Fort Kent and Presque Isle: 2011 Biathlon World Cup Hosts

"Dedicated Organizing Committees preparing Presque Isle and Fort Kent Venues"

08.10.2010, Presque Isle  / IBU Inf. Dept. TO/JK

High level of preparations for BWC 7 and BWC 8

An IBU delegation inspected the E.ON IBU World Cups 7 and 8 venues in Presque Isle and Fort Kent, USA Tuesday through Thursday last week. Presque Isle will host its first IBU World Cup while Fort Kent has previous experience from 2004. Read the article on www.biathlonworld.com

Thursday: Speaking at NSA.

On Thursday I will speak at NSA as a part of their series "The Process of Achieving Peak Performance." I've been asked to speak about the importance of balance in an athlete's life. One of the last lunchtime speakers that they had was Bill Demong '98.

"The qualities of an exceptional cook [or in our case, an exceptional athlete] are akin to those of a successful tightrope walker: an abiding passion for the task, courage to go out on a limb and an impeccable sense of balance." - Bryan Miller

Read what Billie Jean King has to say....

"Through sports our children learn about teamwork, goal setting and the pursuit of excellence. It is also how youth learn how to deal with failure and become more determined to do better the next time, not only in sports but in life."

Read the rest of her blog post on the Let's Move! website: Billie Jean King Salutes Women in Sports
Tennis legend and President's Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition, Billie Jean King, shares her experience at the Women's Sport Foundation's annual event stressing how all of these women athletes continue to mentor your people to help put them on a successful track for life.

Women's Sports Foundation

Let's Move

Article about our new coach

Our new women's head coach and Lake Placid regional coach, Jonne Kahkonen, was recently interviewed by Fasterskier.com:

"Getting to know Jonne Kahkonen"
By Chelsea Little 10.25.10
Jonne Kahkonen was hired by the United States Biathlon Association this summer to be the new women’s head coach. Kahkonen, who hails from Finland, just finished a four-year stint as head coach of the biathlon program. Finland’s top performances last season came from Kaisa Makarainen, who finished the year ranked 22nd in the overall World Cup Standings.

"...how good can you be?"

Floating down the Snake River with a good view of the Tetons. 

USBA just held its 30th Anniversary Celebration in Jackson Hole, WY. Not only was it the location for the Board of Director's Annual Meeting, it was also host to a Gala dinner, annual awards, Snake river float trips and fly fishing, skeet shooting and a grand gathering of influential people within the US Biathlon family.  Olympians from the 1960's until 2010, retired biathletes and officials, memorable staff members, current National Team members and our Olympic staff spanned the history of biathlon in the US over the past 50 years. It was not until some of these people were recognized that I realized why we had all traveled to Jackson - the Snake River valley is filled with former biathletes. This event was unlike any I have attended before and I appreciated the time that was taken to recognize this amazing community that has been created through a small sport in the US. 

Max, our CEO and President, speaking at the Gala dinner.

While this anniversary celebration folded the likes of past Olympians back into the current, time was also taken to acknowledge the newest members of USBA - the newly formed US Biathlon Foundation. An incredible league of distinguished business leaders make up this strong financial team that will help support current and future USBA programs. With short notice, I had the opportunity to address this impressive crowd during one of our dinners. Even though I nailed the short-order speech, I actually don't remember what I said (not far off from the in-the-moment feel of a race, actually) except that I enjoyed welcoming this new team to USBA and hope that it is a mutually beneficial connection. We are all striving for peak performance - be it on the range or in the board room - and I am pretty excited about the potential synergy created.

During one of our dinner table conversations I made a mental note of a comment from one of our new Foundation members who made an observation of a distinguishable quality: when people pursue something to its fullest potential. How good can you be? Its a risk, its a leap from average, and honestly it is one way to define many of us in that room that night because it is one reason why we were all there in the first place. 

After a good camp in Utah and with sights set on the final weeks of dryland training before heading to snow and qualifying races in Canmore, Canada it was nice to spend a few very relaxing hours watching Bald Eagles and floating down the Snake River:

Lake Placid Ski Club Sign Up and Ski Sale

When: October 30th, Saturday
10am till 1pm
Where: St. Agnes School, Lake Placid


Sign up for - After school ski program at Whiteface, NYSEF nordic, alpine, snowboarding, alpine, jumping and biathlon programs, and the Bill Koch nordic ski program
Meet - local Olympians Pete Frenette, ski jumping, and my self
Buy and sell - used ski equipment


For further information and details:
www.lakeplacidskiclub.com
lakeplacidskiclub@roadrunner.com

Utah Camp photos - UPDATED!

After a chilly and rainy rollerski this morning in Placid I look fondly back at the ideal training climate that we had in Utah. Just checked NOAA and we're in for more snow and rain.

Our annual fall camp in Soldier Hollow, Utah was productive and fun. We kept the focus and quality high during training to return home a bit more fine tuned and ready for the race season ahead. Training at a higher altitude is interesting, but the older and fitter I get the easier it is for me to adjust. This is my 5th fall in Utah and every time I gain a better understanding of how I am affected by altitude. I paid particular attention to this this year because it added an interesting element to training analysis and it will give me insight into the two weeks I will spend in Canmore, Canada later in November. I am super psyched about starting the year off in Canmore and look forward to the qualifying trials that will fill up the rest of our World Teams for December. With important races coming up ahead at higher elevations, Utah proved to be a good test. 

Check out a recent article on FasterSkier.com - Biathletes Make Most of Altitude at Soldier Hollow 

to get some insight from other teammates, coaches and photos. 

On our way back down from ski walking intervals up Park City Resort.

A good portion of our national team is on Rossignol equipment and I think this is my 13th year, (well 15 or 16 if you count my alpine years) skiing on Rossi. Each year during our October Camp we head up to the Mountain Center in Park City to meet with our Rep. Robert, take some photos, check out the offices, meet the staff and learn about the new equipment. 

Instead of just a quick hello while passing their cubicle, this year the Rossi staff got to try out our SCAT laser shooting system. 

Rossignol's conference room is also a hall of history with a variety of legendary rooster tipped Rossi models. I liked this pair - Mt. Olympique.

After our final interval/time trial session to looped out recovery jog around the rollerski trails to cheer on the Canadian National Team's classic sprint session. Most days we have Soldier Hollow to ourselves, but on a few occasions its been packed with the US Ski Team, Canadian National Team and APU ski team. Often on a very separate schedule for the US Nordic team (they were in Placid while we were in Utah, for example) its a treat when our training overlaps. Plus, it was pretty neat to watch the speed of such skiers as Devon Kerhsaw, Chandra Crawford and Kikkan Randall. Best of luck to all of them this season! 

BethAnn Chamberlain, Tracy and Lanny Barnes, Annelies Cook and I on a run at Soldier Hollow.

Looking down range at Soldier Hollow. 

Chandra Crawford, Olympic Gold Medalist and Fast and Female founder, during the classic sprints.