are in town I have regular access to the internet and will try to post new updates much more regularly, so check back soon!
Until then…think snow!
-BethAnn

Pictures:

Old bunkers we found during a hike

Tracy

The air is thin, but not for this guy

Tracy enjoying perfect tracks!

Buongirno! Skiing in Stelvio Pass, Italy

2009-09-08T08:34:00.010-04:00

Greetings from Stelvio Pass, Italy! David, Lanny and Tracy Barnes and I are here for two weeks training up on the glacier here! I wish I could put down in words what it is like here but I just don’t think I can begin to give it justice.
We are up at 10,000 feet, so the skiing isn’t particularly fast but it is snow and it feels pretty darn good for September. We had the trails to ourselves for the first few days. Today we were joined by a few others, the Norwegian National X-C Team. The trails are about a 5-6km loop that winds around the glacier. It is a good mix of terrain. We have alpine slopes in pretty much every direction around us, and they are busy!

The end of the week I will have regular internet so I will send many more updates then. For now I hope you enjoy the pictures! Check back soon for lots more…
- Ciao
BethAnn

Plenty of options for skiing

Rope tow on an alpine setion

David during a classic ski

Tracy and our hotel at 10,000ft.

The author

Checking in with Andrea Mayo and Grace Boutot

2009-09-01T20:47:00.006-04:00

Andrea Mayo and Grace Boutot are members of the MWSC Biathlon Team and U.S. Junior Biathlon National Team. They both live and train in the Ft. Kent area.

How has your training been sAndro far this season?
Andrea: My training has gone well so far this season. I am feeling really strong, and I’m beginning to see how much I have improved from last year, and even from the earlier part of this year. Hopefully the rest of the season will continue to bring improvement.

Grace: Training went well for me this summer. I had my ups and downs-it was challenging to stay motivated sometimes, but as the weeks went by I became more excited and thrilled to train.

What are some of the objectives you focused on over the past 3-4 months?
AM: I try to focus on my big goal for the year at every practice. I like to relate my biathlon career to the movie "Miracle". During the scene where the team is in training, and Herb Brooks yells "Build your legs! You're not going to have anything left in the 3rd period if you don't build your legs now”! I like to recite that line every time I am beginning to get tired during a hard interval workout. Another objective I have been focusing on is improving my V1 technique.

GB: Keeping my head on straight! I started becoming more organized and not as stressed out by unimportant things. One of my goals for this summer was to try to do the little things that all add up to the big picture, and it's worked out well.

What type of process did you go through after last season to come up with your goals and objectives for this upcoming season?
AM: I reviewed my results and training log from last year and tried to come up with a goal for this year that I could feel confident about. If it's a goal you are trying to achieve, you should have to work for it. You should want it more than anything, and that is how I feel about my goals for this year.

GB: I definitely thought about all aspects of my training last year and came up with some things that could be improved on, and some things to completely change. It's interesting how many things you can see when you look back on things objectively and observe the cause and effects of your actions and choices at the time. So from that I created my goals...but seriously, I didn't over think anything too much.

What are some of your larger goals you hope to tackle this season?
AM: My biggest goal this year is to be named to the Youth/Junior World Championship team. Another goal (which is hinged upon whether I achieve the previous goal) is to represent the United States well at the Youth/Junior World Championships in Torsby, Sweden, by getting a top 15 finish in at least one race. People may say that this goal may be a bit lofty, and I say, (in the immortal words of Herb Brooks) that is why I want to pursue it.

GB: Well I do hope to continue working on and improving my skiing and shooting this season. Improvement with a big I is key for me. The rest of my goals are in my head!

You just recently completed your longest camp to date of three weeks. How did it go for you?
AM: It was tough for sure, but at the same time, it was great to be able to push myself beyond my comfort zone and see what I was capable of. It was nice to train with people from different clubs around the country, and even train with a different coach with a different coaching style than what I am used to. It keeps training exciting when you train with a different group of people; there is a refreshed sense of competitiveness, at least for me.

GB: The camp was great! The weeks we were in Jericho I had lots of quality focused training but when we moved to Bethel I had a blast doing a lot of really fun workouts. The second week of the camp was much more relaxed and I caught up on all my summer reading.

What are some of your favorite workouts?
AM: One of my favorite workouts is a workout called TSS (technique specific strength). In a nut shell, you go as hard as you can (while still keeping your technique together) for 30 seconds, and then rest for 30 seconds. We do 8 repetitions, and then switch to another technique. I like this workout because I feel like there is a lot to learn from it. You go hard for a short amount of time, but at the same time, you have to make sure that you will be able to make it through the rest of the workout.

Personally, I find it easier to work on technique when I am going at a harder level, so during this workout I can gain a lot of information about what I need to really focus on. I also really like the easy distance bike rides.

GB: Doing long distance workouts with a big group with biking, running, and rollerskiing all in one are really fun for me. Also, doing an easy classic ski with lots of double poling is so relaxing for me because I get to just ski and daydream.

You also trained alongside of the U.S. Women's Team at the last camp. How was it training with them?
AM: it was a great learning experience. The amount of knowledge that can be gained from that group of women is impressive, and I feel very grateful that I got the chance to learn from them. These women are at a level that I hope to one day achieve, so it was a great chance to see what I have to look forward to.

GB: Training with the Women's Team is great for me since there are not many opportunities to train with a big group of people during the year. I learned a lot of things from them at camps. It's especially great to hear about all of their racing and training experiences-some of them have been doing biathlon for a long time, so they've experienced almost everything!

You both graduated high school last year and have decided to focus on training this year. What are your objectives with taking some time off from school and focusing primarily on biathlon?
AM: I am taking time off from college so I can put all of my energy and focus on training. College is definitely going to happen someday, but for now, I think it would be advantageous for me to not try and focus on two very demanding things at one time. My plan is to get in some really solid training, and just try to keep an upward slope on my improvement.

GB: First of all, I am so thrilled to be able to focus on training and life without the stress of school!!! I've been able to train very well this year so far and I'm excited for winter. Not going to school this year was an easy decision for me since I am undecided as to which path I want to follow at the moment. I've still been keeping my brain busy with lots of creative activities, so I don't feel like I'm losing my mind or brainpower!

What are your upcoming plans for this fall?
AM: I will be attending some camps this fall, as well as visiting and training with past coaches. When I'm not doing that, I will be at home spending time with family or at the lodge shooting up some targets.

GB: Enjoying my favorite season, catching up with people and enjoying the calm before the whirlwind of winter hits. And of course, training hard and spending lots of time with my rifle!

Thank you ladies and good luck this season!

September?

2009-08-30T09:18:00.007-04:00

Sitting here in my kitchen sipping my 3rd espresso of the morning, today is the first cold rainy day I've felt or seen in a long time. June and July for the most part were like a normal fall with more rainy days than usual. My rain suit and a pair of Gortex shoes were my daily coaching attire for most of the "summer".

After the three weeks summer we just had while in Jericho and Bethel the cooler weather is very welcome. The recent heat wave was something that resembled a normal summer, but our bodies weren't ready for it. Fluid intake during every workout, between every workout and after every workout became critical to ensure each athlete would be able to make it through the three weeks with the ability to still perform at their best level. It was a good lesson for everyone as we succeeded, most of the time, but also experienced what being dehydrated or having heat exhaustion can do to the body while trying to train.

I arrived home after a couple days rest in Bar Harbor, ME. Lobster, wine tasting, mini-golf, and sleeping were a few ways to help the body unwind from the past three weeks and re-charge for the upcoming fall. I was welcomed home by my two trusting canine companions along with the feeling that summer is over. School is back in session, the stadium lights were on at the local high school for a night soccer game, and it was 50 something degrees with the wind blowing the leaves off the trees. In addition the past couple night's lows dipped down into the 30's!

We enter September with just over two months before we step on to snow. An intenisty block followed by a couple weeks of normal training, and then we head out to Utah for three weeks for our next National Team Camp. The August camp gave us a list of items to work on for each athlete and September will be the time we get to fine tune before our next camp. We will need to be assertive and not shy if we want to tackle our objectives and make more gains forward. All In!

