a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_mrH2aLzeZss/SxICJz_FaUI/AAAAAAAAAg4/mzJxzoTPTCY/s1600/Walt(b)_Sp.JPG"img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 196px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_mrH2aLzeZss/SxICJz_FaUI/AAAAAAAAAg4/mzJxzoTPTCY/s200/Walt(b)_Sp.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409388470022269250" //a The season kicked off with a bit of a bite this morning. After nearly two weeks of unusually warm conditions the athletes were greeted with high winds and some of the coldest temperatures they’ve seen this season thus far. With just over a 3km loop of manmade snow in place the course was hard packed and very fast.br /br /Walt Shepard of Yarmouth placed 4th in today’s 10km competition. Hitting 8 of his 10 shots, Shepard was locked in a tight battle as places 3 through 8 all shot the same. Shepard’s final loop was a strong one as he placed 4 seconds in front of Canada’s Tyson Smith and was only 11 seconds from the podium. Russell Currier of Caribou placed 9th with 3 penalties. Bill Bowler of Wasau, WI kick started the season by wearing bib number 1. Bowler had just one penalty in prone but faltered in standing missing of 5 to place 14th.br /br /a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_mrH2aLzeZss/SxIDCBQ1ltI/AAAAAAAAAhA/lNTzIPOWXw4/s1600/Bill_Sp.JPG"img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_mrH2aLzeZss/SxIDCBQ1ltI/AAAAAAAAAhA/lNTzIPOWXw4/s200/Bill_Sp.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409389435659065042" //abr /br /BethAnn Chamberlain of Caribou had one of just a handful of clean stages in the Women’s race, however 4 penalties in windy conditions during standing left her working a little harder the final loop. Chamberlain finished 8th overall. In the Youth Women’s race Andrea Mayo of Wallagrass finished 9th with 5 penalties.br /br /a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_mrH2aLzeZss/SxJ0qA2e8zI/AAAAAAAAAhM/dfbhgcqo51Y/s1600/Andrea_Sp.JPG"img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_mrH2aLzeZss/SxJ0qA2e8zI/AAAAAAAAAhM/dfbhgcqo51Y/s200/Andrea_Sp.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409514367557235506" //abr /br /a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_mrH2aLzeZss/SxJ1Oy8gi7I/AAAAAAAAAhU/v9rKRtvqKG4/s1600/Russell_Sp.JPG"img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_mrH2aLzeZss/SxJ1Oy8gi7I/AAAAAAAAAhU/v9rKRtvqKG4/s200/Russell_Sp.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409514999479569330" //adiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6813061107698506856-3848811103056712624?l=mwscbiathlon.blogspot.com' alt='' //div