GRP Biathlon at North American Rollerski Biathlon Championships

Alex Howe (bib 6) leads a pack including Mike Gibson (bib 7) in the men's mass start

Last Updated: 19.Aug.2016

Nine members of the GRP biathlon and ski teams raced this past weekend in Jericho, VT at the North American Rollerski Biathlon Championships. Though thunderstorms were in the forecast, the rain mostly held off and the biathletes faced heat and humidity instead. These trials races, along with another set of races in October, are used to choose athletes who will join a US Biathlon camp in Canmore in October. From there, USBA will pick the World Cup team for the upcoming season. Two of the GRP biathletes, Susan Dunklee and Clare Egan, are already prequalified for the upcoming World Cup season, but the rest of the GRP can use these races as an opportunity to demonstrate their rollerski speed and early season shooting to the National Team coaches.

On Saturday, the women raced a 7.5k sprint (with two shooting stages, one prone, one standing) and the men raced a 10k sprint. Susan Dunklee took the victory in the women’s race, with 4 total misses, while Clare Egan rounded out the podium in 3rd, with 3 misses. Emily Dreissigacker, also with 3 misses, took 4th, Hallie Grossman was 7th, Liz Guiney 9th, and Kaitlynn Miller 10th. Alex Howe was the top GRP biathlete in the men’s race, placing 6th, and Mike Gibson followed close behind in 7th. Ethan Dreissigacker took 9th.

Sunday’s race was an ever exciting mass start, 15k and 4 shooting stages for the men, and 12.5k for the women. In the men’s race, Alex Howe again had the top GRP result in 7th, and Ethan took 9th after skiing with the chase pack early in the race. Mike Gibson was 11th. In the women’s race, Susan and Clare traded off the lead several times, with Clare shooting well (3 misses total over the course of the race) and Susan skiing very fast to catch her. Susan eventually took the victory with 5 total misses, and Clare was 2nd. Emily was the next GRP finisher in 6th, Hallie took 8th, and Kaitlynn was 10th.

The biathletes have a long break in their rollerski racing schedule, with the next trials weekend scheduled for October 15th and 16th, also in Jericho. In the meantime, Susan and Clare will travel to a camp in Germany with the USBA A Team, while the remainder of the GRP biathletes and skiers will log on-snow time in Slovenia and Austria in September.

Full results from the trials races are available on Ethan Allen Biathlon:
Sprint
Mass Start