More pictures:

Someone had fun with this sign

Annelies found a nice place to study and stay cool at the same time!

Exploration!

Teamwork!

Women's Team in Bethel

2009-08-21T21:31:00.008-04:00

Rain...finally! Like the rest of New England the weather here has been HOT. Training this week in Bethel, ME with the U.S. and MWSC Women's Team has been really good. We've been logging a lot of volume hours, lots of long easy distance sessions. The weather has made it very difficult for these long sessions with temperatures in the mid to high 80's; re-hydrating has been very key to being able to not only finish the current workout, but to ensure that the ladies can make it through the entire week of training.

The Women's Team relaxing in one of the many swimming holes around Bethel
(Front L to R) BethAnn Chamberlain, Andrea Mayo, Tracy Barnes
(Back L to R) Lanny Barnes, Annelies Cook, Sara Studebaker, Addie Byrne, Susan Dunklee, Grace Boutot, Laura Spector

Our first day was a long bike ride from Bethel to Conway, NH. It's a 90+ mile ride up and over Evan's Notch and the famous Hurricane Mountain smack dab in the middle. Hurricane Mountain is a road that averages a 17% grade and stretches for over a mile. Coulple with extremely high temperatures, this was an epic ride.

The rollerskiing has been good here, we've found a few roads with little traffic. Skiing up to Grafton Notch provided some nice views, an awesome post workout swimming hole, and a local pie stand on the way out.

Grace heading up Grafton Notch

Andrea climbing on the rocks during a post workout swim

The other day we hiked through the "Rugged Mile" of the Appalachian trail on our way to summitting both the North and South Peaks near Goose Eye Mountain. It was a nice change of pace and the shade provided by the trees was very welcome.

Part of the "Rugged Mile" on the AT

Dave and BethAnn on top of South Peak

The "Lawn" heading towards Goose Eye

Jericho Photos - Race Day

2009-08-17T15:45:00.005-04:00

Russell going fast

Young gun...Chester Jacobs just be fore hitting all 5 prone targets

Eliot Neal in action

BethAnn on course

Walt Shepard heading to the range

Bill being chased by Mark Johnson

Youngsters Drew Grout...

and Tom Sullivan

Grace starting her race

Andrea and Molly

Strong Second Day for MWSC Team

2009-08-11T15:05:00.001-04:00

Jericho, VT – In the final day of the NorAm Biathlon Rollerski Championships, the MWSC Biathlon Team turned in some strong finishes to end the week. Strength on the range, ski course and in numbers, the Team represented the MWSC blue and white with pride.

Russell Currier put on a shooting clinic in the Pursuit race at the NorAm Championships at Camp Ethan Allen. Currier more known for his strong skiing abilities cleaned 3 of 4 shooting stages hitting a total of 18 for 20. Playing cat and mouse with 2006 Olympian Lowell Bailey (Lake Placid, NY) Currier shot rapidly in his final two standing stages to finish it off as Bailey was doing laps in the penalty loop. Currier won in a time of 33:19, 27 seconds over Bailey. Jesse Downs (Jericho, VT) rounded out the top 3 with 4 penalties and 44 seconds back. Bill Bowler (Wausau, WI) finished 5th hitting 14 of 20 targets. Walt Shepard (Yarmouth) finished 7th with 15 of 20 shooting.

Eliot Neal (Wilson, WY) hit 14 of 20 to finish 3rd in the Jr. Men’s race in a time of 35:13. Ethan Dreisegacker (Craftsbury, VT) for the second day in a row with 7 penalties and a time of 33:02. Sam Humphries (Yarmouth) matched Neal on the range with 14 hits and finished in 35:53. Raleigh Goessling (Esko, MN) struggled hitting 9 of 20 to finish 8th in 38:24. In the Boys race Drew Grout (Yarmouth) finished 1st in a time of 44:16 with 14 penalties and Chester Jacobs (Yarmouth) hit 10 of 20 to finish 2nd in a time of 47:40.

Tracy Barnes-Colliander (Ft. Kent) won again hitting 15 of 20 in a time of 33:13. BethAnn Chamberlain (Caribou) hit 12 of 20 to finish 10th. Grace Boutot (Ft. Kent) hit 14 of 20 to win the Jr. Women’s race over Addie Byrne (Bovey, MN). Boutot finished in a time of 37:26 good enough for 8th in the Sr. Women’s race. Byrne finished in a time of 38:39. Hilary McNamee (Ft. Fairfield) rounded out the top 3 with 16 hits and a time of 40:01.

Andrea Mayo (Soldier Pond) hit 10 of 20 with a time of 40:28 to win the Youth Women’s race. Molly Susla (Yarmouth) finished 4th with 11 penalties and a time of 44:13. Tara Humphries won the Girls race with a time of 53:53 and 17 penalties.

Update from NorAm Champs Sprint Race

2009-08-08T17:36:00.000-04:00

Jericho, VT – The first day of racing at the North American Biathlon Rollerski Championships provided plenty of head to head action and some great shooting by youngsters Addie Byrne (Bovey, MN) and Wynn Roberts (Battle Lake, MN). Sunshine and cooler temperatures provided both racers and spectators with perfect conditions and a little breeze provided just enough of a challenge on the range to test the athletes nerves.

MWSC teammates Bill Bowler and Russell Currier started 2 minutes, 30 seconds apart, but in the end finished 2.4 seconds apart. Bowler bested Currier by the small margin with 4 penalties, 2 in each shooting stage to finish 3rd. Currier missed 2 in prone and his final shot in his standing stage to finish 4th. Walt Shepard hit 7 of 10 to finish 10th. Lowell Bailey (Lake Placid, NY) hit 8 of 10 to win in a time of 24:44. The surprise of the day was Wynn Roberts who shot clean, 10 for 10 to place 2nd, 56 seconds back.

Racing up in the Jr. Men’s field, Sam Humphries (Yarmouth) placed 5th in a time of 23:35 with 3 penalties. Eliot Neal (Wilson, WY) placed 6th with 5 penalties (23:49) and Raleigh Goessling (Esko, MN) placed 7th (23:57) also with 5 penalties. Ethan Dreissegacker (Craftsbury, VT) won with 4 penalties in a time of 22:00. Racing up in the Youth Men’s race the Yarmouth trio of Drew Grout, Tom Sullivan, and Chester Jacobs placed 9th, 10th, and 11th with 6, 7, and 4 penalties respectively.

Tracy Barnes-Colliander (Ft. Kent) won today’s Women’s race with 3 penalties and a time of 22:15. Twin sister Lanny Barnes (Durango, CO) placed 2nd with 2 penalties, 14.6 seconds back. Haley Johnson (Lake Placid, NY) rounded out the top 3 with a time of 23:00 and 4 penalties. Caribou’s BethAnn Chamberlain placed 7th with 6 penalties and one of the day’s better ski times. Meagan Toussaint (Madawaska) placed 13th with 9 penalties.

Grace Boutot (Ft. Kent) placed 2nd with 6 penalties finishing 1 minute 58 seconds behind Addie Byrne who shot clean. Andrea Mayo (Ft. Kent) won the Youth Women’s race with 5 hits and a time of 22:47. Molly Susla (Yarmouth) placed 4th with 6 penalties and a time of 26:05. Racing up, Tara Humphries (Yarmouth) hit 2 of 10 to place 6th.

July Time Trialing - Photo Gallery

2009-07-29T23:22:00.005-04:00

Andrea zeroing

Grace taking aim

Molly on course and lovin every second of it

Focused

With purpose

Bill pushing to the line

Andrea, Hilary, and Raleigh 'All Out'!

Sun has been a rarity this summer. Jamal (Sam H.) looking for a little light. Even with a broken rib and puntured lung Sam is there helping out his team.

It has been a wet and cool summer. The cool works out well for training, the wet, well it just gets a little annoying when everything is always wet. But we plug away each day working hard knowing it makes us tougher, faster, better. All in!

