- Bryn Osmond
- Syrena Butler
- Brennan Frampton
- Natasha Bromley
- Nathan Frampton
- Peter Kelly
- Jeris Chalmers-Wein
- Amber Luloff
Along with their coaches, Mr. Osmond and me, 2Lt Frampton, we hopped on a bus and headed North West to Sault Ste Marie for a 2 day competition.
After a ten hour drive with a stops in North Bay and Blind River to pick up competing biathletes, we arrived at the Sault Armoury at 6:30 PM.
With a poor nights sleep behind us we rose from our make shift beds on the concrete floor, had a big breakfast and headed to the range.
It was a beautiful, sunny winter day. Everyone's spirits were high. There were a few tummys in knots due to the excitement and anticipation. The bibs were distributed the rifles were sited and they were off to the races.
The first event was the Junior Girls Individual race. Twelve year old Jeris Chalmers-Wein, who, of 175 participants was randomly selectec to be the first skier to christen the trail. She completed 6 km and 3 bouts of 5 rounds in a very respectable 56:42. Thirty minutes later it was up to Natasha (Tasa) Bromley. She completed the lightly used trail in an impressive 1:10:17. Two minutes after Tasa hit the trail it was up to 12 year old Amber Luloff, who gained the nickname "Lulu". She had an amazing finish of 1:31:11.
With the girls event complete, up next was the Junior Boys Individual race. Again, we had some very impressive results with 12 year old sharp shooter, Peter Kelly coming in at 58:09, 14 year old Brennan Frampton at 41:30 and 12 year old Nathan Frampton with an amazing finish time of 39:18.
Finally, after lunchtime on an empty stomach it was our 15 year old speed monster, Bryn Osmond, who competed in the Senior Boys 8 km event with a fantastic 12th place position time of 44:03.
As you can imagine, it was a remarkable introduction to the Northern Ontario Area Biathlon competition. Everyone was pumped and each and every participant, including our injured Syrena Butler, who came along to cheer the team on and provide assistance to the coaches.
Day two brought a new, slightly different challenge. The Team Realy event which consists of 3 members; each member skis 6 km with two bouts of shooting. The girls team started first with the boys team following minutes later. The track was alive, full of energy and yet, very exhausting. After completing the 1.5 km loop, consisting of hills and valleys they had 8 chances to knock down 5 targets, however...for each missed target the skier had to complete 1-100 m penalty loop. It seems the targets were a little, shall we say stubborn. There were many, tiring penalty loops completed by all of the athletes. The event lasted 3.5 hour, with our last persistent competitor crossing the finish line. All athletes, coaches and staff officials were there to cheer her on. It was truly a goosebump experience.
It was a grueling race that all of our team members conquered. We are SO proud of you all for your "press on" attitude and committment to achieve a new goal...compete in a Biathlon Competition and cross the finish line.
CONGRATULATIONS 638 Biathlon team, well done!
