ETHAN ALLEN BIATHLON CLUB! WINTER 2012 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. Winter Race Series EABC holds a 6 race winter biathlon race series on Thursday evenings throughout January and February. 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: January 5, 12, 19 and February 2, 9, 16. 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! WINTER 2012 LOOKING BACK AND LOOKING AHEAD 2011 was a very busy year at the Ethan Allen Biathlon club. By the end of this year, we will have hosted over 25 races, and 2 North American Championships (one more to go in January). Nobody deserves more credit for this than all the volunteers that came out to make these races possible Thank You Volunteers! The year ahead will not be quite so taxing, but will be just as exciting. In January we will host the 2012 North American Championships and as usual, we will have our 6 race winter series in January and February. This past year has also seen the youth/junior group grow into a real team with some great results under Coach Eric Tremble s leadership and the Master s begin to form into a real group. The year also had some sadness as we unexpectedly lost our friend Chris Ludington. He is missed and thought of often. 2012 NORTH AMERICAN BIATHLON CHAMPIONSHIPS EABC will host the 2012 North American Biathlon Championships! These races will attract some of 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. The event takes place between January 13 th (training), 14 th (Sprint), 15 th (Pursuit) and 16 th (Mass Start). A banquet will be held on Saturday night for all athletes, coaches, family, fiends, and volunteers. EABC ATHLETE ALEKSANDRA ZAKREWSKA HEADING TO OLYMPICS! EABC athlete Aleksandra Zakrzewska has been selected to represent the US at the 2012 Youth Olympic games in Innsbruck, Austria this January. Aleksandra competed against the best youth in the country over a nine race series begun in 2010 to earn a spot on the team. We all will be cheering for Aleksandra and congratulate her on this wonderful achievement. 2012 VERMONT STATE BIATHLON CHAMPIONSHIPS! For the third year now, Ethan Allen Biathlon Club will hold the Vermont State Biathlon Championships. The race will be held the evening of February 9 th in conjunction with the second to last Thursday night winter series race. The championship is contested amongst the expert class competitors, but all levels are welcome to race as usual for a series race. Medals for top three in all expert classes.! PAGE 2
Spotting Scope on EABC Member An Interview with Alan Nye Editor s Note: Many of you may not know Alan Nye, but for all of us who enjoy the wonderful facilities at the Ethan Allen Firing Range, he is someone we owe a thank you. I have had the pleasure and privilege of talking with Alan over a beer a number of times and I am sure I will never tire of hearing the stories of biathlon at our range and around the world. He has been at the center of the biathlon world through the development of this sport and continues to play a roll at the worlds highest levels. Alan has given a very large amount of energy and time to this sport, and as anyone who is passionate about something knows, that love and that effort has meant sacrifices. For those of you that know Alan, you will understand he is someone who has strong opinions and speaks his mind and does not shy away from controversy. Alan has standards as high as anyone I know and that is something we can all learn from. I have been fortunate to share Alan s company and it has taught me not just about biathlon, but about some of life s important lessons too. This article was written with Alan s help and I am appreciative of that. It is filled with only a brief history and there is so much more to tell. If you ever get to share some time with Alan, look forward to some great stories of life on and off the range. Alan lives in Essex with his wife Nancy and has two children, Ben who lives in No. Carolina and Betsy who lives in Essex. Fortunately for us, Alan doesn t mind sharing his wealth of stories about biathlon. This article focuses on a small part of Alan s involvement with biathlon, the history of the Ethan Allen Biathlon Range. There are few folks (with the exception possibly of William Spencer and Art Stegan) who have been actively involved in Biathlon in the US longer than Alan Nye. He worked as a penalty loop recorder during his first weekend of drill in the National Guard in January of 1973, over 38 years ago! Since that time Alan has been Chief of Competition for three World Military Ski Championships, was head of the Organising Committee and Chief of Competition for the 1998 Junior World Championships that had to be moved to Val Cartier, Quebec due to a lack of snow in Jericho, worked as the Assistant Chief of Range for the 1980 Olympics and Chief of Range for the 2002 Olympics. Alan was selected as Team Leader for the 2006 Olympics in Torino, Italy, but did not attend due to health issues. He has been Chief of Range for nearly all the World Cups held in the US over the past 24 years, was Chief of Competition for dozens of National Guard Bureau Championships, Vice President of the USBA, ran for Vice President for Development of the
