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Another last-minute biathlon event held here
by Blake Lagasse
Fort Kent – Athletes for the U.S. Biathlon World Championship Team Trials converged on Fort Kent last week. The original location of the team trials was Lake Placid, N.Y., but the area hadn’t received enough snow to support the event.
Nancy Thibodeau, event director for the 2005 IPC Nordic World Championships, said the decision was made not only because Fort Kent is “one of the only place in New England with enough snowfall” to support the biathlon, but the familiarity of the town with the biathlon provided additional reasons to choose Fort Kent. The positive response from athletes also helped in the decision.
Once Fort Kent was made aware of the decision, preparations had to start. Thibodeau said the community pulled together and made the biathlon team trials possible and successful.
Although there were a few problems with the team trials because of the location change, the biathlon went well, says Thibodeau. She said the audience was good considering it was a vacation week for everyone. This event is building off all prior events and this says a lot about the St. John Valley, she said. Response from the athletes was also good and some athletes have even extended their stay in Fort Kent so they can train at the facilities.
Brian Olsen, a competing athlete during the team trials, said that “for those of us that train here, it was a welcome change because we know how the community supports biathlon”. Olsen has trained in Fort Kent and Presque Isle for a number of years and competed in all three races for the team trials. Olsen says there are strong ties between the town and the biathlon. “When I come over the bridge from New Brunswick and see Fort Kent, I think biathlon. Biathlon changed the town itself,” but also “there’s something special in this town”. He said this ties into how unique towns are in the St. John Valley.
Olsen says it’s easier for an athlete to focus on the sport when a community is focused on the sport also. It seems with the reactions the biathlon has seen from athletes this past week, Fort Kent is solidifying its position as a prominent area for biathlon.
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