Hi Everyone,
Hope the late spring has been fun for you all!! I believe they are still skiing at Mt Itasca! The past few days of sunshine and 60’s do feel good, however!

Minnesota Biathlon has been working with youth athletes for many years. As most of you are aware, our program consists of local training, statewide camps, nationwide camps and competitions at all levels, statewide, regional, national and international. We put 5 of our biathletes onto the US Youth and Junior Worlds Team for the World Championships in Estonia this past year out of 15 from across the country! Currently we have programs with rifle ranges in Alexandria, Duluth, Elk River, Mt Itasca in Coleraine and here in Nisswa. Our first camp of this training year is coming up in the middle of May at Mt Itasca.

A few years back MN Biathlon was actively acquiring used biathlon rifles for use by the junior level athletes aged from 14 to 21. These are leased out annually at a nominal cost and the proceeds are used to maintain and upgrade the rifles. The acquisition program has not been productive in the past few years, and with our current growth, we need more rifles. We are limited now in how many younger athletes we can invite to camps or training due to the number of rifles available.

Basically we are looking for Anschutz Bolt actions or Fortner actions or the Russian Izmach rifles. Most of our current need is for right handed versions, but we also could use one more left handed Fortner.

If anyone has a rifle that is not being used, and would like to donate it to the organization, it could be considered as a tax writeoff on your taxes as we are a 501c3 Nonprofit corporation. If you wish to sell the rifle, we can consider a couple of possibilities: a] find a buyer for you from amongst our active members or b] consider a direct purchase at a reasonable price with consideration for the state of our finances.

In any case, if you have a biathlon rifle you are no longer in need of, please contact me, Bill Meyer, wmeyer@nisswa.net with a description of the firearm and your thoughts on passing it on.

Thanks,
Bill Meyer, Coach