10th Mountain to host biathlon events

    FORT KENT, Maine — The 10th Mountain Ski Club will host the North American Championships and the U.S. Biathlon Championships March 15 to 18. The organizers expect over one hundred of the top biathletes from North America for this three-day competition.
     Athletes will be arriving on Monday, March 12 with two days of training prior to the individual competition on Thursday, March 15. This first event is the longest of the three, with a total distance of 20 km for the men and 15 km for women. They will have four shooting bouts during this race. For each missed target one minute is added to their overall time.
The competitors will then have another training day on Friday prior to the Sprint and Pursuit competitions on Saturday and Sunday.
The Sprint competition is a shorter and faster event with only two shooting bouts and 10 km for men or 7.5 km for women. For each missed target the athletes must ski the 150 meter penalty loop which adds about thirty seconds to their overall time. Sunday’s event, the Pursuit competition will end the event.
The competition will begin at 10 a.m. each day. The senior Olympians will be returning to Fort Kent for this event and many area youth and junior men and women will also be participating in the event. The event is presented by TD Banknorth in cooperation with USBA and Biathlon Canada.