Biathlon and EABC in the New York Times

Have Rifle, Will Travel (on Skis)
By KATIE ZEZIMA
Published: March 12, 2009
A small but growing number of amateurs in the United States are taking an interest in biathlon, a sport that combines cross-country skiing and target shooting.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/12/fashion/12fitness.html

Stowe Derby

Yesterday started off with a bang, as I almost missed the start of the Stowe Derby. My day started off a little late and with some bad driving conditions to registration. I arrived at registration at 9:30...with a 10am race start time. On my drive I figured this would work out great and I wouldn't be sitting a the top of the mountain freezing waiting for my start. But when I arrived at registration I found out I had a very high seed...number 33...with all the fast men. The pressure was on, not only to race fast but to get to the start on time. I would say this is where my warm up started...I sprinted to my car, and drove as fast as I could to the mountain(rally racing in the wrx). Once I got to the mountain I stripped down to my race suit and sprinted to the lift line, once I made it to the lift I knew that if I didn't make the start now it was out of my control. Lucky me, arrived with three minutes before the start of the 75th annual, 2009 Stowe Derby.

At the start I felt good, my skis were very fast and tracked through the deep snow really well...especially at high speeds. I tucked in behind two men, at the start and I let them pull me down the hill, we raced together very well through the fast turns. I managed to make it down the toll road, with only one crash!

Then the climbing starts, and we all know that all the time is made and the race is won, on the climb and the flats. Yesterday was a good day for me, as I kept up with the men in the climbs and drafted as long as I could, powering hard with V2 on the flats. Before I knew it I was skiing on my own, dropped by two of the top skiers in my start but no one in the waves be hind me catching me. I took the fact that I wasn't being passed as a good sign and kept skiing as hard as I could. I finished strong and started to get worried about the girls behind me...I knew I was the first girl to start and that there were a few really fast ladies in the waves behind me. To ease my nerves, after the race I headed straight back to the mountain for some downhill skiing. The powder was AMAZING!

It's an honor to have a Derby win...one of the biggest, funnest races in North America! The best part of the Derby, by far, are the stories, of crashes, wax, broken equipment, snow conditions, other athletes and fans along the way.

One last note on the Derby; THANK YOU to the helpers out there that made this race possible!

Off the MAP

Where have I been these past few months?

WORKING

On a good note, I still have a lot of work to do and it doesn't look like it is going to slow down anytime soon.



Don't worry, I still have my out of control hobbies and interests, that I am working on. When I am not at work I am keeping busy with my coaching, ski racing (all for fun now) and photography. I will have some skiing updates after the Stowe Derby next weekend, so you'll have to wait out for that. If you check out my Flickr you can see what I have been up to, a little shooting of some Biathlon races, ski races, work in New Orleans and shooting a bowling birthday party bash!

yikes

It has been a long time...working to hard and not skiing enough. As for interesting things going on in my world; I just got back from New Orleans, you can check out some of my shots here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ilkevg/

NorAm #5

for more photos check out the all famous flicker: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ilkevg/

Mens Biathlon Relay in Oberhof

Yesterday the US Biathlon Mens team Posted the Best Relay Finish of the Season
The US relay team consisted of Lowell Bailey (Lake Placid, NY), Jay Hakkinen (Kasilof, AK), Tim Burke (Paul Smiths, NY), and Jeremy Teela (Anchorage, AK) They finished 3:23.9 behind the team from Austria who won their impressive second World Cup Relay in a row. Russia came in second with some great shooting, only using six spare rounds, and finished 8.7 seconds back, a very close race with Germany coming in third, 19.2 seconds back, with one penalty and nine spare rounds.
Coach Per Nilsson, was reported as being not satisfied. Saying that the team should be between 6th and 8th. It is however an improvement in the season’s third relay. In the past two relays the team finished 15th and 14th 6 minutes back and 4:44 back. Yesterday the team at 1 penalty and used all spare rounds and was only 3:23 behind. Headed in the right direction!

Let the race's begin!

Racing started off with a bang for New England this past weekend at Trapp Family Lodge. Sprints on Saturday…which I opted out of to ski a day on the alpine side in the freshies.

Sunday we skied through six inches of fresh snow and challenging visibility in the 5 kilometer freestyle event at Trapp Family Lodge. Dartmouth’s Freshman, Sophie Caldwell (Peru, VT) had an impressive race on Sunday dominating the field through the tough conditions, she picked right up where she left off last season as the series winner. With Saturdays 2nd place finish behind UVM’s Jennie Bender and Sundays first place finish Sophie has jumped into an early lead for the series. It will be a great year for Dartmouth and will be nice to see where these young fast skiers go!

After I finished my race I left as soon as I could, not even waiting for the results to go back to Stowe for round two in the powder! My mind was somewhere else this weekend and that never gets good results. Though the thing that matters most is having fun!