Students get chance to watch, understand biathlon
In addition to a week of vacation, many Aroostook County youth may be looking forward to the International Biathlon Union World Cup.
The class of fifth and sixth graders at Easton Elementary are among the more than 2,000 students from around northern Maine who are attending the biathlon competitions this week
Many of them will have a solid appreciation of the ski and sharpshooting sport, thank to Elaine Hendrickson, a retired teacher and current ski instructor, who has been travelling to schools around northern Maine sharing the story of biathlon.
Hendrickson took them on a tour through the history and modern times of biathlon, noting to wowed expressions that the best skiers can earn millions of dollars a year.
Biathlon evolved in northern Europe, Norway, Finland and Sweden, Hendrickson said. “After skiing was invented, some ingenious person decided, ‘I can put my skis on, strap my rifle to my back and I can go about and hunt,’”
It became an official sport in 1767, after a Norwegian and Swedish competition, and was a prominent combination of that spread. The ski and rifle setup was adopted by the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division during incursions against the Nazis in World War II, the same division that the 10th Mountain Division Lodge in Fort Kent is named for.
In 1958, the first world championship biathlon was held, and two years later it became an Olympic sport — but only open to men and closed to women for another three decades, Hendrickson said.
“If you were a women during that time, and you were a good skier and good shot, you would not have been able to biathlon until 1992.”
Hendrickson brought in her cross country ski, similar to the skis used by athletes for skate and freestyle skiing in their races, ranging from 3.7 to 7.7 miles. She also explained the sharpshooting aspect of the sport with the help of Cheyanne Day, a fifth grader who took up the role of an athlete sometimes hitting and sometimes missing the target.
The rifles use a scope, without magnification, as well as eight bullets to a cartridge for a round of five targets, Hendrickson said. On the ground, the target they shoot at is as big as an Oreo, with a larger target during the standing up shots. For every target they miss, the biathletes have to ski 150 meters, adding up to 30 seconds to their time.
The fifth and sixth graders will be at the Nordic Heritage Center on Thursday, for the men’s and women’s spring races, and they’ll be looking out for athletes from countries they studied and the leading competitors in this World Cup, which runs through 9 series and a final championship.
Ranking first heading into the competition this week is Martin Fourcade of France, among the males, and Gabriela Soukalov√°, of Czech Republic, among females.
U.S. skiers Lowell Bailey, of New York, and Susan Dunklee, of Vermont, are ranking around 20th and 22nd place, respectively. And Maddie Phaneuf, an upstate New York native who has trained in Fort Kent, is on track to go the Olympics and probably going to ski in the Presque Isle races.
Some of the students’ extended families are also hosting team and staff members for the event, as the Hendricks did for the 2011 biathlon when they hosted the Greenland team.
“I thought, I’m going to feed them a nice New England dinner, and I made corn chowder and biscuits. They don’t drink milk.”
Overall, though, “It was really fun,” she said. “I came home one night and there was a target taped to my living room wall, and they had their rifle out, king of pretending to practice on my living room wall.”
