by Coach Carl Klossner
The Polar Bear Biathlon Club hosted a Modified Pursuit Running Biathlon Race at McCauley Mountian Ski Center on Sunday, June 14.
This was the first summer biathlon event of the season with other races taking place in Saratoga, Syracuse and Old Forge throughout the summer.
There were eight racers entered in the four shooting station/five lap race.
The course distance was approximately five kilometers (3.1 miles.)
The weather was beautiful for the first race of the season.
The course was well groomed, thanks to Steve Uzdavinis and his McCauley crew, and the range looked perfect.
The race kicked off promptly at 10 a.m. with Tyler Rudolph leading the pack.
Janine Phaneuf was second on the course followed by Connor Hrynuk—all three Polar Bear Biathlon racers.
The other Polar Bear Biathletes were Lesley Leach and Henry Uzdavinis. Other racers were Steven Riccio of the New Hartford area; Robert Winter—a former member of the Polar Bear Ski Club now living in the Syracuse area; and Peter Indick of the Syracuse Biathlon Club.
The results of the race were as follows: Boy Class – 1st place, Tyler Rudolph; Youth Male Class – 1st, Henry Uzdavinis and 2nd, Connor Hrynuk.
Master Men’s Class – 1st, Peter Indick was first; Novice Senior Men’s Class – 1st, Steven Riccio and 2nd, Rob Winter.
Novice Master Women’s Class – 1st, Lesley Leach and 2nd, Janine Phaneuf.
Noteworthy points of the race were in the Youth Male class.
This is a competition class that shoots small targets prone and large targets standing.
If a racer misses a target they are required to run a 75 meter penalty lap…the more misses, the more laps!
Henry and Connor finished 47 seconds apart with Henry hitting two more targets than Connor.
It should also be noted that Henry hit 9 of 10 targets standing, which was the difference in the race. It was a great race between two fine biathletes!
In the Novice Women’s Class, Lesley Leach was the only shooter in the race to shoot clean, hitting 20 out of 20 targets.
Two other noteworthy shooters were Tyler Rudolph and Robert Winter, each hitting 17 of 20 targets.
Thank you to the spectators who came to the race. It was nice to see you there.
We will hold our final race of the season on Sunday, August 16. It will be a sprint race with each racer running three laps shooting one prone station and one standing station after the first and second laps respectively. Please come out and watch our biathletes perform!