International Biathlon Union (was soundly defeated in his words), and is currently an IBU Technical Delegate. Alan Nye was instrumental in the development of the Biathlon facilities at the Ethan Allen Firing Range. While in the Guard, Alan had the opportunity to work full time for two past presidents of the USBA who were also in the Guard. Howard Buxton, who was the first president and Don Edwards. This allowed him to focus on biathlon over the years as part of his full time job as well as a volunteer. In 1972, Maj. Howard Buxton was tasked as a project officer from the Vermont Army National Guard to move the US Biathlon program from Alaska to Vermont. It was this action, Alan s assignment in the National Guard to the Engineers, that allowed him to become initially involved in biathlon. From 1973 to 1983, biathlon races were held about every winter weekend at the Ethan Allen Firing Range. During this time, if snow was nonexistent, races were moved as far away as Burke Mountain Ski Area, Lake Placid, Val Cartier, Quebec and Rumford, Maine. The major support staff came from Vermont and Minnesota national Guard for these events. As experience was gained by Maj. Buxton, a gentleman named Pete Stygles along with Randy Nye and Alan Nye were undertaking many efforts to make races easier to run, quicker to get results out, and to do it with less support staff. These efforts included using balloons as targets, painting glass targets for the entire country, working to improve the Olympic venue and biathlon range at Lake Placid prior to the 1980 games, making steel biathlon targets similar to the current Kurvinen target (2 years before that target came on the market), and working to develop results programs that used computers and interfaces with commercial timing devices. During this period the caliber of the rifles changed from big bore (like deer hunting rifles) to the.22 caliber rifles being used today. This allowed many more individuals to become involved in the sport as athletes and allowed for the expansion of many more competition sites as the shooting safety zones became much smaller. It was during this transition that the current range location, Range 3-1, was started and developed. This included the construction of a 20 point range and several kilometers of ski trails. At this time, race targets were glass and paper, and needed to be scored after the races, and each athlete shot on his bib number, therefore, there could only be as many athletes as there was targets. Looking to allow the opportunity to involve more athletes, the range was modified to 60 targets and a pit was built (know on the shooting community as butts) in front of the targets. As the interest in National Guard Biathlon grew, a better way was needed to provide targets for up to 150 racers at the National Guard Biathlon Championships. Using the butts, a method of changing the targets and recording who shot on what target was implemented. Races were run using stop watches and times recorded by hand, then the timing sheets were combined with the shooting scores and results finalised. This normally took almost an hour but there were races where the organisers were working till late at night in the upstairs of the Red House, trying to get race results out. As preparations for the Olympics in 1980 were occurring, many changes in scoring, range layout, and results were improved. These included the use of steel targets, and electronic timing and scoring. These changes and efforts were then incorporated into the facilities at the Ethan Allen Firing Range. The procurement of 30 Kurvinen targets made the operations much easier as we moved away from using paper targets for the 20 kilometer race, not having to tell athletes how many penalty loops they had left to ski, but only recording what they had skied, and the addition of electronic recording stop watches. In 1986, the US Military allowed the National Guard to participate in the World Military Ski PAGE 4
Championships in Ruhpolding, Germany. At this competition, Maj. Gen. Don Edwards volunteered the Vermont Army National Guard to host the 1989 Championships in Jericho, Vermont. This was a shock to the action officers Alan Nye and and John Abair in attendance. Once they returned from Germany and started organizational meeting it was realised that snow conditions in mid March at Range 3-1 were iffy. In the late winter of 1987, Pete Stygles and Alan Nye took to snow shoes and walked the upper reaches of the Ethan Allen Firing Range to find a suitable site for an alternate biathlon range and trail system. On a small plateau behind Fiegle Hill, at about 2800 feet in elevation, 2000 feet higher than range 3-1, they felt they found a suitable