North American Biathlon Rollerski Championships in Photos

BrainspiralAugust 19, 2014
Lowell Bailey on his way to winning the 10 k sprint on Aug. 16 at at the North American Rollerski Championships at the Ethan Allen Firing Range in Jericho, Vt. He also won the mass start the next day.
U.S. Biathlon’s Lowell Bailey on his way to winning the 10 k sprint on Aug. 16 at at the North American Rollerski Championships at the Ethan Allen Firing Range in Jericho, Vt. He also won the mass start the next day.

JERICHO, Vt. — Nestled in a notch among the Green Mountains, in the middle of an 11,000-acre military training site, nearly 40 of the top biathletes in the U.S. and Canada competed in two races last weekend: a sprint and a mass start.

Many considered the all-out efforts at the Ethan Allen Firing Range as a summer tune-up, with slightly higher stakes as the North American Rollerski Championships for seniors ages 21-34.

U.S. Biathlon’s Lowell Bailey came out on top in Saturday’s 10-kilometer sprint, 7.6 seconds ahead of teammate Tim Burke in second. While Burke was later disqualified for skiing the different-length loops out of order, he was one of three men (out of 22) to hit all 10 targets. Bailey and Biathlon Canada’s Scott Gow (in fifth) were the two others who shot clean. U.S. Biathlon’s Sean Doherty ended up second with a single prone miss, Canada’s Brendan Green was third with one standing penalty, and American Russell Currier placed fourth with two prone misses.

The wind picked up for the following women’s 7.5 k sprint, and while none of the 16 racers cleaned, Susan Dunklee (U.S. Biathlon) was the fastest by nearly 30 seconds with one miss in each stage. Biathlon Canada’s Rosanna Crawford notched second, 29.4 seconds back with one prone and one standing miss as well. Craftsbury’s Clare Egan stood on the podium in third, also with two misses, 44.9 seconds behind Dunklee. U.S. Biathlon’s Annelies Cook finished fourth, Canada’s Zina Kocher was fifth, and American Hannah Dreissigacker took sixth.

Sunday’s mass start was a wet one, with Cook commanding the women’s race despite five penalties (two in the first standing and three in the final stage). She beat Crawford for the win by 47.4 seconds, after Crawford had six penalties to repeat in second. Dunklee placed third with eight penalties, 1:06.5 behind Cook. Dreissigacker finished fourth with seven misses, and Canada’s Audrey Vaillancourt tied for the best women’s shooting with three misses to take fifth.

Bailey completed his weekend sweep, winning the men’s mass start by 38 seconds with a single prone penalty — the best shooting of the day. Currier notched second with three standing misses, and his U.S. Biathlon teammate Leif Nordgren was third with six penalties, 1:11.2 behind Bailey. Burke placed fourth with seven misses, and Canada’s Nathan Smith missed three to take fifth.

More photos (by Gordon Vermeer of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project):

Saturday’s sprints 

Sunday’s mass starts 

Complete results (including junior championships the weekend before)

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