Pikes Peak, Part Deux...the rest of the story

2009-07-29T22:23:00.007-04:00

By Andrea Mayo - Now here’s…the rest of the story. “Pikes Peak, 3 miles ahead.” You’re thinking what I was thinking. OH! Only 3 miles left! Almost there! Yeah, well, it turned out to be…not so great. I hiked on. It had been a while since I saw that last sign and I thought aloud, “I must have gone at least a mile and a half by now, so that means only about a mile and a half left!” I was optimistic. Suddenly, all optimism was shattered when I saw…another sign. It read, “Pikes Peak, 2 miles ahead.” My stomach sank. All the fatigue that I had been fighting off with optimism finally hit me, and it hit me hard. I was tired, hungry, and thirsty. Things only got worse when I came to realize that my iPod had run out of battery. “That’s ok. I can make it. I have made it to this point, and let me be hit by lighting if I don’t make it to the top.” I double-checked, just to make sure there was no clouds within a reasonable striking distance. So, lifting one foot after the other, I kept on. I heard footsteps behind me. I moved to the side of the trail to let another hiker go around. I was a little disheartened to see that this older gentleman ran by. My only thought: “wow.” I kept a keen eye out for the next sign, the sign that would read “one mile left”. It felt like my legs had each gained 150 pounds. The sun was hot, and again, I was almost out of water. Then, I saw it in the distance! There it was! “Pikes Peak, one mile ahead.” I was overjoyed. Almost there…for real.

I had endured a long, hot hike, and it was all about to pay off. I moved to the side of the trail to give the people making their way down the mountain the right of way. They cheered me as they went by. That was nice. It felt as if I was coming into the finish of a hard race; people yelling “Almost there! You got it! Nice job”. I knew I wasn’t done yet, though. I wouldn’t be done until I was at the very tippy top, until I could look up and not see more mountain, but only blue sky.

That last mile was the worst, hardest, longest mile of the whole hike, or of any mile I have ever gone before for that matter. I was determined. I tried to run to make it go by faster, but that seemed almost counterproductive. It seemed to go on forever. You know that feeling, when you think to yourself “Oh, it must be just around this corner.” “Oh, I know it must be just right up over this hill.” Do you know what it is like to go through that for 40 minutes? But, at long last, I finally saw Vlad, sitting on a rock and cheering me on. This was it. I was there. I stopped, turned around, and I looked down the trail. “You did not conquer me, I just conquered you.” I could see those awful signs. I could see everything that I just went through. It looked so peaceful, and when I think back on it, it holds only memories of thirst and fatigue. Then I turned around again, only to see mobs of people mulling around in their sandals and jeans and light jackets, taking pictures, laughing, and having a grand ole’ time. I stood there for a while, just looking at them, in my spandex shorts and sneakers, my face covered in sweat and salt beads. I glared at the train. There was a certain satisfaction, a certain feeling that could not be obtained by just taking the train up to the top. I felt as though I was superwoman. It was a feeling of great achievement. And it was in that moment that I realized, you can’t trade anything in the world for that feeling. That moment of self-pride can only be obtained in one way; to push through any obstacles and overcome any odds that are in your way of achieving your goal.

Climbing Pikes Peak

2009-07-14T19:18:00.001-04:00

Contributed by Andrea Mayo

During the 2-week Junior National Team Camp in Granby, Colorado, we endured some pretty long, tiring workouts, ranging from 6 and a half hour bike rides to 4-hour hikes and 2 and a half hour roller skis. Well, I must say, all of those seemed pretty easy when it came to our second to last day in Colorado. The team, after doing a “quick and painless” bounding session in the morning, made the drive to Colorado Springs on Tuesday afternoon, where we would be staying at the Olympic Training Center. We woke up on Wednesday morning to a gorgeous day, and a great view of Pikes Peak staring right back at us. As I walked to breakfast, I looked at the mountain and thought to myself, “I am going to be at the top of that by lunch time.” That was a little intimidating.

Before I begin on my thought path of that day, let me give you some information most people don’t know about the mountain. Pikes Peak is the 31st highest peak of the 54 peaks in Colorado, and its peak has an elevation of 14,110 feet. The trail we hiked, called Barr Trail, is the longest trail leading to the top of any of the mountain peaks, and also has the greatest base-to-top elevation gain in the state, a gain of 7,400 feet. Needless to say, it would have been nice to know all of this before starting our trek to the top. I sat rather tensely in the car as Vlad weaved his way through the traffic, and I watched as the mountain grow bigger and more intimidating as we got closer. We arrived in the parking lot, which also held a small train station. There was a train stopped, getting ready to depart for the top. I watched reluctantly as it pulled out of the station without me on it. “Well, here we go”, I thought as the group started the way up the trail.

We started out at a pretty brisk pace. The terrain wasn’t all that steep at first, so it was pretty easy…”this isn’t so bad!” one might think to herself. I was just enjoying the beautiful views, snapping photos wildly with my camera. Then, things got serious. About 2 hours into the hike, the distance between each member of our group grew larger. Legs began to feel fatigued, hands were beginning to swell, and water belts were running on half a tank. We were nearing the end of a long camp, and all I wanted to do was make it to the top. 3 hours in, and I hadn’t seen any team members ahead of me for a while. I had run out of water, and the affect of little fuel had begun to get to me. I was overjoyed at the sight of Vlad skipping down the trail towards me, holding a bottle full of Gatorade. After filling my water belt and my stomach with the liquid nourishment, I had a new motivation. I would make it to the top of this mountain, no matter what. It was to late to turn around now, I reasoned with myself. I was more than half way there and that would be stupid to turn around. So on I went. I felt like I should have been in an Indiana Jones movie as I knelt down to fill my water bottle with the cold, fresh mountain water that was running through this small spring. A few switchbacks later, I had hit the 3 and a half hour mark! I must be almost there, I thought. I saw a sign in the distance. “Pikes Peak, 3 miles ahead.” Three miles didn’t seem like so much at the time. Tune in next time for…the rest of the story.

Training In The Rain!?

2009-07-08T07:07:00.000-04:00

Contributed by Andrea Mayo - MWSC Biathlete

“Another beautiful day” I say to myself nearly every morning as I look out the window at a beautiful view of snow capped mountains pushing up against the cloudless blue sky. The training is absolutely gorgeous here in Granby, Colorado. You have options; do I want to push it and try to make it to the top of this mountain, or do I want to stay a little bit more relaxed and just follow this rolling road and look at the landscape as I go by?

I have really been spoiled this past week. The weather has been sunny, warm, and dry. The same cannot be said for our friends in Fort Kent, Maine, participating in the Women’s National Team camp where they have had to endure rain, rain, and not seeing a peek of sun for the past 2 weeks. But training in this weather has also made me realize one thing; I miss the rain! I actually envy those athletes in Fort Kent! Even though it is such a pain to clean your rifle after it has been sitting in the down-pouring rain for the last 2 hours as you have been training, there is nothing better than finishing up a workout and feeling invincible. Nothing, not rain, nor wind, nor hurricanes and tornadoes can keep you from training yourself to become a better athlete. Am I alone on this? I think it is important to train in these sorts of adverse conditions. They make you tougher, and also prepare you for what may be ahead in the uncertain weather of winter. Not every race is going to be in perfect, sunny, calm conditions, and if you train in the not-so-perfect conditions of Mother Nature, you already have a huge advantage over the person that has decided that it is not worth getting soaking wet to train.

So, I say to you, if the weather outside is frightful, don’t think of it as a way to get out of training for the day. Think of it as an opportunity to get mentally and physically tougher than the competition. In the immortal words of Meredith Burgess in Rocky II, “For a 45 minute fight, you gotta train for 45,ooo minutes.” This can be translated into biathlon races. For a 45 minute race, you have to train for 45,000 minutes. (After some brief calculations and a short time spent with a calculator, I have found that this is equal to 750 hours.)

Andrea enjoying the fruits of her labor high up in the Colorado Rockies

Finding inspiration from some of the best mountain climbers!