site, that had significantly more snow later in the year as it was tucked up near Mt. Mansfield. Over the next two years a two mile road, a biathlon range, and support buildings including a timing building and warming building, were constructed. As it ended up, this was great fore site by both Buxton and Edwards as when it came time to prepare and conduct the Championships in March of 1989, the site was needed. This made the transportation and all other support functions more difficult as a 12 mile one way trip to the competition location at a remote site on the range as there was no power, and many miles of road that need to be plowed and sanded, rather than have athletes walk out of the barracks onto the ski trails. Many new items had been purchased, that included a timing system that could be integrated into computers for a results package. The timing system was originally designed for downhill skiing, however, they were told it could be used for nordic competitions. The vast majority of athletes competing in the military championships were World Cup athletes and therefor expected and anticipated a quality competition. After about 20 starters had gone out, and the first shooters were on the range, the Chief of Timing, a gentleman who worked for Nye as a civilian with the military department and had not been involved in many prior world class events called Nye over and told him the timing system had bit the dust. As anyone who has worked a race knows, there is a manual back up timing system and that is what had to be used. As the interest in biathlon rose in this country, with the support of Maj. Gen. Edwards, three folks, John Abair, Gary Dickovick, and ALan Nye worked to make the Ethan Allen Firing Range the best biathlon training site in the world. Using the model from the movie, if we build it, they will come, and after the completion of the upgrade of the range to electronic capability (the first one in the US), the paving of 7 kilometers of trails for rollerskiing, the installation of lights for night training in the winter, and improvements to the Walker Building to add bathroom and shower facilities, wax rooms, kitchen and a second story living space for athletes in the summer, individual athletes from Sweden and other countries moved to the Burlington area to train. The Russian National and Canadian National reams came to Ethan Allen for summer training sessions for several years. The only thing that Range 3-1 could not insure was that it would have adequate snow at the time of planned races, so the next improvement was snow making. After one very unsuccessful attempt that nearly lost Alan Nye his career in the Nation Guard, a snow making pond and water and power delivery system was installed that covered the range area and 4 kilometers of trail. In an effort to improve the level of competition within the USBA and in an attempt to provide exposure to biathlon for youth and High School skiers, the Ethan Allen Firing Range was opened to the local Bill Koch League, all High School nordic teams, local colleges including the University of Vermont Nordic team and the creation of a Ethan Allen Biathlon Club were undertaken by Nye and his fellow biathlon supporters in the Vermont Army National Guard. Vermont High School Nordic Championships were held several times at the range, the nordic piece of the UVM Winter Carnival were held at the range and the most rewarding according to Alan, was when 8 to 10 High School nordic teams (over 200 athletes) were training at the range under the lights, using the range that he was instrumental in building. Alan s idea that build it and they will come had come true. Thanks Alan, for all you have done for EABC!
More News Calendar Youth/Junior Winter Training Training never really stops at EABC. New biathletes are encouraged to sign up. Training will be on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:00 to 7:00 pm with coach Eric Tremble, with racing on Thursday nights in January and February. 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. Masters Training Continuing this effort, 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. January 5, 2011 EABC Winter Race Series #1 January 12, 2011 EABC Winter Race Series #2 January 13-15. 2012 North American Championships Banquet Saturday evening January 19, 2012 EABC Winter Race Series #3 January 21-22, 2012 NorAm #3 @Fort kent, ME January 28-29, 2012 NorAm #4 @ LaPatrie, Quebec February 2, 2012 EABC Winter Race Series #4 February 9, 2012 EABC Winter Race Series #5 Vermont State Championships @EABC February 16, 2012 EABC Winter Race Series #6 March 4-5, 2012 NorAm #6 @ Lake Placid March 15-18, 2012 National Championships, W. Yellowstone Check out the website for updates, membership forms, race results, photos and more! www.eabiathlon.org 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
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 addʼl 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