Minnesota Biathlon

Mt. Itasca Biathlon Association in Coleraine, Minnesota has been awarded the 2008 North American Biathlon Championships. The North American Biathlon Championship is an IBU sanctioned event, and will feature Sprint, Pursuit and Mass Start races. Race dates will be March 20-23, 2008. Athletes from all over the U.S. and Canada will be competing. In addition to the North American titles, these athletes will by vying for U.S. National Championships titles for Seniors, Juniors, and Masters.

The Mt.Itasca Winter Sports complex features a 3.3 km man made snow loop and 30 point biathlon range, as well as additional xc ski trails, an alpine ski hill, and a ski jumping facility. Mt Itasca has become a regular stop on the USSA XC Super Tour and North American Biathlon Cup circuit thanks to its challenging terrain, a fantastic stadium, and snowmaking capability. Many of the U.S. Junior National team athletes train year round at Mt. Itasca under Coach Vladimir Cervneka. Coleraine and nearby Grand Rapids, are located 3.5 hours north west of the Twin Cities and 75 minutes west of Duluth.

The race invitation and registration forms will be posted here soon!

Results are from the 11th Annual Fall Festival at Camp Ripley. The course was a bit slick from leaves and recent rains, but there was some really great shooting.

• Saturday Individual Results pdf
• Sunday Mass Start Results pdf

Mt. Itasca in Coleraine Minnesota has been chosen to host the National Biathlon Championships for the US in March of 2008. This will also be the North American Championships so we can expect to see the top biathletes from the US and Canada competing.

In addition, we will be hosting the US Masters Biathlon Championships at the same time. The Masters will have separate races on age appropriate separate courses. (This is a result of the efforts of the USBA Masters Committee, on which Lou Chouinard represents Minnesota.)

We really need to have a strong showing of Minnesota Masters biathletes – including those who consider themselves to be “retired”, not-currently-training, or otherwise inactive…

Racing will be on Thursday, March 20 (the Vernal Equinox), Saturday 3/23 and Sunday 3/24 (Easter).

This will be a joint effort between the Mt Itasca Biathlon Association, MN Biathlon, and USBA. As such, we will need lots of participation and volunteer help.

More details later but please mark your calendars now!

The race is open to experienced and novice biathletes. Starts will be in waves, 5 x 2.5km loop, pursuit format (Prone-Prone-Standing-Standing). 

results pdf

The race is open to experienced and novice biathletes. Starts will be in waves, 5 x 2.5km loop, pursuit format (Prone-Prone-Standing-Standing).

results pdf