Biathlon TEAm at Sugar Bowl Academy and Royal Gorge
This past Friday our Biathlon TEAm traveled to Sugar Bowl Academy and Royal Gorge for a day of competitive Nordic racing.
For clarity’s sake, this TEAm competes in two different racing disciplines throughout the season; Nordic Skate Ski Races and Biathlon Races.
Nordic Skate Ski Races: Student-athletes from Truckee-Tahoe, South Tahoe, Nevada City and Mammoth compete in middle school and high school races. Nordic races, like last Friday’s, are governed by the CNISSF.
Biathlon Races: Our TEAm also competes in biathlon competitions at Auburn Ski Club against novice racers from all over. Competition is a blend of both skate ski and riflery prowess – novice level competitors, like our student-athletes ski three 1.5km challenging laps, entering a certified .22 caliber range between laps to fire at five targets. Racers are penalized with short penalty laps for each missed shot. That’s right, this is hard and one of the most challenging winter endurance sports there is!
It was an impressive showing by our enthusiastic TEAm.
Thank you to the athletes, coaches, and parents for supporting our evolving practice schedule. And an extra special shout out to the TEAm for persevering blizzard conditions during practice. Your hard work paid off!
On race day it was a classic winter scene at Sugar Bowl complete with snow-covered pines, untouched tracks of sparkling snow and a nice crisp snap of cold in the air.
As always, it was highly inspiring to watch kids have to dig deep, shake off the butterflies and give it their individual best, while also supporting their teammates. We had 5th – 8th graders competing on the 3km Middle School course and 9th – 11th graders competing in the Open Division on the 5km High School Course. Check out the course overviews.
As the day of racing came to an end, there were some impressive results posted by the TEA Biathlon TEAm.
And a HUGE thanks again to TEA Athletic Director Eric Martin and all of the volunteer parents who have helped coach, organize and get our kids off to a very strong start of the biathlon season.
As the day of racing came to an end, there were some impressive results posted by the TEA Biathlon TEAm. To view a complete listing of the results, follow this link, click on designated race then grade number to expand. A reminder 5th graders competed in the 6th-grade race. High schoolers listed in Open division.
Congratulations to every single kid who made it out there. There was fire and desire in everyone’s eyes no matter where they were in the line-up of finishers. Everyone was pushing to do their best, and consequently, this TEAm presented as a very strong force out there. So cool to see and much to be proud of.
For those interested in showing some school spirit, our TEAm’s first Biathlon Race of the season is Sunday, Jan 20th @ 11:30am at Auburn Ski Club, go Hawks!
