Minnesota Biathlon 2018/2019 Winter Schedule

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Minnesota Biathlon 2018/2019 Winter Schedule

October
Saturday Oct 20th. Training day at Elk River [please contact Bill Meyer if you are interested!]
Sunday Oct 21st Biathlon race, Elk River, 10:00 zero-

November
Nov 17th-25th T camp at West Yellowstone-including a biathlon race there

December
Sunday Dec 9th- Biathlon race Mt Itasca
Sunday Dec 16th Biathlon race Mt Itasca
15th/16th CXC JNQ in Michigan
22/23 CXC JNQ Madison- sprints
Fri Dec 28th Biathlon Trials Official training Soldier Hollow UT
Sat-Mon- Dec 29th-31st Biathlon Trials races UT

January
Sat Jan 5th- Mesabi Invite hs
Sunday Jan 13th Biathlon race Elk River
19/20 CXC JNQ Cable WI
25th-4 Feb- YJr Worlds Slovakia

February
Saturday 2nd Feb, Biathlon race Nisswa
4th-8th Section races hs
14th State meet hs
16/17 CXC JNQ Mpls

March
Sun 3rd of March, Biathlon race Snowflake, Duluth
Sun 10th of March Biathlon race Mt Itasca
28-31 Mar US Biathlon Nationals- eastern venue to be announced.

Mt Itasca not good for tomorrow (Saturday, November 17)

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Hi All,
The groomer at Mt Itasca had a boiler issue at his house yesterday and today, and did not get the snow pushed and groomed. Possibly tomorrow night. I will let you know. So the practice we had hoped for tomorrow there is off. Anyone looking to shoot is welcome to come here [no snow—just some ice on the roads] and shoot at 10:00 tomorrow.
Sorry ‘bout that!!
Bill Meyer, Coach
MNBiathlon

THIS WEEK THE 12TH OF NOVEMBER, 2018

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Good Morning All!
So we have a little snow on the ground, cold temps so the guns are running, and skiing should be coming up by this weekend for pretty much anyone wanting to travel a few miles!
Vlad says he thinks 1.5 km will be open at Mt Itasca this coming weekend. Some are headed for West Yellowstone where they started grooming a week ago.
Looks like Ely is skiing on natural snow, and maybe by this weekend other grassy areas will be skiable. If the conditions are poor, the best advice I can give you is to just put on rock skis and work on double poling. Do not try to skate on poor snow or grooming the first few times out. It will only build up frustration and bad habits. You can maybe get by classical striding a bit.
When you get on good snow, well groomed, the last thing you want to do is to try to get up to race speed. What you do want to work on is transferring that good technique you learned on roller skis to snow skis. Don’t start the season out by building up bad habits!! So spend the first hours on snow going through all the steps of good technique: back pole angles at plant with forward elbows, leg compression, good timing, smooth pushes with complete weight shifts, bent ankles/knees with hips over the skis—-classical or skate.
For this week the goal for most should be a lot of hours—going slowly!! Especially those headed for West next week—remember that is high altitude [6700’] and a small amount of exertion will give you high lactates. So a lot of slow, top level technique for the first days. In fact those going to West should take this week a bit easier—this is your recovery week! Next week ski as much as you can!!
In West there will be a biathlon race on Wed next week. You should do that—but need to register online–
For those just skiing this coming weekend and the weekend after Thanksgiving, you can take it easy during the weekdays next week, and enjoy your Turkey on Thanksgiving! But definitely get on snow as soon as you can! Then for everyone, ramp up the volume and intensity of training the first week of Month 9!!
Be sure to check over your good ski equipment, get your winter baskets on your poles, be sure your skis still fit [with all the weight on one flat foot—there should be a pocket at least 14”-16” long on a skate ski. Your poles should come to your upper lip..or slightly shorter. Be sure you have straps you can easily get in and out of..clip ins or ‘biathlon straps’ work the best. Be sure your gloves allow you to handle magazines and allow a good smooth careful trigger squeeze, but also keep your hands warm. Use an overmitten for the first lap if you need to. As you layer up, be sure you increase the size of the outer layers enough so you don’t curtail your movements like a stuffed sausage!
For those with new skis—scrape them down, look at the grind. If it is really deep and obvious..you might want to get them ground immediately to a fine or at most a universal grind. In any case new or after grinding, start waxing them with a soft wax 6-8 times..to work the wax in deeply..then move to a medium [blue] wax for a few more to harden up the bases. All the early wax should be CH—no fluoros. Also a thought if the weather turns cold or out west where it is really dry—Start Green is the best cold weather wax. LF is fine. The first time you go that cold with the wax, you need to wax several times to harden up the bases. Then for travel or post race wax—stay hard—do not put on red or pink or whatever…you will just soften the bases back up again. Use a blue CH for a travel wax instead.
For everyone, spend a lot of time now working on range procedure and combos to get your biathlon skills up to par! Accuracy and range procedure training can take place under all conditions..get used to the cold air and wind—learn to dress so you can stay warm but still function and shoot!
So Enjoy the Journey!
Bill Meyer, Coach
MNBiathlon

