Canadian Nationals Relay

Today's race was a 3x6k mixed relay - Walt was teamed up with two other US biathletes, Sara Studebaker and Jesse Downs. Walt scrambled and tagged off in third, just behind Tim Burke and the top Canadian team, which is where the team ended up. He shot clean again with no extra bullets and had one of the fastest range times of the day. Today was a better skiing day - he was a bit tired but put up a solid ski time - a great way to end the season. These last couple weeks have really motivated Walt, and he's fired up for the future - just the way you want to feel going into a long off-season.

And with that, the season is officially over (unless Nat has another 75k race planned that I haven't heard about). It's been a good one - we made a lot of progress, but there's more to be done, as always. I'll post a some thoughts about the season in the next few days - in the meantime, I'll be busy enjoying the great spring skiing at Pineland!

Canadian Nationals Sprint

Walt was 10th in today's 10k sprint race at Canadian Nationals. He was the only skier in the field to shoot clean - 10 for 10. He was feeling good today, but unfortunately he picked the wrong grind for the conditions, and the slow skis held him back. Even so, he was just 30 seconds out of 4th in a field with several World Cup guys. One more race tomorrow - a mixed relay. Hopefully everything will come together.

Results here.

Canadian Nationals 20k

Great shooting for Walt today at the first race of Canadian Nationals - he hit 18 of 20 and finished 6th in a strong field. His skiing felt sluggish - not surprising considering that he flew from Boston to Vancouver yesterday - but he was still able to beat some great skiers. He tells me that "five guys here have scored World Cup points on several occasions this year, and not all of them were in front of me!" Things look good for the weekend races.

No results posted yet, but they'll be here eventually.

NA Championships Mass Start

Walt's now 3-for-3 - he was the top American and 2nd overall in the 15k mass start today. Lots more penalties for most of the racers today - Walt shot 14 for 20, but skied well enough to secure the US title. March has been a great month for Walt, and his season may not be over just yet...
Still no results posted - these should be at www.usbiathlon.com eventually.

NA Championship Pursuit

Another championship today for Walt in the 12.5k pursuit - he hit 17 of 20 targets to win the senior men's race, in spite of skiing an extra penalty loop by mistake (for some strange reason, one of his hits didn't fall until after he'd left the range). One junior racer skied the course 7 seconds faster, but Walt surely would have had the fastest time had he not skied the extra loop. Results at www.usbiathlon.com. One more race tomorrow - 20k mass start.

With two championships in two races, Walt's been invited to travel with the national team to Canadian Nationals next week. This is a great opportunity - the races will be held on the Olympic trails at Callaghan Valley, and a few World Cup skiers will be there. He's still not sure if he'll make the trip, since it would mean missing a few classes next week, but it's an honor to be invited in any case.

National Champion!

The North American Biathlon Championships got underway today in Coleraine, MN with a 10k sprint (apparently biathletes are so tough that anything 10k or less is a mere sprint). Walt took 2nd overall and was the 1st American, so he'll be taking home the national sprint title! He hit 9 of 10 targets, which is rather shocking considering that he hasn't shot since last year's National Championships. Pursuit tomorrow - updates to follow, and hopefully pictures as well.
Results.

Weekend Update

A couple race updates from this weekend:

On Saturday, Walt and I headed up to Great Glen to race in the Carl Johnson Memorial 5k, a fundraiser for ALS research. Ski team alum Angus Badger '89 was there as well - after some arm-twisting, he convinced Walt's dad Andy (a former Bowdoin ski team coach) to jump into the race as well, so Bowdoin was well-represented. Walt pulled off a stunning upset, narrowly edging me out for the win. It was close, though - I was a mere 1:33 behind him.


The Carl Johnson podium (photo courtesy of Great Glen Trails). The young guy on Walt's right can really ski - let's just say that he was closer to me than I was to Walt... I should also explain my attire: there was a prize for the loudest tights - I didn't have any of those, so I went with this classy shirt instead.

Sunday was the Sugarloaf Marathon, a 30/50k skate. In the 30k, Shem finished 3rd for men, with Grace in 6th for women. Colman finished 12th in the 50k, in a field that was even stronger than the Rangeley race. A good show by our team.