Good Morning Everyone,

Attached is a Policy/Guidelines for all Biathlon Training and Racing for June 2020 in MN under the auspices of MN Biathlon, but subject to the Governor’s rules and any guidelines scheduled to be coming out on June 1 from his office.

Based on the Policy and the underlying considerations, the two Camps scheduled for June [Mt Itasca and Elk River] are both cancelled. MN Biathlon will be putting together a new schedule for June to include Beginner rifle fitting/ indoctrination, Day Camps, and hopefully a race. Elk River is closed to roller skiing until July 1st to allow for a pipeline construction down the RR grade near the range. The range and other trails are open yet.

This Policy/Guideline is predicated on the assumption, and subject to our obligation to each other, that we practice safe habits to avoid spreading the Covid 19 virus. II is critical that we live up to this obligation.

Sincerely,
Bill Meyer, Coach
MNBiathlon

MN BIATHLON
POLICY/GUIDELINES FOR JUNE 2020
DUE TO COVID 19 PANDEMIC

This document is intended to give guidance for all MN Biathlon activities for the month of June and possible July, 2020 due to the prevalence of the Covid 19 virus in MN. It is subject to change particularly when the Governor’s guidelines are revised again on 1 June. 

General: 

• Keep all activities outside, if possible. 
• If an athlete, parent or coach is feeling sick, has a temperature over 99.5 F or has a cough, loss of taste or smell, stomach ache or a sore throat, or has anyone in their family with those symptoms—please stay home! Do not participate in any group gatherings!
• All group gatherings should be no more than 10 people total in size including coaches and parents. 
• Keep a ‘social distance’ of 6 feet or more as much as possible and further apart if working hard [like doing combos etc]. 
• If closer contact is unavoidable [like in fitting rifles] both persons should wear face masks. 
• There will be no overnight camps in June. If conditions allow, there will be some consideration for July so this document will be updated in mid-June, if not before that. 
• You can shoot individually, or otherwise participate in outdoor activities with normal cautions and in consideration of the above rules. 

Group Activities:

• Novice rifle fitting and indoctrination. We need to get the newcomers fitted with rifles and go through shooting positions and basic range procedure as soon as possible. This will take place at ranges near the athlete’s homes in small groups of 3 or 4 at max. Generally the arrival of the athletes should be staged 15 min apart to allow for individual rifle fitting in accordance with the above general rules. A minimum of ½ a day should be scheduled to go over safety rules, and practice positions and shooting. Then lease out the rifles w/parents ok. We appear to be tight on numbers of beginning rifles [Anschutz bolt actions and Izmachs] so if a prospective athlete doesn’t appear to be participating fully, don’t issue a rifle. 
• Specialized tests. Some have expressed interest in getting to Mt Itasca to do some of the testing that is normally done at the May or June camp like the hill climb and 11 km time trial. As there are no adequately safe facilities available for an overnight stay onsite, either schedule a couple of separate day trips or plan for lodging and meals on your own for an overnight. Schedule that with Vlad.
• Day camps. We will encourage groups of up to 10 total, by reservation, to attend daylong camps around the state. The current usable range facilities are Duluth, Mt Itasca, Alexandria and Elk River. Nisswa is down to two shooting points at the new location. I will set up a schedule primarily on weekends for day camps around the state. Once a newcomer has been through the Novice indoctrination they are eligible for the day camps, so we need to accomplish that first. 
• For those attending day camps:

1. The camp will be no more than one day at a time
2. Each athlete, coach and parent needs to bring their own food, a face mask and hand sanitizer. 
3. Each person should have their own water supply along

• Races. We have 4 races scheduled for Elk River, including one in June. We  have an issue with being able to roller ski out of the range due to a pipeline placement in the RR grade which is scheduled to be completed July 1^st. Currently we are trying to arrange a race at Camp Ripley for June and perhaps some training days later in the summer there. We will keep everyone updated on that issue. Races can also be running or biking at any of the venues. In any event, they should be run as individual or small group time trials where the organizer is available for say 3 hours and the athletes are scheduled to come at ½ hr intervals in small groups. [Like 3 or 4 at 5:00, 3 or 4 at 5:30 etc] So primarily racing against the clock with start times spread out quite a bit. 

Hopefully this policy will not be needed later in the summer. At this point in time, USBA is planning the Vermont camp and races in August, but not guaranteeing base housing will be available. We will stay on top of both the MN statewide rulings and the status of the VT camp. If you plan to attend if possible, let me know so we can reserve space in the barracks if they are open. 

Bill Meyer, Vice Pres & Coach
MN Biathlon
21 May 2020