Young biathletes meet for first camp

2009-07-01T00:20:00.000-04:00

A group of 20 young biathletes spent the weekend in Ft. Kent sharpening their shooting and athletic skills. The up and comers from both Aroostook County and the Southern Maine Biathlon Club spent a lot of time on the range shooting at cans, balloons, paintballs, and of course biathlon targets. They played games, worked through obstacle and agility courses, got stronger via strength circuits and learned how to rollerski.

Sam and Ian

Grace passing on her knowledge to Eva Yeo

A busy air rifle range

Shooting cross training

A full range

U.S. Women's Camp - Acadian Festival Bed Race

2009-07-01T00:07:00.000-04:00

The ladies rode their bikes to Madawaska for their afternoon workout one day, but they also had other plans on their mind. The St. John Valley Acadian Festival was going on in Madawaska and one of the events was a bed race. Five person teams push their bed down Main Street with one person in a "onezie" (one piece pajama get up) and four people pushing, at the end of the street the "onezie" needs to be switched to another teammate and the bed pushed back to the start. The women performed valiantly winning the Women's division! And if there was a "best dressed" category they would've won that too.

The team and their ride

Local support

Game faces on!

Off and running

Victory!

U.S. Women's Camp - Lake Placid to Ft. Kent

2009-06-30T23:57:00.000-04:00

The U.S. Women’s Biathlon Team is spending two weeks of their three week camp in Ft. Kent. After one week at the Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid, NY the women headed north. With the addition of some athletes from the Maine Winter Sports Center and the U.S. Development Team, each training has seen around a dozen athletes working together. The 30-point range and over 3km’s of paved trails provides for some really good workouts where the ladies can ski and shoot together, raising the competitive level of each individual and the group as a whole.

Bernd in his LP outift

Tools of the trade

Haley and Laura

It's called Hurricane Hill for a reason. 8x 4min all uphill!

U.S. Biathlon Women's Team to Train in Ft. Kent

2009-06-09T21:18:00.000-04:00

The Nation’s top female biathletes will come to Ft. Kent, Maine for their first summer training camp. From June 21 to July 4th, the women will utilize the landscape of the St. John Valley, the 10th Mtn. Center, and the facilities at the University of Maine-Ft. Kent.

In 2005, the trials for the 2006 Olympic Team were held in Ft. Kent and although the team may not be selected here this time around, it’s guaranteed that the women’s team selected for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics will be here for two weeks. The women will train primarily up at the 10th Mtn. where the rollerski loop was extended last season making it the 3rd longest in the country and an ideal place to train. “We’re really excited to be in Ft. Kent and to utilize the facilities there”, stated Assistant Coach Patrick Coffey. “This will be a first time experience for me, but I’m looking forward to seeing the 10th Mtn. and surrounding landscape, I’ve heard many great things from the athletes.”

Ties to the Maine Winter Sports Center – “This will be a bit of a homecoming for most of this team, since all but three women in this group have gone through the Maine Winter Sports Center Program”, stated MWSC Biathlon Coach Gary Colliander. “Many of the women still keep in contact with friends they made during their time here. They’re all really excited to come back and be here.”

Also joining the camp will be some of Maine’s best female biathletes: BethAnn Chamberlain, Grace Boutot, Hilary McNamee, and Meagan Toussaint.

May Training in the Rain Makes You Tough!

2009-06-09T21:10:00.000-04:00

Contributed by Bill Bowler - Here in Fort Kent, dryland training for the upcoming 2010 season has begun, and along with it we’ve had a variety of interesting weather conditions. A few days ago, we had beautiful spring weather with 60 degree sunshine, but are now faced with rain and temperatures in the 40s for a few days. May is a difficult time of the year for just about any skier/biathlete. It’s all about making the transition back to structured training, which isn’t easy after a month off. It’s kind of like jump-starting a car, as a bit of extra effort is required to get your body going again. You may not feel great for the first few days, but the fitness gained during the previous season will gradually return. On a long run through the trails here at the Tenth Mountain Lodge yesterday, I am starting to feel strong again. Spring workouts are also a great way to build mental fortitude, especially when conditions are challenging.

This year, I’m fortunate to be able to do a significant amount of my training here at the lodge in Fort Kent. It is truly a world-class facility, as it has a 30-point biathlon range, a newly paved 3.5 km rollerski loop, and fantastic running trails.

May is also a great time to dial in your daily routine for the upcoming months, and to pay attention to small details that make a big difference in the long run. Some of these details include adequate sleep, proper nutrition/hydration, and equipment maintenance. The best way to recover from workouts is to drink constantly during training (at least once every ½ hour), and then take in liquid carbohydrates and protein immediately afterwards. Eating right and sleeping well are the best ways to absorb hard workouts. Training is a constant progression of fatiguing your body, and then building it back to a level higher than where you started. Enjoy it!

U.S. Women Post Historic Finish in Relay

2009-02-21T19:31:00.000-05:00

Contributed from U.S. Biathlon - "Girls, I think you just made history!" US Biathlon Executive Director Max Cobb proclaimed after the finish of the women’s relay during the World Championships in Korea. And they did: Finishing 10th in the relay competition in front of World Champion Norway really made the whole team proud. It was the best World Championship relay finish for the women since ninth place finish in 1997.

Lanny Barnes started first and managed to stay clean in the first shooting. That put her already in a good position, with only two extra shots in the second shooting she managed to stay in a good 12th place. “I am really glad that the WCHs are over. I felt quite tired on the track but I am satisfied with my shooting”, Lanny stated after her race. Haley Johnson took over as 12th and managed to stay on that position until the next exchange – although she needed five extra rounds overall. “Actually this is a good result for me. I was scared that I would have to go in the penalty loop but it’s great that I actually hit some targets”, she said with her usual sense of humor after the race. “And I felt really good on the track as well.”

Laura Spector was “so excited about the race. I didn’t even want it to be over. I felt so good on the course although it was hard to know in which position I might be because the order changed all the time. But I knew I was in a good position so I just kept on going.” Spector had some problems with the windy conditions at the shooting range but managed to stay out of the penalty loop with three extra shots.

The last competitor was Tracy Barnes and she put up one of the best performances of her life: Not only that she stayed clean at the shooting range, she also presented the fastest shooting time of the day. “I just watched my sister’s race and that somehow put me on a high. It was so inspiring I didn’t even know if I hit all the targets when I left the range. I really didn’t notice anything besides me.” Having Tora Berger, the strongest Norwegian woman, fighting with her for place ten also gave her an extra portion of motivation. “I can’t believe we managed to finish the race ahead of the Norwegians. That is simply awesome!”

Coach Per Nilsson was not only happy with the skiing performance but also the result at the shooting range. “We had the third best shooting performance of the day and those were really tough conditions. I am really proud of the girls!”

Tomorrow at the last days of this years WCHs the men will have the opportunity to follow the girls in a Top10 position

Maine Women dominate; Currier starts World Championships, qualifies for Pursuit

2009-02-14T23:14:00.001-05:00

Lake Placid, NY – Temperatures in the mid 50’s and rain last week caused organizers to make a decision whether or not to hold this weekend’s Biathlon NorAm Cup in Lake Placid, NY. Through many discussions and weather watching, the organizers called off the NorAm event, but local club volunteers and coaches decided to put on an event for the athletes who were willing to make the trip. With a little help from Mother Nature and many hard working volunteers, a course was put together in time for today’s Sprint race. Photo: BethAnn hammering to the line with Susan Dunklee

In the Senior Women’s race BethAnn Chamberlain (Caribou, ME) placed 2nd with one penalty and a final time of 24:28. Just 5 seconds ahead of Chamberlain was Susan Dunklee (Barton, VT) just back from competing on the IBU Cup in Germany and Czech Republic. Dunklee completed the 7.5km course in 24:23 with 2 misses coming in her standing position. Rounding out the top 3 was Sara Studebaker (Boise, ID) in a time of 24:57 with 1 penalty.

Less than two weeks after winning a silver medal at the Youth World Championships, Grace Boutot (Ft. Kent, ME) showed good form hitting 9 of 10 to win the Youth Women’s 6km race in a time of 22:07. Joining Boutot were two of her MWSC teammates, Andrea Mayo (Soldier Pond, ME) finished with 8 of 10 shooting, with her two misses coming in the prone stage. Mayo’s time of 23:55 was 32 seconds faster than teammate Kaitlyn Bernard (Ft. Kent, ME) who finished with a time of 24:27 and 4 penalties. Photos: Grace, Andrea, and Kaitlyn

Tomorrow concludes with the Pursuit race.