Early World Cup and IBU Cup teams named

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USBA had named the teams for the early World Cup and IBU Cup races. A number of Midwest Biathletes are on the teams! Our Congrats go out especially to Vasek Cervenka, who made the IBU Cup team as a first year Junior at 19!! He will also be automatically prequalified for the US Youth and Junior Team with the rest selected from races in Utah in late December.

The Teams were named based on the results of roller ski Biathlon races in Vermont in August and Utah late in Oct. As indicated, some World Cup members were prequalified based on last years results.

Bill Meyer
Coach

(Nov. 5, 2018) — Following the completion of the Rollerski Team Trials last week in Soldier Hollow, Utah, U.S. Biathlon has announced the roster for the opening BMW IBU World Cup in Pokljuka, Slovenia, Nov. 30-Dec. 9. The roster includes six Olympians from the 2018 PyeongChang Games.

The women’s roster, which has three start spots in Pokljuka, boasts four biathletes with Olympic experience. Susan Dunklee (Barton, Vt.), Clare Egan (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) and Joanne Reid (Palo Alto, Calif.) were pre-qualified for the World Cup roster prior to the rollerski trials. They will be joined by fellow 2018 Olympian Emily Dreissigacker (Morrisville, Vt.). A decision regarding which three athletes will start what races in Pokljuka will be made by the coaching staff at the World Cup.

At the conclusion of the Pokljuka World Cup, one woman will be selected to also compete at the IBU Cup #2 in Ridnaun-Val Ridanna, Italy, Dec. 10-16.

The U.S. men’s World Cup team for Pokljuka will include pre-qualified athletes and two-time Olympians Sean Doherty (Center Conway, N.H.) and Leif Nordgren (Marine, Minn.), along with rollerski trials winner Paul Schommer (Appleton, Wis.) and Travis Cooper (Kenai, Alaska). Because Cooper must compete at the IBU Cup #1, Nov. 26-Dec. 2 in Idre, Sweden, to earn his IBU qualification, Max Durschi (Ketchum, Idaho) will also travel to the World Cup in Pokljuka as a reserve. The men’s team has four start spots at the World Cup.

Selected to race at IBU Cup #2 in Ridnaun-Val Ridanna, Italy, on the women’s team were Hallie Grossman (South Burlington, Vt.), Deedra Irwin (Pulaski, Wis.) and Kelsey Dickinson (Winthrop, Wash.). They will be joined by one member of the BMW IBU World Cup team from Pokljuka to round out the four starting spots.

The men’s four starting spots at the IBU Cup #2 will be filled by Durtschi, Alex Howe (Gilford, N.H.), Jake Brown (St. Paul, Minn.) and Vasek Cervenka (Grand Rapids, Minn.).

Liatoppen Biathlon Festival 2019

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We will be taking a team to the Liatoppen Biathlon Festival in Norway again this season in April, 2019.  As most of you know, this Biathlon Festival for ages 11-16 has the largest participation annually of any Biathlon event in the world.  Over 1100 kids race!  It has been a great experience for the athletes we have taken over the last 3 years.

I will be leading the trip this year and have prepared the attached information sheet and application form.  Note that we will accept applications from 14-16 year old Girls (born 2003, 2004, 2005) and 15-16 year old Boys (born 2003-2004) for the trip this season.  Please forward to your eligible athletes and to other interested programs if I have missed someone in this email.

Applications are due 5 December 2018.

liatoppen application 2019
InfoSheetLiatoppen2019

Please contact me if you have any questions.

Marc Sheppard
Gunsmith
Altius Handcrafted Firearms