ETHAN ALLEN BIATHLON CLUB SUMMER 2011 NEWSLETTER EABC Membership and Benefits Membership in EABC is divided into two sessions - Summer (May 1 thru Oct 31) and Winter (November 1 thru April 30). Benefits of membership include Access to the shooting range during scheduled training times. The Ethan Allen Firing Range and facilities are some of the best in the country and regularly used by the top US and Canadian biathletes. Use of club rifles on a shared basis while at the range. Ammo is provided at $4 per box. Reduced race fees for summer and winter race series, special club races and clinics. Access to trails for running, skiing, and rollerskiing during scheduled training times. Access to the experience and knowledge of some of the best biathletes and coaches in the country. Summer Race Series EABC holds a 6 race summer biathlon race series on Thursday evenings throughout July and August. These races are open to beginners as well as experienced biathletes and include Sprint, Pursuit, Individual and sometimes Relay format for distances of 5 to 7 kilometers. Safety clinic, instruction and rifles are available for novices. Awards are given at the end of the series. Race dates: July 7, 14, 21 and August 4, 11, 18. Ethan Allen Biathlon Club is dedicated to promoting the sport of biathlon for all ages. In addition, our coaches are dedicated to the development and success of young athletes in the sport of biathlon on the local, national and international stage. With a world-class facility that is one of the best in the country situated right here in the Green Mountains of Vermont, we have a unique opportunity for attracting and training local athletes. We welcome all abilities and experience levels and encourage everyone to give it a try! PAGE 1
ETHAN ALLEN BIATHLON CLUB SUMMER 2011 2011 NORTH AMERICAN ROLLERSKI BIATHLON CHAMPIONSHIPS EABC will once again host the North American Rollerski Biathlon Championships. A week long USBA camp at the range will be followed by a Sprint race on Saturday and a Pursuit race on Sunday. These races will attract the best biathletes from across the United States and Canada including past, present and future olympians. This is some of the highest level biathlon you can see if the US. 2011 NORTH AMERICAN SUMMER BIATHLON CHAMPIONSHIP EABC will also host for the first time, the IBU North American Summer (running) Biathlon Championships! Many of the best summer biathletes from across No. America will visit Jericho on August 25 th through the 28 th to compete in a Sprint on Friday, Individual on Saturday and Mass Start on Sunday. These races are fast and very exciting and a great opportunity for some of our summer biathletes to compete on the home course. SUMMER YOUTH/JUNIOR TRAINING Summer training is already underway for all Youth and Junior athletes. New biathletes are encouraged to sign up by June. Training will be on Mondays and Wednesdays from 5:00 to 7:00 pm with coach Eric Tremble. Training will be aimed at developing shooting skills, skiing skills, range procedures, race strategy, as well as general fitness. No previous experience is necessary to participate. Rifles will be available to use during training and ammunition will be available at a nominal fee. The fee for this training is $250 for the season plus $75 for ammo if provided by the club. Contact Eric for more details or show up at a practice to check it out. PAGE 2
Spotting Scope on EABC Member Dan Westover Continuing our profiles of some of the people who have been a part of the success of the Ethan Allen Biathlon Club as athletes, coaches, and all the other ways people have contributed. Dan Westover has been both a member of the Ethan Allen Biathlon Club and a coach of the club. He is often the person at the range at 6am grooming so we can enjoy nice corduroy, and we are lucky to have his enthusiastic support. Dan took a few minutes out of his very busy summer to share some thoughts about his biathlon career. I have tried to include them in this short bio of Dan. Dan was actually born in Madagascar and moved to Vermont when he was 2 years old. He attended Colchester High School where as a Senior he tried biathlon during an open day for High School teams sponsored by the Vermont National Guard. He liked it! After graduating High School in 1992, Dan was recruited and joined the National Guard and began biathlon training with the Guard and attending the University of Vermont. He quickly decided to focus on biathlon full time and it paid off when he made the US Junior World Team his first year, traveling to Slovakia to represent the US at the World Junior Championships (Ole Einar Bjørndalen won his first career medal at these championships). Dan then earned a spot on the 1995/96 World Championship team and competed at the Spring World Cups. Dan continued to train and race with an eye toward the next Olympics. A lack of snow in Minnesota moved the 1998 Olympic biathlon trials to Vermont and Dan was able to ski the home course to two victories and a top spot on the US team headed for Nagano, Japan to represent the US. Dan took a year off from the intense training, moved to McCall Idaho to build log homes, get married and start his family. During this time he decided that he missed competing and wanted to make a push to make the 2002 Olympic team. He packed up his new family and made a move back to Vermont to rejoin the World Class Athlete Program WCAP program and train full time. Even with 2 podium finishes at the trials, Dan just missed making the team. At this point Dan and Kellie were expecting their third son and Dan was ready to begin another phase of his life as a full time builder, but lucky for us, he still had a love for biathlon and coached EABC (with Lawton Redman, also an Olympic biathlete) until 2004/2005 when Dan left to serve his country in Afghanistan. For a better understanding of the energy Dan brings to everything he does, you should know that during some of his down time, he ran his first marathon on his base while in Afghanistan in honor of one of his fallen comrades. When Dan returned to the US it was time to get his business and family going. Dan is the father of 3 growing, energetic boys (biathletes?) and runs a small construction company, both of which keep him very busy. Fortunately, Dan has more energy than most. We are very lucky to have Dan s help with races, with shooting clinics, with grooming and for the enjoyment of his company. PAGE 3