Peyong Chang, Korea – Getting the word just a day prior to the first race of the Biathlon World Championships, Russell Currier (Stockholm, ME) started the Sprint competition in place of Jay Hakkinen (Kasilof, AK) who came down with a cold. Warm temperatures and a lack of snow made for tough conditions on the already difficult course. Gusting winds proved to have no favorites as athletes fell prey to the tough shooting conditions throughout the day. Skiing strong on a course that suits his style, Currier found his line on the downhills and attacked the steep uphills. Entering the range for his prone stage, Currier struggled taking 3 penalties. Back on course Currier maintained his strong form and hit 4 of 5 in his standing to place 58th in a time of 27:12, 2:55 behind World Champion Ole Einer Bjoerndalen of Norway who hit 8 of 10. Placing in the top 60 qualifies Currier for tomorrow’s Pursuit race. Photo: Russell earlier this season. Photo courtesy of IBU.

Junior Worlds End with Flowers for the American Women

2009-02-04T19:23:00.000-05:00

Contributed by US Biathlon - The American 3 x 6 km Relay in the Youth Women class had moments of triumph and of struggle. Picture: Youth Women's flower ceremony.

Addie Byrne (Bovey, MN) led off for the team, shooting clean with no extra round in prone and only needing two extra rounds in standing she tagged off to Grace Boutot (Fort Kent, ME) in fourth place just two seconds off the third place Italian Team. Boutot skied well, posting the second fastest time in her first and second loops and shot five-for-five in both prone and standing. She left the range in first pace just 0.3 seconds ahead of the team from Belarus.
At the tag Boutot handed off to Hilary McNamee (Fort Fairfield, ME) in second place, just 11.9 seconds behind Belarus. McNamee, who has been sick during the championships, struggled on the range, needing four extra rounds and having to ski a penalty loop. But her efforts were not unrewarded, the team finished fifth and was honored in the flowers ceremony - a fine end to a good week of racing for the young American women who won a medal and scored two more top-ten finishes. Pictures: Grace chasing Belarus and France, exchange #2 Grace to Hilary, and Hilary leading Italy.

Earlier in the the day Ethan Dreissigacker (Morrisville, VT) Raleigh Goessling (Duluth, MN) and Nick Michaud (Fort Kent, ME) competed in the 3 x 7.5 km Youth Men Relay and finished eighth having struggled on the range. Dreissigacker cleaned his targets using three extra rounds and tagged off in fourth place. But the challenge on the range was too much for his teammates and the team ended up with a total of six penalties and 13 extra rounds. Pictures thanks to IBU.

Boutot 9th in Sprint

2009-02-01T17:37:00.000-05:00

In another difficult day on the range, Grace Boutot(Ft. Kent) managed again to strike down her targets. Entering prone with one of the top first lap times, Boutot rapidly nailed all five shots. Back on course she maintained her skiing position entering the range once again with gusting winds, but hitting all but one target. On her final lap,Boutot managed to climb up the list to land in 9th place. After the race she commented, "I knew I had to be more aggressive today. The Individual is definitely a shooters race and the Sprint is a skiers race. I'm prettyhappy with the way things went today and am in a good position for tomorrow's Pursuit."

MWSC Biathlon Coach Gary Colliander commented, "Thiswas a solid race by Grace today. Last year she was 55th in this race, so 9th is a great improvement. Her shooting times today were great, not much over a minute for the two stages combined and her skiing was solid."

U.S. teammate Addie Byrne (Bovey, MN) led the team with a 6th place finish. Byrne like Boutot missed just one shot to finish 29.8 secondsbehind co-Champions Olga Galich or Russia and Yan Zhang of China who recorded the same time of 19:31.4.

Hilary McNamee (Ft. Fairfield) stuggled in prone missing 4 of 5, but cameback to hit 4 of 5 in standing finishing 39th. Nick Michaud (Ft. Kent) showed good patience in the range hitting 7 of 10 to finish 43rd in the Youth Men's race.

Silver Medal for Grace Boutot!

2009-01-29T22:29:00.000-05:00

January 29, 2009 - Contributed by IBU and US Biathlon Association. Grace Boutot (Fort Kent, ME) won the Silver medal in the Youth Women 10K Individual competition today in Canmore, Alberta, Canada.

Boutot finished 1:03.9 behind Yan Zhang of China. Both Boutot and Zhang had one penalty. Third went to local favorite Yolaine Oddou of Canada, 1:35.9 back. Oddou had one penalty in each of the first two stages, but cleaned the final two stages.

The 17-year-old Zhang carried a substantial lead of two minutes throughout the competition, while shooting clean in the first three stages. In the final standing stage, she faltered briefly, missing one shot, but recovered to hit the remaining four targets. With this single one-minute penalty, she crossed the finish line in 35:13.7.

Silver medalist Grace Boutot also was surprised by her medal as much as the Chinese Gold medalist was. “My goal was to get a top 10 finish here, and I certainly achieved that. I have overachieved.” She missed her first shot of the competition, but knocked down the final 19 targets. She explained what happened with that first shot, “I was trying to calm down my breathing and take the first shot. My finger got on the trigger a little too fast and I jerked it, hitting the white box below the target.”

Boutot, like the other 39 youth women in the field battled a strong wind that crossed the shooting range from left to right all morning. At times, it gusted up to 50 kilometers per hour, making the shooting conditions extremely tough. With a medal on the line, Boutot faced a huge gust in her final standing stage. She explained, “The last standing was really hard as it was very windy. I waited to take the final shots. I knew it was better to wait for 10 or 20 seconds than to take a one-minute penalty for a miss.”

For Boutot, the support of her teammates, her coach and her mother who was in the stands helped her through the final stages of the competition. “Our whole team was here today. They are very supportive and they were cheering me on.” She continued, “The last loop was pretty intense. I did know how I was doing until then. I had no idea. The Vlad (Cervenka) was screaming that I was second. There was a Swiss girl right next to me and we were fighting the entire loop.”

Glowing as she left the podium and the mandatory photo sessions, she added, “Winning a medal has been a great experience.”

Addie Byrne (Bovey, MN) finished 14th, with five penalties, 5:06.5 back, while Hilary McNamee (Fort Fairfield, ME) finished 30th, with seven penalties, 7:54.3 back.

Canmore

2009-01-29T06:51:00.000-05:00

Contributed by Grace Boutot - While temperatures in Maine were dropping to 45 degrees below zero, I escaped the cold and traveled to Canada for some training and racing to prepare for the 2009 Biathlon World Youth/Junior Championships. For the first ten days I was here with a few members of the US Junior and Youth Teams, while the rest of the team just arrived this week. This year the small town of Canmore, Alberta is hosting this event. Having the Y/J World Championships here is a great advantage for the US Team, since it gives us the opportunity to compete in a familiar country.

Canmore is a beautiful place to train. My first morning here I was greeted by brilliant sunshine, magnificent views of beautiful snow-covered mountains, and balmy 32 degree weather. In addition to training here, we participated in Nor-Am #6 and were able to race on the same courses that will be used during the Y/J World Championships.

Arriving here a few weeks early gave us the chance to adjust to the ski trails and range, and also the altitude. Canmore is 4,296 feet above sea level. Many other teams also arrived early to get used to the higher elevation. Our hotel is quite the international gathering already, with teams from Canada, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belarus all staying here. It’s exciting to be here and train next to people who, despite their young age, have already competed in the IBU European and World Cups.

Our team is here to show the world what we can do. And what can we do? We’ve trained hard for years. We have shed sweat, blood, and tears in our efforts to reach our goals and it is our undeniable desire to be the greatest. We are prepared to prove our abilities and show that we can be among the best in the world. With the US Men’s recent 5th place in the world cup relay to inspire us, we are ready to achieve our best finishes yet.

