Craftsbury Junior Biathlon Midwinter 2025 Update: LaPatrie, Lake Placid, and More
Craftsbury Biathletes Lilly, Amelia, and Bizzy enjoy a sledding adventure in LaPatrie, Quebec. Photo by Cindy Pratt
by Assistant Junior/BKL Coach Rick Costanza
With about 45 participants the Junior and BKL biathlon programs have grown significantly in the last couple of years. Last summer was quite busy as we hosted five different biathlon camps which included participants from the U13 category all the way to some folks in the 60’s. Currently we have six biathlon sessions per week to cover all of our kids’ practices plus we have open range time for adults and guests from other clubs. The open range times have been getting increased attendance with the temporary closure of the Ethan Allen Biathlon Club Facilities.
As for this winter we enjoyed two very exciting and fun biathlon trips. In January we had 14 athletes compete in a 2-day race series in La Patrie, Quebec. The kids raced beautifully and used this event to hone their skills and develop an increased comfort level at biathlon races. Their enthusiasm for finding ways to have fun resulted in both US and Canadian athletes enjoying some wild sled rides after the races.
La Patrie Sprint
La Patrie Mass Start
Our most recent adventure was a trip over to Lake Placid to compete in the biathlon events at the Empire State Games. There they group enjoyed some great skiing and some very good shooting. On Saturday’s sprint race, Craftsbury U16 athlete Althea Veve was a perfect 10 for 10 on the range. On the non-racing front the kids also had a fun trip to Saranac Lake where they got to check out the awesome ice palace as Winter Carnival kicked off.
Empire State Games Super Sprint Biathlon
Empire State Games Sprint Biathlon
Later in February we are looking forward to our own Bayley-Hazen biathlon race on Sunday, February 23. Until then we will continue to work on fundamentals such as breathing, trigger-squeeze and sight alignment.
Editor’s note: Craftsbury Biathlon’s own Tillie Lange participated in the US Biathlon Youth and Junior National Championships from December 28-31. Racing among the country’s best, Tillie posted some of the fastest ski times in the Youth women’s category and, despite some misses in her standing shooting, came away with a best result of 7th of 17 Youth women’s biathletes.