US Biathlon Team Names IBU Cup Team

It IS a Merry Christmas!!!

US Biathlon officially named me to the IBU Team for January 2015! Read the full release, here.

Racing in Canmore, AB in December, 2014.

IBU Cup Trials

I competed at IBU Cup trials in Coleraine, MN last week. The event consisted of four races in five days! Overall the trials did not go as well as I had hoped, but I had two solid races in which I shot 70% and finished first and second. The important thing is that based on my performance in the trials I was selected to the IBU Cup team, which will travel to Europe in January for a series of races one level below the World Cup. It will be the highest level of racing I've ever done and I can't wait!

A foggy day at the range.

I won the final race of the trials.

GRP at World Cup and NorAm Cup

Green Racing Project biathletes kicked off the racing season last week with Susan Dunklee and Hannah Dreissigacker representing Craftbsury and Team USA at the World Cup in Östersund, Sweden, and Michael Gibson and Ethan Dreissigacker joining me in Canmore, AB, Canada at the NorAm Cup. Here's a link to the Craftsbury Outdoor Center's summary article about our accomplishments.

Ethan leads the men's NorAm Cup mass start into the range.

2nd Race, 1st Place!

In Sunday's mass start, I shot clean in prone (10/10 hits) and then missed 2 in both of the standing stages for a total of 16/20 hits, or 80% shooting. I've hit 80% a couple of times in a 2-stage race but never in a 4-stage race, so this was a success for me. I still have a lot of work to do on my shooting, especially standing, but it feels good to have two races under my belt as I head to IBU Cup trials in Minnesota next weekend. There were 298 competitors at this NorAm Cup, making it the largest biathlon race in North America ever. It was fun to be a part of the action!

It was a beautiful, sunny day in Canmore and Jakob Ellingson, a biathlete from Minnesota, took great pictures of the whole scene. Check out the rest of his album, here.

1st Race, 2nd Place

Here I am with Julia Ransom (Biathlon Alberta) 1st,
and Emma Lunder (B.A.) 3rd 

I shot clean in prone today and then went on to miss 3 in standing. Tomorrow we have a 12.5k mass start race. Both the 1st and 3rd place finishers from today are headed to Europe tomorrow for IBU Cup racing, so the competition opens up a bit. I hope to at least match but ideally improve upon my 70% shooting from today, and there is room for faster skiing too. Here are the results from today.

And here are some lovely pictures, courtesy of my US Biathlon teammate, Maddie Phaneuf.

The Season is Upon Us

The racing season, of course! I am in Canmore, Alberta for my first biathlon races of the season. Since trials in October, I survived enough cold, rainy training days to fulfill my lifetime quota and have resolved to move out of the northeast! 

(I am taking suggestions on places to live that satisfy the following criteria:

• urban access
• snow access
• water access, ideally swimmable
• predominant sunshine

So far the only place I can come up with is Truckee, CA, but there is possibly also a contender in the southern France/Pyrenees region.)

This is my second trip to Canmore, and first for racing. I came with the GRP two years ago for an October training trip on the "Frozen Thunder" man-made snow loop. Canmore is a sunny place, but very cold. It has been in the single-digits since I arrived three days ago, which I am viewing as acclimatization for my next racing destination: northern Minnesota.

Today we took a trip into Banff National Park, where we skied on Moraine Lake Road. The road is closed in winter except to skier traffic, and it is lined with tall, snow-covered pines. There is a moraine lake at the end, but I've never made it all the way there. There are continuous gorgeous views of the Canadian Rockies, including this one featuring the Lake Louise alpine World Cup venue:

And here is a picture of Lake Louise, covered in snow:

Find info and results for the NorAm races this Saturday and Sunday, December 6 & 7, here.