Whether our individual best is 3rd place or 30th, it is the effort we put into achieving that result, and not the outcome itself that matters. We can try our hardest, ski our strongest, and shoot our fastest, and yet we may not be ready to reach the podium. For everyone there is a right time and place for victory to happen. It may be this week at Y/J World Championships or it may be a few years down the road. Success is given to those who persevere, and also to those who have the strength to continue on in the face of adversity.

So cheer us on as we compete in Canmore this week…we’ll be racing our hardest to make America proud! The Championships start with the Youth and Junior Men’s Individual on Jan. 28th, and final race is the relay for all classes on Feb. 4th.

U.S. Men 5th in Rupholding!

2009-01-16T14:11:00.001-05:00

Contributed by Viktoria Franke Ruhpolding Germany, 15 January 2009. Today wasn’t just the best result since 1988, it was also a truly amazing day for four individuals who raced together in which turned out to be the best relay the U.S. had seen for a while. Lowell Bailey, Jay Hakkinen, Tim Burke and Jeremy Teela finished fifth today in the relay competition of Ruhpolding, Germany and could not really find words for today’s result afterwards.

Before the race the coaches were not sure what to expect. Per Nilsson did not want to settle for an estimate while second coach Patrick Coffey was already expecting a place between five or six. Yet, the team still laughed at him thinking that that might be too much to expect. But in the end it wasn't. It wasn't at all!

Lowell Bailey was the one to go on start position and he stayed clean in the first shooting. For the second one he needed one spare round but managed to finish at eight, 30 seconds behind the leading Norwegians. “I went through the whole race in my head and I stayed really focused. I actually wasn’t that nervous during my race. But afterwards while watching the others my heart beat so fast, it was amazing” said Bailey after the race.

Now being on eighth, Jay Hakkinen already was in a good position but although he needed four extra shots he managed to gain two places and hand over to Tim Burke ranking on sixth position. And Hakkinen was more than excited about the competition: “It was such a great race. We did that together. We did it as a team. I couldn’t be happier!”

Bringing the team in an even better position, Tim Burke stayed out of the penalty loop with only one miss in each shooting and thanks to the third best leg time he managed to send Jeremy Teela on the last loops ranking fourth. “It was really as Jay said. We put that together as a team. And that is worth more than any individual race we would finish ranking fifth!” said Burke.
Knowing that this could be the best result ever the team couldn’t stay calm on the track at all after Teela was on the course. There was shouting, there was cheering and after he finished his last shooting with only two misses no one could help dancing around. “Tell him that he will get the Italian, tell him he will be fourth!”shouted High Perfomance Director Bernd Eisenbichler in his walkie-talkie. But although Teela finished fifth in the end “after making a mistake in the last corner” the team was beyond speechless with the result. One 1.9 seconds behind the Italians, 22 behind the podium. It was a result noone expected but everyone dreamed of.

“The pressure was just so high being up front there”, Teela said. “I mean, the Germans are used to that kind of positions but it was the first time for me. I am so glad that I managed to stay calm and finish the race as I did.”

Having a small party in the wax cabin afterwards one could really see the team spirit that made today’s result happen and hopefully will continue on doing so...

Avoid the Bubble

2009-01-12T07:06:00.000-05:00

The MWSC contingent came ready to dominate at World Junior Trials, as always, and came away with some pretty sweet hardware. More importantly, however, everyone came away with a very important lesson: Every second counts.

That lesson hit home for me. Last year, I barely missed qualifying for the team, so I came out to Alaska with the mindset that I was NOT going to let it happen again. I went into the races ready to go – I was confident in my ability to put together good races, I had good skis, and I had an entire year of good training behind me.

Yet, I found myself on the bubble again. A mere 2 percentage points would have qualified me for the team. I kept thinking “If only I had hit a few more targets. If only I had cut that corner a little closer. If only I had done a few more quick V2s into the range. If only…” Completely discouraged and upset, I kept running though all the things that went wrong in my head and vowed to never pick up a rifle again.

In retrospect, I realize I was a bit dramatic. Yes, I was disappointed, but everyone finds themselves on the bubble at one point or another. Missing the podium by a fraction of a second, coming within a few seconds of a PR, doing one less sit-up than the standard – we’ve all been there. But isn’t that exactly what drives us to compete time and time again? Isn’t that why we slide into our shiny spandex suits and go all out on race day? We compete to see if we’re better than our previous selves.

“Winning doesn’t always mean being first. Winning means you’re doing better than you’ve ever done before.” – Bonnie Blair

That’s precisely the nature of biathlon. There’s always room for improvement, always something to strive for, always something to work on. Even the best of the best have things to improve, because biathlon is a game that can never be completely mastered. And that’s why it’s so appealing. It’s a never-ending cycle of setting goals, achieving them, and then setting them higher.

So, speaking of goals – here are a few of my New Year’s Resolutions that are directly related to biathlon:
1.) Learn from your mistakes – keep track of things that you can improve, and actually work towards improving them.
2.) Keep it simple – a wise coach once told me “Just aim for the middle”. Don’t overcomplicate things, just do what you know how to do.
3.) Don’t forget about the good things – after each and every race, think of at least two GREAT things that happened before focusing on the negative.
And finally…
4.) AVOID THE BUBBLE

It’s a long way to the top… if you wanna rock ‘n roll. – AC/DC

Cold finger and cold triggers made shooting especially challenging.

Days and conditions like this make me wonder what I would do without skiing. You don’t get breathtaking shots like this on the basketball court…

Contributed by Kaitlyn Bernard

Mainers travel to La Patrie, Quebec

2009-01-07T15:39:00.000-05:00

This past weekend ( January 3rd and 4th ) Mike Yeo, Tiki Humphries, and Joel Hinshaw took a group of middle school skiers from Yarmouth, Maine to represent Southern Maine Biathlon Club at the NorAm Biathlon races in La Patrie, Canada. There were 4 middle school girls, Tara Humphries, Sarah Becker, Olivia Conrad, and Alex Lucas that raced in the junior girls air rifle division. Jackson Hall and Chester Jacobs raced in the Junior Boys air rifle division. Sean Doherty from NH raced in the senior boys division, and Walt Shepard, Mike Hanes, and Beth-Ann Chamberlain raced in the men and women's divisions. There was trouble crossing the Canadian border with the rifles, but after waiting for about an hour, we crossed the border into Canada. Friday night was very cozy with 3 people on air mattresses, a person on the couch, Walt and Joel on the floor next to the dining room table, Mike under the island in the kitchen, and lots of shared beds. On Saturday morning when everyone was waking up, there was a bit of a crisis. No coffee. That was soon taken care of by Mike and Tiki.

The races on Saturday went very well, despite the zero degree weather and howling wind and snow. For the junior boys and girls it was a 4 km sprint, for the senior boys a 6 km, for the men a 10 km, and for the women a 7.5 km. Jackson Hall got first for the Junior boys, Chester Jacobs following him with fourth. Sarah Becker got first for junior girls, Tara Humphries in third, Olivia Conrad in fourth, and Alex Lucas in fifth. Sean Doherty got sixth in his race, and Beth-Ann Chamberlain won her race. In the men's race, Walt Shepard finished third, and Mike Hanes finished tenth. Everyone had a blast, and it was a big success.

On Sunday, there were pursuit races. Juniors raced 6 km, Senior Boys 7.5 km, Men 12.5 km, and Women 10 km. It was not as cold on Sunday, with less wind but it was still very cold. Luckily there was a little bit of fresh snow! Sarah finished first in the girls air rifle race, followed by Alex in third, and Olivia in fourth. Jackson came in first in the boy's air rifle race, with Chester in sixth. In the Senior Boys, Sean finished sixth. Walt came fourth in the men's race, and Mike came in tenth. Beth-Ann finished second in the women's pursuit. We went back to the biathlon center in the afternoon; where we did awards on the podium, which was kind of hard since everyone was speaking French.

The weekend was a blast, and everyone went home pumped about biathlon. Thanks Mike, Joel, and Tiki for taking us!

