CAMP ETHAN ALLEN TRAINING SITE, Vt. - A three-man Missouri National Guard biathlon team recently competed at the 2012 Chief of the National Guard Bureau Biathlon Championships beginning in late February, testing their skiing abilities, endurance and marksmanship skills.
The biathlon competition consists of several races over five days; each at a different distance. Most races require the biathletes to carry a 10-pound rifle on their back while skiing; they then stop a number of times during the race to shoot at five 2 to 4 inch targets at a distance of 50 meters.
Competitors fire while in two different firing positions, prone and standing, or offhand. In each shooting bout, marksmen get five rounds to hit five targets in which any target missed results in a penalty which adds distance, a 150 meter penalty lap per shot – or time, one minute per shot – depending on the race.
The first day of racing was a 10-kilometer sprint with two bouts of shooting; the second day was a 12.5K pursuit race with 4 bouts of shooting; the third day was an optional race the 1K super sprint with a shoot-off competition following that race; the fourth day was the 15K team patrol race; and the fifth and final day was the 4-by-7.5K relay race.
For team captain, Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Mitch Simpson, the biathlon competition isn't something new. He has been competing at the NGB biathlon races since the late 1990s.
"I saw a recruiting poster that had four pictures of competitive events on it," Simpson said. "There was the marathon team, the Winston P. Wilson matches, a sniper team, and a picture of a ski team on it. I started asking around about it. It took me awhile to figure out who I needed to talk to."
Simpson's name was added to a waiting list. Once there was an opening on the team, he joined and has participated in the races ever since.
"I love to ski, I love running and biking," Simpson said. "I just like doing physical training."
To prepare for the upcoming biathlon season and in-between the regional and national competitions, Simpson continues a regular training routine."I run and I road ski," he said.
Road skis are modified, short-weighted skis on wheels designed to simulate using skis, but on a hard surface. Living in a non-snow state, road skis are a critical training tool for dry-land training in Missouri.
Making it onto the Missouri team is open to anyone, but Simpson said applicants have to meet certain criteria of his.
"I want to know physical fitness test scores, long distance runs and run times because only running two miles won't cut it, how they qualify with their rifles on the range, if they've ever had any cold weather injuries, and if they've ever skied before," Simpson said. "It is an extremely demanding sport."
A new 2012 competitor, Staff Sgt. Tim Glavin, met Simpson's criteria.
"I ran the Army 10 Miler with Chief Simpson and he asked if I would be interested in it," said Army Staff Sgt. Tim Glavin, Missouri National Guard. "It was the first time I'd ever heard of it and it sounded pretty fun."
Glavin and another new team member, Army Sgt. Wayne Still, took to the slopes for the first time in December, 2011 when the team and their coach, retired Lt. Col. Pete Bergstrom, traveled to West Yellowstone, Mont. for the winter training camp. West Yellowstone is an essential part of training to get a veteran competitor and new recruits time on snow to prepare for the upcoming season. The joint training is the only way to learn the basic technique of skate style skiing, and is referred to as getting your ski legs back.
"It was hard, it was really difficult," Glavin said. "I'd never been on skis before, everything was brand new."
When the two newest members were learning how to ski, training had to start with the basics – only a month before the regional competition. For the first few days, they didn't train and carry the rifle like they would during the upcoming races.
"The first three or four days was really difficult," Glavin said. "I was falling down all day."
The Missouri National Guard team competed in the National Guard Bureau Central Regional Biathlon races in Grand Rapids, Minn., qualifying them to compete at the national championships.
Both Simpson and Glavin had the most fun competing during the 15K team patrol race.
"It went a lot better than I expected," Glavin said. "It was my favorite race; it was a lot of fun."
During this team race, all of the team members except for one must carry a rifle. In this race, the team is only as fast as the slowest member because the team must stay together. If one of the other members starts to get tired, they have the option to pass off their rifle for another member to carry. It can make a lot of difference getting that 10 pound rifle off your back especially when skiing uphill.
All of the races posed the same challenges for Glavin.
"The hardest part [was] mental and just staying with it," Glavin said. "When the races start, all of the competitors are staggered, every 30 seconds a new person starts. People were passing me the whole way but there was no way to tell if they were ahead of me or not because we didn't start together. You don't know what lap they are currently on, so the most challenging thing for me was just focusing on my race."
In addition to mental challenges, shooting at the range can be difficult. It's a different feeling than when Soldiers are on the range for their annual weapons qualification.
"Normally when I'm shooting I'm not out of breath and I'm not tired," Glavin said. "It was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. When you come up to the range and you lay down and you've been skiing, your heart rate is up, and your breathing is out of control, it's so hard to stay on target."
Typically, every year the biathlon team has some new members and most of them, like Glavin, have never skied before. Glavin offers some words of advice to future team members.
"Stay in shape and keep working out," Glavin said. "There are balancing exercises you can do to help and be sure to listen to the coaches and people who have competed in a biathlon before."