Now is your chance to compete head to head with other biathletes from Canada and the US. See the note below from Danika Frisbie, with USBA, for the “virtual” summer biathlon competition August 3 to 9. Lets show what the Midwest has in numbers of biathletes and what we can do. All age groups and abilities encouraged to participate. Sign up and instructions are below in Danika’s emial. The competition consists of a 3K run on a track and the American shooting test.

Lets have some fun with this!

Please pass this note along to others that may be interested.

Mark Torresani
USBA Midwest Coordinator

Virtual North American Biathlon Summer Nationals 2020

Coaches and athletes,

Here is an opportunity for you to compete from your home training grounds at a national level.

While it’s not the same as Jericho, we hope this alternative competition format will give athletes in all stages of development a chance to challenge themselves against peers across the U.S. and Canada while head-to-head opportunities remain limited.

Registration is online at: www.skireg.com/virtual-biathlon-summer-nationals. There is no cost to compete. A summary of the competition format is below; see attachment for further details.

To compete, you should be an active athlete or coach member of U.S. Biathlon or Biathlon Canada.

Let’s do this! Best regards, Danika & U.S. Biathlon Staff

The Competition

The competition is to achieve the fastest overall combined time from a 3000m running time trial and an American test executed to completion. A 15 second time penalty will be added to the overall time for each missed target in the American test.

3000m time trial
+ American test (P,S,P,S)
+ 0:15 seconds per penalty
= total competition time

This format allows us to best mimic elements of biathlon competition with standardized, repeatable components that can be completed from any track or range in the county.

U15 athletes will follow a shorter format. All other competition categories will use the format above. The competition categories are: U15, U17, U19 (Youth), Junior, Senior, Open Masters, Grand Masters.  See competition rules for details and competition category guidelines.

How it works

1. Sign up to participate at www.skireg.com/virtual-biathlon-summer-nationals. You will be sent a link to an online form to submit your results.
2. Plan sessions between August 3-9th to complete your competition segments.
3. Compete! Get a coach, training partner, or friend to time an American test for you, and head to the track to complete a 3000m time trial. The tests do not need to be completed on the same day.
4. Submit your run time and your American test results by August 9th at 4:00pm EDT using the online entry form sent to you.
5. Results and awards will be announced on August 10th, and the traditional Jericho race socks will be mailed to all North American competitors!

Details on competition format, categories, and instructions are provided below. Please do your best to follow the competition rules! Though we cannot guarantee standard conditions were met for every competition entry, we trust that everyone entering this event will participate in the spirit of a fair and honest competition. Do your best!

Other ways to celebrate biathlon

• All competitors will receive a pair of race socks from “the summer nationals that never was” thanks to the generous spirit of Ethan Allen Biathlon Club.
• Design the socks for this year’s competition in our sock design contest!  Submit your designs to Danika Frisbie at dfrisbie@usbiathlon.org by August 1, 2020 using the template attached to this guide. Socks are produced by Save our Soles knitting in Colorado.
• Share photos of you and/or your teammates competing! Use the hashtags #usbiathlon, #biathloncanada, and #jericho2020.