Feb 21, 2012

News from Finland

The competitions were the Youth Women 10 km Individual and the Youth Men 12.5 Km Individual (17 and 18 yrs old). In the individual competition they ski 5 times (2 km loops for women and 2.5 km loops for men) and shoot four bouts of five shots each. There is a one minute penalty for each missed shot and there are no penalty loops. The "Individual" competition is the oldest of the competition types with racers starting on 30 sec intervals and racing the longest distance of all competitions types. Race conditions were quite good with air temperatures of about -4 C throughout the race. This was a big relief to the athletes as temperatures had been bitterly cold during the World Cup held there two weeks ago (-20). Winds were high which made shooting a challenge, but this is all part of the sport (see attached report on race conditions). Julia Ransom of Kelowna BC, put in a stellar performance and placed 8th out of 78 women (see results). She had a good ski and excellent shooting (3 miss out of 20), with a ski time of 38:38.1 and a total time of 41:38.1. Sarah Beaudry of Prince George BC was the second Canadian Woman with a placing of 33rd; she skied similar to Julia (39:29.1) but had a bit more challenge in the range with 6 misses compared to Julia's 3. Sarah's total time was 45:28.1. Results for the other two Canadian Women were: Rose-Marie Cote from Quebec placed 47th with a total time of 46:57.0 and Erin Oliver Beebe from Whitehorse placed 50th with a total time of 47:52.7. The next competition for the Youth Women is on Wednesday with the 3X6 km Relay (each athletes shoots twice and skies three times a 2 km loop). The youth women's relay team will most likely be composed of Julia Ransom, Sarah Beaudry and Rose-Marie Cote. The next competitions after that are the Sprint on Friday and the Pursuit on Sunday.