Anchorage - Mass Start

2009-01-01T15:16:00.001-05:00

Boutot completes sweep; Michaud 2nd – On the final day of competition, Mother Nature didn’t let up on her promise for another sub-zero morning. Athletes, coaches and organizers were welcomed with a temperature of -6 degrees prompting the Competition Jury to postpone the races by one hour. Despite the pain felt from the day before from the cold, humid weather, the athletes were bundled up and ready to go for the ever exciting Mass Start race.

In the Youth Women’s race Grace Boutot (Ft. Kent) continued her dominance entering the range at the front of the pack. Hitting all 5 targets in rapid succession, Boutot distanced herself from and never had to look back. Each taking a penalty in prone Hilary McNamee (Ft. Fairfield) and Addie Byrne (Bovey, MN) left in 2nd and 3rd place followed by Andrea Mayo (Soldier Pond) who cleaned prone and leapfrogged up to 4th. Re-entering the range for the standing stage, Boutot shot solo on point number one hitting the first 4 rhythmically and then paused before nailing the final target making it the first clean race, 10 for 10, of her career. The fight for 2nd and 3rd like in the previous Pursuit race came down to the final stage between McNamee and Byrne. Byrne gained a small advantage leaving the range ahead and that was all she needed to claim 2nd place. Andrea Mayo again hit all 5 of her shots to avoid the penalty loop and maintain 4th place. Kaitylin Bernard finished in 6th with 4 penalties, Jess Caron (Ft. Kent) finished 9th with 1 penalty and Molly Susla (Freeport) finished 10th with 3 penalties.

After his strong performance in the Pursuit race Nick Michaud (Ft. Kent) was back in the Mass Start jumping to an early lead on the first loop. Having focused a good portion of the season on improving his upper body strength and double pole technique, Michaud easily won the double start to lead the pack up the first hill. Entering the range with the pack Michaud hit only 2 of his first 5 leaving him with 3 extra rounds to finish off the 3 missed targets or head to the penalty loop. One by one they went down and he was off chasing eventual winner Ethan Dreissigacker (Morrisville, VT). Re-entering the range for their standing Michaud again was with the main pack of contenders and little did they know that this would be the deciding factor for gaining a spot on the Youth World Championship Team. Dreissigacker hit all 5 and left ahead of the pack, Michaud and Sprint winner Raleigh Goessling (Duluth, MN) both struggled early and ended up taking 2 penalties. Preston Butler (Marion, MA) took one less penalty, but left the penalty loop chasing Michaud. Butler, a member of the Youth Team last year was one of the athletes needing a strong performance to boost him on to the Team. Michaud held off a hard charging Butler to claim 2nd place while Butler settle for 3rd just 10 seconds back. In the Boy’s race Sam Humphries (North Yarmouth) won for the 3rd straight day with clean shooting. The Boy’s and Girl’s categories is not recognized by the International Biathlon Union at the World Championship level, but are an integral piece in Biathlon Development.

Team Naming: Grace Boutot and Hilary McNamee return for their 2nd and 3rd time to the Youth World Championships. Nick Michaud qualifies for his first ever Youth World Championships. The 2009 Youth and Jr. World Championships will be held in Canmore, Alberta, Canada, sight of the 1998 Winter Olympic Games. The Championships begin January 28 and run through February 3.

Youth & Jr. Trials - Mass Start

2009-01-01T15:16:00.000-05:00

Youth & Jr. Trials - Pursuit

2008-12-30T09:49:00.000-05:00

Boutot two for two with 2nd victory; Michaud climbs to 2nd – With temperatures hovering right around the legal racing limit of minus 4 degrees Farenheight racers took to the course in rapid succession in today’s Pursuit Format. Departing every 10 seconds each competitor could see at least one other racer the entire loop before entering the range making for some head to head shooting and eventually skiing. Picture: Grace Boutot

In the Youth Women’s race Grace Boutot (Ft. Kent) entered the range with teammate Hilary McNamee (Ft. Fairfield), McNamee already eating up the 10 second differential. McNamee struck first with a hit followed by Boutot, each of the athletes going back and forth until McNamee missed her third shot and then two more. Boutot cleaned and quickly distanced herself from the field as other competitors entered the range and suffered penalties as well. Boutot would clean again and wouldn’t suffer a miss until her first standing stage where she missed two and then one more in her final stage for a total of just 3 misses. McNamee missed just 1 target in her middle two stages, but 2 in her final stage relegated her to 3rd place behind Addie Byrne (Bovey, MN) who tallied just 6 penalties on the day to finish 1 minute 37 seconds behind Boutot who won for the second time in a time of 33:24. Kaitlyn Bernard (Ft. Kent) struggled in two of her stages today, but finished with a clean shooting in her final shooting to claim 4th. Andrea Mayo (Soldier Pond) like Bernard had two difficult and two strong stages leaving her in 6th followed by Jessica Caron (Ft. Kent) with 7 penalties in 7th and Molly Susla (Freeport) in 9th with 12 misses. Picture: Andrea Mayo

Nick Michaud (Ft. Kent) climbed up from 7th to finish 2nd in the Youth Men’s race. Missing 2 in his first stage Michaud moved up two spots and then into 3rd after a rough second stage for the top 6. Hitting 6 of his final 10 shots including a final stage duel against yesterday’s winner Raleigh Goessling (Esko, MN) where Michaud pulled into 2nd and held it all the way to the finish. Distancing himself early Ethan Dreissigacker ( Craftsbury, VT) hit 15 of 20 to claim his first victory of the trials series. Picture: Nick Michaud

Despite missing his start while trying to stay warm by keeping his warm up on as long as he could, Sam Humphries (North Yarmouth) won the Boys race for the second day in a row hitting 12 of 20 targets. Picture: Sam Humphries

Youth & Jr. Trials - Sprint

2008-12-30T09:44:00.000-05:00

Boutot leads MWSC sweep! - Cold temperatures and wind appear to be the calling card of a biathlon race this season. One week ago the biathletes raced in frigid conditions in Minnesota and today even with a noon time start to ensure enough daylight, athletes were covered head to toe to prevent frostbite. Despite the difficult conditions, the MWSC Biathletes came ready to race. Photo: Grace Boutot

Grace Boutot (Ft. Kent) hit 7 of 10 targets to win the first race of the Youth World Championship trials and to lead a MWSC sweep of the top 4 places. Teammate Hilary McNamee (Ft. Fairfield) managed 3 hits per stage to finish 2nd, 33 seconds back of Boutot. With the top shooting of the day, Molly Susla took an early lead after cleaning her first shooting stage, but 2 misses in standing dropped her back just behind McNamee. Kaitlyn Bernard (Ft. Kent) like McNamee hit 6 of 10 targets to finish 4th. Andrea Mayo (Soldier Pond) hit 6 of 10 to finish 6th and Jessica Caron (Ft. Kent) finished 8th with 4 penalties. “The shooting today wasn’t our best, but we were on par with the rest of the field,” commented MWSC Biathlon Coach Gary Colliander. “The cold and wind make it tough shooting conditions, but tomorrow we’re hoping to improve our shooting scores.”
In the Youth Men’s race Nick Michaud (Ft. Kent) left the range after prone tied for 3rd. Skiing strong Michaud entered the range, but missed all 5 drooping him back to finish 7th in a time of 36:35. Raleigh Goessling (Esko, MN) won with 5 misses in a time of 34:20. In the Boys race, Sam Humphries (North Yarmouth) skied very strong winning in a time of22:38. Photo: Molly Susla

Anchorage

2008-12-30T09:14:00.000-05:00

One of the pre-requisites these days for a biathlon race seems to be temperatures in the single digits. And depending on how lucky you are there may or may not be a little minus sign in front of the number. Bottom line is that Anchorage is cold! The daylight is short, the darkness long. But the people have been awesome! It reminds me a lot of going to Ft. Kent for the very first time back in 2000 when they hosted their first biathlon event. The organizers were very new to the whole idea of biathlon, but gave us one of the warmest welcomes ever. The folks here at Kincaid Park are not so new to biathlon, but they haven't had a major biathlon race in about 15 years. The've learned very quickly how to run a top level event and their interest in the sport, athletes and coaches has made us feel very welcome.

