Maddie on the awards podium for her second place finish

by Carl Klossner 

Maddie Phaneuf, a member of the local Polar Bear Biathlon Club, and her father Joe, headed north to Fort Kent, ME on Wednesday, March 5 for the U.S. Biathlon National Championships.

Maddie’s first day in Maine began with an official training day with time spent on inspecting the race courses and zeroing her rifle for the next day’s competition. (Note: Each competitor’s race day is started by zeroing or siting in his or her rifle. No matter how accurate the rifle was the day before, the next it could be way off of its mark.)

The afternoon brought another session with U.S. Biathlon Development Coach Algis Shalna, who Maddie has been working with over the last two years.

Maddie had her first race of the weekend, a six kilometer sprint race, on Friday, March 8. This meant that she would ski three 2 kilometer loops stopping to shoot prone and then standing at the end of the first two loops.

At the end of the race Maddie had shot 60% and finished second in her class for a Silver Medal—a good way to start off the competition.

Maddie shooting targets from the prone position

On Saturday, March 9, Maddie raced a modified pursuit race where her starting position and time was based on her finish from the previous day.

But because of the number of racers and race conditions, the format was changed to interval starts five seconds apart. The field was on-course rapidly.

Each racer had to ski five laps and shoot four times. The sequence was prone, prone, standing, standing. Maddie’s race course was one and one half kilometers each lap, or a total of 7.5 kilometers.

At the end of the race she had finished fourth in her class, approximately five seconds out of third. She shot 50% on that day. Continue reading →

by Carl Klossner, Guest Contributor 

It was a beautiful day at McCauley Mountain on New Year’s Day for a sprint race hosted by the Polar Bear Biathlon Ski Club. Temperatures were mild—in the high teens—and the snow that fell before and after Christmas provided for the most usable conditions we have seen in three years.

The biathlon began at 10 a.m. with all racers skiing 7.5 km and shooting twice during the race. The snow was fast and well groomed.

Of the eleven racers  kicking off their seaon at McCauley, four were from the Old Forge area.

Biathlete Maddie Phaneuf. Photos by Wende Carr

Among them was Maddie Phaneuf, who had returned two days earlier from the Junior/Youth Biathlon World Team trials in Minnesota where she placed fifth.

Also competing were Lesley Leach, who had moved from the sport class to the competition class for the first time; Henry Uzdavinis who raced in the sport class; and first-time racer, Tor Ruud, an exchange student who is living with the Phaneuf family this school year.

Before I report the results, allow me to offer a refresher on the biathlon classes.

Competitors in the sport class do not carry a gun. They shoot twice at large targets in the prone position.

Those in the competition class carry their rifles, shoot at small targets in the prone position and large targets in the standing position. Continue reading →