JERICHO, Vt. - Vermont skiers dominated the 2007 Chief of the National Guard Bureau Biathlon Championships Feb. 18-24 at the Ethan Allen Firing Range, winning all but one of the races.
Vermont Army National Guard Spc. Nigel Kinney won the 20-km race. The Green Mountain State's Sgt. Jesse Downs won the 10-km sprint, and Sgt. Erin Graham won the female sprint. A four-man Vermont team took the 15-km patrol and 4 x 7.5-km relay races.
Eighteen states sent teams to the championships, and about 60 skiers participated. A Valentine's Day snowstorm covered the race course with several feet of snow, making racing conditions ideal, with temperatures on the frigid side. Biathlon combines rifle marksmanship with cross country skiing. Competitors ski loops on hilly trails, returning to a 50-meter firing range to shoot at targets with a .22 caliber rife from the prone and standing positions.
"I was excited about getting the win despite not shooting well," said Kinney about his victory in the 20 km race, even though he hit a mediocre 13 of 20 targets. "The shooting wasn't going well, but I kind of turned it around and shot eight of 10 on my last two stages. Then I knew I had a chance and pushed with everything I had."
The 21-year-old Kinney was clearly the fastest skier of the week. He punctuated that by finishing his 7.5-km relay leg in 23:36 “ about a minute and a half faster than anyone else “ even though he acknowledged that his skiing hasn't progressed this year the way he thought it would. "Every race I'm getting a little quicker, so I'm excited for the last couple races of the year," he said, referencing the U.S. Biathlon Nationals in early March, his main goal for the year.
Downs added another gold medal to his Guard Championships collection with the sprint win. He's won a handful since his first championships in 2001. He finished hard, even extending his foot across the line to save a time -- something normally reserved for a head-to-head finish. As it turned out, he needed every second, winning by only four, despite hitting eight targets to Kinney's three.
"I had to ski off those two penalties," said Downs. "That puts you in the hole by almost a minute. You know if the other person shoots ˜clean,' you have to ski that much faster." It takes about 25 seconds to ski a penalty loop.
Top biathletes normally receive input from their coaches during the race, including where they stand compared to their rivals. By shooting clean -- hitting all five targets -- a biathlete may have the luxury of skiing the next loop a bit easier. If they shoot poorly, they have to ski harder to make up time. Downs said he didn't receive any race intel and just skied all out and waited for the results.
He had the added pressure of starting one minute ahead of his main rival. Any racer will admit it's better to chase than to bechased. He crossed the line at the 40-second mark and watched Kinney come in about a minute back, never knowing for sure if he was victorious.
"It's odd that over 10 whole kilometers ¦ you end up that close together," he said.
Downs has been training full-time, doing two workouts a day with one day off a week”actually getting back into the sport after an extended layoff. Next year he hopes to be back at top form, compete in the World Championships, make it back on the U.S. national team and possibly compete in the Olympics.
On the women's side, All-Guard Biathlon Team member Sgt. Erin Graham won by more than five minutes in the sprint race. Her eight misses cost her in the 15-km race, and she finished second to Spc. Jill Krause of Minnesota.
In biathlon's long race, each miss adds a minute to a competitor's time. It's hard not to think about that when a biathlete settles in at the range.
"I have a tendency to be more cautious, and sometimes being more cautious results in more penalties," said Graham, who plays clarinet in the Vermont Army Guard's band.
The week may have lacked some excitement for the 27-year-old who competed in her first Biathlon World Championships in Italy earlier in February. There, thousands attended the event and millions more watched it on TV, including her parents on a Web-cast. She even carried the U.S. flag during the opening ceremony.
In the junior races, Wyoming National Guard Spc. Paige Chamberlin won both races, the 7.5 sprint and 15 km.
Biathlon provides discipline, physical fitness, shooting skills and teamwork”qualities that the Army is looking for in its Soldiers, said Army Lt. Col. Thomas Zelko, National Guard Sports coordinator during the closing ceremonies.
The championships rotate annually between the biathlon ranges of Camp Ethan Allen and Camp Ripley, Minn. Vermont has one of the premier cross-country ski and biathlon facilities in North America. Ethan Allen Firing Range, about 45 minutes east of Burlington, features one of three internationally-licensed biathlon courses in the United States. Vermont became the backbone of the U.S. Military Biathlon Program in 1972, and ran the National Guard Bureau's first biathlon championships in 1975. Approximately 65 Guardmembers served in support roles during the event. They included dining hall workers, drivers, race officials, course groomers and more.
The National Guard Bureau sponsors a Military Competitions Program that allows National Guard members to compete in domestic and international competitions. The program encompasses four types of events: marathon, marksmanship, biathlon and parachuting.
The mission of the Military Competitions Office is to establish policy and guidance for administration of competitive sports and integrate sports activities Guard-wide, starting at the novice level, which supports opportunities for athletes to reach the highest levels of amateur competition.