Minnesota Biathlon

Results:

1112 Guard Regionals- Mt Itasca 27 Jan Sprint
1112 Guard Regionals- Mt Itasca 28 Jan Pursuit

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Regional and National Junior Development Biathlon Camps

Schedule and Application

Summer 2011

Goals for USBA Camps
Looking for Top Results at the Olympics and World Cup

The U.S.Biathlon Association has had a long history of recruiting talented and motivated athletes and helping them become world class biathletes.  Currently our men’s team is ranked 10^th in the world, with all 4 of our top men regularly finishing in the top 40 in the world.  Tim Burke, our top athlete this year, wore the yellow bib (# 1 World Cup ranking) for several weeks prior to the Olympic Games.  We are looking toward 2014 and 2018 Olympics with excitement, and we hope to find a number of future Olympians in our Regional Development Camps of 2010.  Most of our current national team athletes all came to similar camps in 1995-1998.

Description and Purpose of Camps

The purpose of the Regional Development Camp is to allow you as an athlete to get a “jump start” in biathlon marksmanship, while at the same time experience a “national team” style training camp.  We will be training lots of hours, working on ski technique and strength training technique.  Many of the camps will be run in conjunction with the Junior national team or other athletes with advanced shooting skills.

Download application and more information pdf – doc – or click “Read the rest of this entry” below

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CENTRAL REGIONAL BIATHLON RACES

Friday, January 14^th – Saturday, January 15^th, 2011
at

Camp Ripley Biathlon Range – Little Falls, Minnesota, USA

Hosted by: Minnesota National Guard

Sprint Results 1/14/2011

Relay Results 1/15/2011

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Known Conflicts

• Jan 8                  Pre-Loppet
• Jan 8                  Mesabi Invitational – HS
• Jan 22 – 23            Super Tour / JOQ – Minneapolis
• Feb 5 – 6                  City of Lakes Loppet
• Feb 9                             Section Meets – HS
• Feb 17                  State HS Meet
• Feb   13^th Mora Vassaloppet
• Feb   19^th Bemidji Finlandia
• Feb 26 – 27            American Birkebeiner
• March 7 – 12            Junior Nationals – Minneapolis

Great 3 days at Camp Ripley! Thanks to the hospitality of the MNNational Guard and the US Guard Biathlon program, Camp Ripley hosted a Summer Festival consisting of a mix of training, rollerski biathlon and cross [running] biathlon races.

For most, the training started on Friday with Formal Training using the 2km paved roller ski loops and the 30 point range. Work on the facility has progressed this summer including some storm debris removal, vegetation control, and sweeping/blowing. Additional bituminous work is planned for the future on the 16 yr old trails. But with the trails skiable, the number of skiers vs runners went about 2 or more to 1. All the civilian participants roller skied the events.

Overall about 32 participated on one day or the other in the races. With my focus on the roller ski events, the following relates to that, in particular:

Different loops were used for each class. On Saturday we had an Individual Race with 30 sec add-on penalties–on Sunday a mass start with a linear penalty loop that punished first those with any penalty because of the extra distance TO the penalty lane and secondly–another harsh jump for those with 4 or 5 penalties [3 U turns vs 1 U for 3 or less penalties]. The runners had a shorter 70 meter loop located inside the normal penalty ring of flagpoles.

Saturday’s events followed an overnight rain which left the trails a bit slippery for the first couple of laps. Wind was moderate but a bit fickle, switching sides occasionally.

In the Individual race, starting at 30 sec intervals, Jesse Downs and Bill Bowler battled it out with the same misses until the 2nd prone–Jesse’s experience paid off in that 3rd shooting with 1 penalty vs Bill’s 3 and a final time difference of 24 sec for the Sr Men’s, Jr Men’s, & Masters 13.25km race. Downs at 40:54 and Bowler at 41:18. A solid 3rd place went to 17 yr old first year Youth Erik Rupert racing up 2 yrs [or was it 4 yrs??]
with 2 5 0 0 shooting and a time of 47:21.

While still a Senior, Brian Wray, a MNBiathlon working-man amateur, took 4th with 8 misses in 55:55. Isaiah Burkhart of the Oregon Guard was 5th with 7 misses in 57:39

In the Youth Men’s 11.25km class a battle started last winter continued between St Cloud’s Nick Proell and Nisswa’s Zean Baker. Nick again prevailed with 9 penalties and a time of 44:22 to Zean’s 11 penalties and 48:27. In 3rd place was Tyler Gustofson of Grand Rapids with 13 misses and a time of 48:55.

In the Youth Womens 9.85km  category Kelly Kjorlein easily prevailed with 6 misses in 39:47 over newcomer Anna Kubek with 10 misses and 49:07.

Then after a good night’s sleep, the competition continued on Sunday morning–with a warm day, light wind, and lots of sunshine. The format was switched to Mass Start with a linear penalty loop, and the distances all dropped for each class.

In the Senior Men’s, Jr Men’s, Masters  11.25km Division, Jesse Downs again prevailed as Bill Bowler broke a ski shaft with an extra little push. Jesse finished with 5 misses in 34:17. Erik Rupert took 2nd with 11 penalties in 41:09. Josh Duda was 3rd with 13 in 53:55 followed by newcomer from Nisswa NW Evan Ingebrigtson with 11penalties in 57:29.

In the Youth Women’s 7.75 km  race, Kelly Kjorlein again prevailed with only 3 misses in 29:38; followed by Anna Kubek with 7 misses in 32:52 and in third was Jenna Ruzich with 8 penalties in 36:34. Anna also demonstrated her gymnastics skills with a summersault at the start line.

The most exciting race of the weekend was in the Youth Men’s 9.85 Mass Start division. Zean Baker chased Erik and Nick [cousins] into the range on the first lap–beating Nicks shooting 2 misses to Nick’s 4 and got a good lead. [Erik was skiing the longer race from that point on.]  In the second shooting Zean again prevailed with 2 misses to Nicks 3, but then faded a bit on the course as Nick moved closer. Nick outshot Zean 1 miss to 2 on the first standing stage–and they came in together for the last shooting. Zean got in first and is left handed so they ended up facing each other for the last shootoff–Zean faltered a bit and missed 3..but got out of the range first–Nick had a bad feed–but corrected and hit his last shot for 1 miss. Strong skiing by both left Nick in front [again] by 44 sec.

With some water bottles and tee shirts up for grabs provided by the Guard, along with use as race prizes we had a shoot-off featuring standing offhand shooting on the prone metal. That is a 45mm target at 50 meters after a hard race!! Topping all the shooters, Kelly Kjorlein again proved superior knocking down 2 in each of 3 shooting bouts. Nice Work, Kelly! Currently she is also the reigning champion in the US Nationwide 60 shot test with a 287/300 [30 shot] prone and 228/300 [30 shot] standing for a total of 515/600. The 10 ring on those targets is about 3/8″ in diameter and you have to break that line with the bullet to get a 10 score for that shot.

Great weekend. Most are now looking forward to Summer Festival-Vermont starting next weekend.

-Bill Meyer

RESULTS (photos of printed results)