USBA Coach Algis Shalna We all know Algis Shalna from our shared use of the range, his help with our clinics and coaching, and his support of EABC. I don t think he would be surprised that we think of him as an important partner and friend. Algis was the Olympic Gold Medalist in the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympic games, three time World Champion in the relay event, and multiple World Cup winner. Algis was the US National Team coach for 15 years. He currently lives in Williston where he and his wife operate a Bed and Breakfast. I have had some of the most enjoyable lunches listening to wonderful, impressive, and often funny stories Algis has to tell about his long history with biathlon. Thank you to Algis for taking the time to share some of his storied history and answer these questions. What is your current position with USBA? I call myself the Vermont collegiate and regional coach. No one really ever officially gave me this name but I guess it reflects what I do. When did you first start skiing and racing? Were you a competitive skier before you were a biathlete? I joined ski school in my hometown Ignalina in Lithuania in September 1969 and by the end of High School I was top 10 skier in Soviet Union. A pretty good accomplishment. I think if I would compare for fun where I would of been in junior xc world, I think top 10 since the Soviets were winning at that level then. I started biathlon in the summer before my first year in college and in two years, I made the Soviet national development team and two years later the national team. Although only my second year with the development team, I made the world championship team in 1982. Was the Olympic Gold Medal the highlight of your competitive biathlon career or are there World Cups, World Championships that stand out? Sure I guess the Olympics was the highlight but there were a few interesting and memorable moments before that. It was fun to become the fastest biathlete in the world in 1982. Another win in the relay at 1983 World Championships, during second leg of the race bringing team from second place to first over East Germans. Winning both World Cup races in Lahti and a few at domestic races where in 1983, during the national championship relay race, I skied for the army club (I was in the army from 1982-1990) I skied second leg and my teammate had 4 penalty's and came last and I shot 5 for 5 both shootings and brought team to first place. We were 3:40 back. I liked that one a lot. Did you have a particular rival during your biathlon career? My rival was the penalty loop. continued... PAGE 4
When did you move to the US and was it a big adjustment? I came to US for a month tour to promote biathlon in 1989 in May. Lyle Nelson invited three Sarajevo Olympic medal winners Walter Pichler from West German, Matias Jacob from East Germany and me from the Soviet Union to promote summer biathlon. During this trip USBA started talking to me about coming to US to coach winter biathlon and I got convinced and signed the contract. In January of 1991 we moved to US and settled in Lake Placid. None of us in the family spoke English - zero. I spoke German well and a few American biathletes spoke German too, so we tried to understand each other. A week later I went to WC in Canmore and left my family alone for two weeks, but the good thing was that Lake Placid had a few Russian families who helped us anywhere we needed. It was not easy but we were very excited and motivated and we made fast adjustment. When did you start to coach biathlon and how did this lead to your position coaching the US Team? What were the biggest surprises, differences and challenges of coaching in the US? I finished my biathlon career in 1988 after I did not make Olympic team for Calgary and right after I was invited to coach Soviet women s national team. It was a big honor and responsibility but I took the job and became shooting coach. I graduated sport college in 1985 and had a coaching degree but no experience and it was a great challenge to prepare the team for WCH. We did well winning 2 gold medals and winning all WC overall categories. The problem was for me, that I did not have time to rest from traveling and after one year I quit the job and took a new job as program director at the military club in the town where I lived. But the thing was even though I enjoyed sitting in the office and dealing with coaches and sponsors, my heart was with coaching and a year later when the opportunity arouse to become coach again at that time in US, I took it. Coaching in US was a lot different than in the Soviet Union. In the Soviet Union everything was one way. I told you your doing it, if not, you are gone. Done deal, no individuality, no games. US athletes were nice and respectful to coach but everyone had there own ideas and wanted to stick with them. It required more talks and negotiations especially later when I started pushing for more commitment, discipline and sacrifice, not everyone was willing to. It was a little different with younger ones later when I started working with juniors. That is why I love working with juniors now. I understand that there is a race named after you in Lithuania and you have raced in it? Yes there is Shalna's Cup started in 2006. I did the race there 2 times but have not won the race yet. Not skiing fast any more. When you are not completely absorbed in biathlon, what do you like to spend your time doing? When my kids were growing, all the time was with them. I was trying not to miss any figure skating practices or competitions when my daughter skated as well as to be at all practices and games for my son s hockey. We are a very close family and time together was first priority. But if a had a minute I liked and I still do like to do stuff around the house. Now the kids are big and have more things on their own, but we still very close. These days my best friend is my wife and I golf sometimes. PAGE 5
