Saturday, March 27, 2010

US Nationals- Fort Kent: Sunday






Sunday was the last race. For our athletes it was a 7.5 km mass start, with the senior boys and girls. They shot twice prone and twice standing. We had Chester Jacobs on the podium in third, and Caitlin Crawford in first. After the races and awards we packed up the vans and drove home, arriving back in Yarmouth at about 10 pm. What a great trip!

Monday, March 22, 2010

US Nationals- Fort Kent: Saturday


.22 race



start of Maine state air rifle race



"Toast"
our buddies from MWSC



practicing


Representing SMBC on the podium for Senior Boys/Girls


Juan all smiles after shooting clean for the first time!


battling it out
Getting in the zone.

Saturday was the pursuit race in the morning and the citizens race in the afternoon. The start depended on your place in the sprint race, and racers went off every 5 seconds, and shot 4 times which made it a fun race to watch! We had Chester with a silver, Tara and Jackson with bronze, and Caitlin and Juan not far behind. Not bad! Conditions were soft and slushy again but it was a lot of fun. After lunch was the Maine State Biathlon Championships, with an air rifle category as well as .22. All of our athletes did a great job! On Saturday night we went to the banquet at UMFK and some athletes received medals from the sprint competition.

US Nationals- Fort Kent: Friday





Loving it

Olympic biathlete Haley Johnson and team mate Annelise Cook
SMBC ripping up the potato fields, coolest thing ever

Friday was a great day. It was a training day for everyone. We woke up early, and thanks to a warm Thursday and a cold Thursday night, the crust skiing on Friday was PERFECT. We drove and parked and skied in the morning on crusted over potato fields that went on for miles. It was sunny and the skiing was fast. And a big group of older athletes, and some olympic athletes came with us too, which was way cool. Most of the SMBC kids had never been crust skiing before, and it was an absolutely incredible experience.

Later in the day we had shooting and skiing practice. Highschool'ers zeroed and did some combos, and middle school'ers shot air rifles and did some skiing. In the afternoon we all free skied on the tenth mountain trails. After dinner there was a "skicross" fun even put on at the Lonesome Pine alpine mountain. Our group went and skied up part of the mountain, did some slalom and down hill skiing, threw some snowballs, and had a lot of fun. Another great day.

US Nationals- Fort Kent: Thursday


practice in the afternoon



relay race


representing y-town ski team
3 of the coaches, Mike, JB, and Connor




Jackson and Juan
climb



cheering on teammates


soaking up the sun, beautiful day on the range

After meeting on Wednesday after school at the park in ride, we left Yarmouth full of excitement in large white vans packed with athletes, skis, and stuff. We didn't arrive into Fort Kent until about 11 pm. Middle schoolers went off to their accommodations in Frenchville, and high schoolers stayed in the cabins in Fort Kent.


Thursday morning was a 6k sprint race. Jackson, Chester, Juan, and Tara raced in the Senior Boys/Girls categories for 15/16 year olds. Those who did not race fore-ran the different courses and skied around and watched the races. After the race everyone skied around and we had a fun shooting practice with some relays. Very productive! The sun was shining, and everyone got a heavy dose of vitamin D. The snow was soft and we felt like we were skiing in mashed potatoes, but that's spring skiing for you! The race was three 2k loops for us, with one prone and one standing shooting stage.


We had dinner at the Christian Life Center in Frenchville where the middle schoolers were staying, you can ask your kids for their stories about that. Over all the day was a great success. We had Tara on the podium in 2nd, Jackson, Chester, and Juan in the top 10, and about 25 young athletes skiing around and trying shooting, and loving it!