Things have changed since then with the building of a whole new facility, new range, new trails and new stadium. But some things haven't changed, tough courses, beautiful views of the mountains and ocean, cold temps, darkness, and of course moose. During the first race Kaitlyn and Hilary ran into one on their second loop. Being used to seeing moose back home, Hilary reacted swiftly by telling it to "scram." I guess the moose abruptly stopped, turned around, and headed back into the woods. Way to go Hil!

The Big Transition

2008-12-17T14:26:00.000-05:00

Other then those fortunate enough to ski on snow all year round, we all have to face the transition period from dry land training to snow. We do hours of running, biking and rollerskiing through out the spring, summer and winter, improving our fitness, strength and efficiency on snow. So how do we make this transition from running shoes and rollerskis to skiing on snow smoothly? Keeping a few key factors in mind can help you keep a healthy perspective and make for an easy transition once the snow flies. Picture: the author, BethAnn Chamberlain racing in Coleraine, MN.

There are few ways to mimic the feel of skiing on snow. Rollerskis provide a great training resource for those with the time, energy, money and interest. No matter if you spent 100 hours of training on rollerskis or none at all, there is a lot to get use to once on skis again. One of the unique characteristics of skiing is the feel of the ski underneath your foot. The camber of the ski allows a nice cushion under your foot, allowing the ski to flex onto the snow as you shift your weight and push off. The best skiers in the world develop an amazing sense as to the feel and flex of different skis underneath their foot. This can be a great advantage when skiing in different conditions, which can call for slight variations in technique to move as fast as possible down the trail.

The first few times skiing on snow each season provides you with a heightened sense of what the ski feels like under your foot. This is a great opportunity to magnify your ski sense. Pay close attention to how your ski feels underneath your foot while gliding, pushing off and using different techniques. This can teach us a lot on how to maximize the glide and speed of our ski while skiing.

Balance is one of the hardest components when making the winter transition. Incorporating balance drills into our dry land training can help smooth out this transition. This being said, I still haven’t found a dry land exercise that can strengthen and awaken the small intrinsic muscles of the foot and lower leg the way a ski on snow can. This is something to keep in mind when going out for your first few skis of the year. It is important to be patient with yourself as your muscles adapt and strengthen while transitioning onto snow. Taking ten or fifteen minutes of your ski to focus on balance can go a long ways, improving your balance for seasons to come. This can be as simple as seeing how long you can glide on one ski with each push or by balancing on one ski while gliding down a hill. We put a lot of time and money into the base of our skis; let’s get the most out of on our return by maximizing the time our skis can glide flat on the snow.

There can be an overwhelming amount of things to think about when on snow for the first time in a season. Don’t worry about working all the kinks out in your first ski. If you technique ideas you have been working on in the “off season”, think about them before your workout and pick one or two to focus on. Keep things simple while paying close attention how different things feel on snow. You can learn a great deal from yourself, simply by feeling.

Wishing you all a white Chirstmas !!!
-BethAnn Chamberlain

1125 miles!

2008-12-12T12:02:00.000-05:00

1125 Miles. That’s the distance from West Yellowstone, MT to Mamma C’s (Mamma Colliander’s) house in Minneapolis, MN. Five days into our camp, James Upham and I packed up the MWSC van and headed east with our sights set on a comfy bed and good ol’ home cooking! The drive was pretty unadventurous minus the periodic heavy winds, but once we hit the North Dakota (yes Fargo!) Minnesota border we found Father Winter. Blowing snow, icy roads and frigid temps welcomed us to the land of now 10,000 very frozen lakes.

Let’s back track a bit now. With the lack of snow in West Yellowstone the call was made to move the NorAm to Mt. Itasca. We arrived in Montana and had great skiing up on the plateau for two days, before things went south. Federal law requires the Forest Service to close the road to motorized vehicle traffic as of December 1. We talked with the Forest Service and many of the few locals still lurking around town and everyone, but the ski crowd seemed to know about this. They said we could hike, bike, ski, dog sled, or snowmobile up to the top, but no cars or trucks allowed. Bikes and dogs were out of the question, but we did look into snowmobiles, but with the lack of snow no one was interested in letting us rent their sleds to drive up the partially dirt road. That basically left us with one option and that was to hoof it up to the top! 1.5 hours of hiking up, two hours of skiing and another 1.5 hours of hiking down became our next day’s adventure. It was well worth it as it was a beautiful day and the skiing was phenomenal. We were up in the mountains and the trails belonged to the adventurous six who made the trek.

Now in Grand Rapids, MN, home of BethAnn Chamberlain (MWSC Biathlete) and Judy Garland (The Wizard of Oz) the training has been great. Finally we’re able to ski and shoot like true biathletes and we even adventured up to Giants Ridge for a distance classic ski. The weather here is true Minnesota weather with temps hovering around 0, but we’re happy to be here and training. Everyone is healthy, training well, and after watching the movie Miracle, everyone is very motivated to give their very best in these up coming races.

First Snow!

2008-10-22T22:11:00.001-04:00

The magic of the 10th Mountain Center in Ft. Kent graced us this morning. Waking up to a lawn turned white overnight it was a great sign that winter is on its way. There was only 2" in town this morning, but the 10th Mtn. Center sits on top a hill a few hundred feet above town and ironically the weather is different up there. I remember my first winter here when we had two inches in town and 16" up at the venue. Well once again the magic on the mountain greeted us as we pulled into the parking lot with 4-6" on the ground. We strapped on our skis and in minutes we were off making first tracks. Enjoy the pictures! (Above: Gary, Nick and Jess)

Kaitlyn breaking trail.

Nick's first fall!

Can you say "stilts"?

SoHo Final race

2008-10-20T00:29:00.000-04:00

The third and final race proved to be very exciting, but just about every Mass Start in biathlon is exciting. We saw pack skiing, gutsy attacks being made on the biggest hills, and head to head dueling in the range. In the Men's race Lowell Bailey and Jeremy Teela exchanged leads after 5 misses in Lowell's first standing, but we showed his experience as he came back blazing in the final stage and mowed them all down. Russell finished 11th with 10 penalties.

In the Women's race we saw Lanny Barnes return from her illness and hit 19 of 20. Denise Teela also turned in a strong performance to finish 2nd with 3 penalties. So the final two women that will head to the World Cup are Tracy Barnes-Colliander and Laura Spector. Grace finished strong today in 6th with 4 penalties, BethAnn was 7th and Hilary 9th.

The MWSC biathletes to be honest struggled today. The targets were not falling and there were some tired bodies cruising around the course. Being tired is one thing, but we need to hit our targets, we need to raise the bar and aim for perfection. We will not always reach it, but we have to at least put it out there and try.

Leif Nordgren leading the Men's pack out of the start.

Lead Men's pack.

Russell leading the 2nd pack.

Skiers and cabin

Women's train up Hermat's Hill.

SoHo Race #2

2008-10-18T16:49:00.000-04:00

BethAnn (left) struggled during the first race on the range, but she vowed to make things better in today's race. Starting with bib #1 Chamberlain cleaned her prone stage and left just ahead of Thursday’s winner Tracy Barnes-Colliander. On her second trip into the range she hit all but one target giving her a 90% average for the day and some motivation to push hard on the final loop. The extra work rewarded Chamberlain with a 3rd place finish in a time of 24:41. Barnes-Colliander won for the 2nd time in a time of 23:41 with two penalties with Laura Spector 2nd in a time of 24:11 and 1 penalty. Grace finished 10th, Meagan 11th, Hilary 12th all with one penalty, and Andrea Mayo finished 14th with 6 penalties. It was good to see the four girls hit 90% today. They have all trained very hard over the past week but expect them to give it one more hard effort tomorrow.

In the Men’s race Russell placed 12th with 6 penalties. Russell’s strength is the uphills so today he was trying to go faster on the flats and rolling parts of the course. He has looked very good all week and is constantly improving his technique. His misses in standing were so close and such a tight group. Look for him to bounce back tomorrow in the Mass Start. Pictures: Hilary and Andrea.