Masters Training Starting this summer the EABC will be forming a Master s biathlon program. Don t let the name of the group fool you, it s not necessarily for people who have mastered biathlon (that doesn t happen). This group is for people who have an interest in getting involved with biathlon. Whether you have years of experience, you recently competed in the winter series, or you just want to practice for the summer race series here s an opportunity to join a group of people with a common interest and train at a terrific facility. The training dates will be Monday and Wednesday of each week starting May 16 th and we will be sharing the facility with the EABC junior biathlon group. Here s your chance to participate in a great sport that will never cease to challenge you. Contact Paul Charron (charron.paul@gmail.com) for more details. EABC Tech T-Shirts (still) coming soon! (really) Check out the website for updates, membership forms, race results, photos and more! www.eabiathlon.org VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!! As most of you know, we are a volunteer run and volunteer driven organization. We are hosting two very prestigious and important National Championship events this summer and to make them a success we need a core of volunteers willing to give up a couple of weekend mornings (more if you can) to make these events a success. We are getting national recognition for the quality of the events that we host and we want to continue that success this summer. Volunteering at a biathlon race gives you the best seat in the house, right where the action is. Please let us know if you can help out. Besides the reward of helping, volunteers will receive a commemorative t-shirt or hat, an invitation to the barbecue during the Summer nationals and a chance to hang out with a fun bunch of people. Spread the word to your friends. Thanks you to our Sponsors!! SkiRack, Onion River Sports, Concept2, Altius Firearms, National Guard Biathlon and Skierg May 15, 2011 Calendar Youth/Junior training resumes Masters Group begins July 7, 2011 EABC Summer Race Series #1 July 14, 2011 EABC Summer Race Series #2 July 21, 2011 EABC Summer Race Series #3 August 4, 2011 EABC Summer Race Series #4 August 6 and 7, 2011 No. American Rollerski Biathlon Championships, Jericho August 11, 2011 EABC Summer Race Series #5 August 18, 2011 EABC Summer Race Series #6 Summer Series Awards August 25-28, 2011 IBU No. American Summer Biathlon Championships, Jericho October 15, 2011 EABC Cyclocross Biathlon Race CONTACTS eabiathlon@gmail.com ERIC TREMBLE - COACH ericwtremble@gmail.com BOARD OF DIRECTORS Karen Clark Bryan Schultz Tom Lane Madeline Mann Judy Geer John Madigan Chris Ludington PAGE 6
Ethan Allen Biathlon Center ( EABC ) Application form: EABC Membership Application EABC is a Non-Profit Organization dedicated to the development of athletes in the sport of Biathlon. All fees go toward the purchase of equipment, ammunition, coaching, travel etc. Fees do not pay for the provision or maintenance of facilities at the Ethan Allen Firing Range. All Members may use the facilities on the Range for competitive training, subject to the following conditions: Members recognize that the Range is a government facility whose primary military purposes and those of the National Guard Biathlon Program take precedence. No guarantee is given or implied that the Range facilities will, in fact, be available at any particular time or that they will be groomed, prepared or maintained to any particular standard; Members understand that they use the facilities entirely at their own risk; Members are required to carry their own insurance and to attest in writing that they do so; Team Members may only train at the Facility during regular team training sessions and under the supervision of designated Team coaches; Training or racing on the Range facilities is strictly confined to the designated biathlon trails. Members are required to sign the Vermont Army National Guard Hold Harmless agreement. Name M F High School or Club Affiliation Address DOB Age City State ZIP Phone E-mail MEMBERSHIP CATEGORIES (please check one) * Membership is paid by the season. The training year is divided into two seasons: Winter (October 1st through April 30th) and Summer (May 1st through September 30th). MASTER/ADULT athletes age 20+: $50 per season. Access to range and shared use of rifles during scheduled training, discount race fees, and periodic shooting clinics. Ammunition is available for purchase. JUNIOR/YOUTH athletes under age 14-20: $40 per season. Access to range and shared use of rifles during scheduled training and discount race fees. Does not include coaching. Ammunition is available for purchase. COMPETITIVE YOUTH/JUNIOR TRAINING athletes age 14-20: $250 per season. Twice weekly training with an experienced coach. Access to range and shared use of rifles during scheduled training. $75 additional per season for ammunition if provided by club. Athletes may purchase their own ammunition, if they prefer. Please make checks payable to: EABC PO Box 1012 Jericho Center, VT 05465