Fort Kent NorAm Pictures by Don Eno

Fort Kent NorAM

This weekend was the 3^rd stop of the North American Cup. It took place in my own backyard at the 10^th Mountain Ski Center. Despite the frigid temperatures the volunteers put together an extremely professional and well run race weekend. Due to some illness I pick up earlier in the week I did not race the sprint on Saturday. Even though I wasn’t starting I still did some easy distance training on the competition trials before the start. Over the course of my ski I was able to take a step back and take in the scene as a spectator and not as a racer. Before a race your focus on completely consumed by zeroing your rifle, testing skis, warming up etc. Seldom do you get more than a moment to appreciate your surroundings, the volunteers, and the atmosphere of the community. All the afore mentioned where top notch, and really triggered my itch to race in the Mass Start the next day. The mass start race was quite enjoyable. The pace was manageable, and I finally put together a decent shooting performance, with 60% in prone (still plenty of improvement to be made here) and 90% in standing. Results can be found HERE. Next week I travel to LaPatrie Quebec for another NorAm race, which will also be Canadian World Junior Championships Trials, so there should be excellent competition.

Racing, Training, and Resting

I arrived back in The County recovered and refreshed after a tough time in Alaska, and ready to begin training for Junior World Championships. I set out an ambitious training schedule for the week, all building up to the North American Championships in Jericho, Vermont. Training went well leading up to the racing and I was ready for some redemption after some subpar performances at Junior Trials. Unfortunately Jericho was suffering from the same low snow situation as the rest of the country, and the races where downgraded from North American Championships, to a North American Cup, to…. Well they finally settled on the “North American Invitational” nevertheless the fields where competitive and I was ready to race. The first day of competition was warm temps and crazy wind. Shooting success was completely contingent on the conditions you encountered when you arrived in the range. I was lucky in prone, and very unlucky in standing. Despite very poor shooting I was able to salvage a 2^nd place with some strong skiing. With a pursuit and mass start still to come I was hopeful that my shooting woes would subside when I encountered better conditions. The setting was much different for the next two contests thanks to a six plus inch snowstorm and accompanying cold front. With solid snow on the tracks and little wind I was excited to hit some targets. Unfortunately the strong skiing poor shooting theme persisted through the weekend, and I collected another 2^nd place and a 3^rd place. I have met with my coaches, reviewed some fundamentals, and made some small rifle adjustments that I hope will add up to better shooting this weekend at the North American Cup right here in Fort Kent, and next week in La Patrie Quebec. Due to some illness I picked up mid week I will on be racing the Mass Start here in Fort Kent, but I am excited none the less.

Winter Interlude

For the past week I have been enjoying some time in Southern Maine with my family. It has been good to withdraw from the biathlon scene for a bit, and recover before the second half of the season. The only problem with Southern Maine right now is the total lack of snow. we received a bit of snow this morning, but not nearly enough to ski on. In the abscence of snow I have had to revert back to running, lifting, and accuracy shooting for the past few days. A special thanks to Sue at the Pineland Farms YMCA for letting me lift pro bono yesterday. I return to Fort Kent on Sunday for a few days, then racing begins again with the North American Championships in Jericho Vermont.