Biathlon
- Thread starter Hunter
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Biathlon used to be HUGE in the Army, but unfortunately it has fallen on hard times. IIRC the CF has even shut down the awesome Biathlon training facility in Valcartier, and it has been removed from the CF National Sports championships. Its not even a CISM sport...
Ahh GO!!! beat me to it...
Ahh GO!!! beat me to it...
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I couldn't believe it when I read that they canned biathlon within the CF. Wow. An event where you combine fitness AND shooting, and they get rid of it.
I competed in a few biathlon competitions when I was but a wee lad (in cadets). Good times..... Never got back into it once I joined the Regs (you DO NOT want to see me in that Lycra/Spandex style of knickers they wear
).
One of the perrenial CF sports hero's was Cpl Stephane Cyr(??) of the Van Doos. Always in the Winter Olympics.
I'm sure it was promptly replaced with darts as the sport to play. Not too many games where you can drink a beer, eat some greasy food, puff a smoke, and compete, pretty much all at once. And yes, I suck at darts.
Al
I competed in a few biathlon competitions when I was but a wee lad (in cadets). Good times..... Never got back into it once I joined the Regs (you DO NOT want to see me in that Lycra/Spandex style of knickers they wear
). One of the perrenial CF sports hero's was Cpl Stephane Cyr(??) of the Van Doos. Always in the Winter Olympics.
I'm sure it was promptly replaced with darts as the sport to play. Not too many games where you can drink a beer, eat some greasy food, puff a smoke, and compete, pretty much all at once. And yes, I suck at darts.
Al
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Thanks for the info guys. Are the biathlon range and trails at CFB Petawawa used much in the winter? It's a shame that the CF canned the biathlon program. For anyone from Ottawa who is interested, Chelsea Nordic Ski Club is going to be running a Masters biathlon program this winter. Below is a posting that was in today's edition of the TriRudy newsletter:
The Chelsea Nordique Biathlon Club will be holding training sessions for novice adults this winter at the Camp Fortune Biathlon Range. We expect to have 6 sessions starting in early January followed by an out of town race. Sessions will be on Sunday mornings at 10:00 and will run for 2 hours. Rifles will be supplied and no experience is required.
If you are interested get in touch with me and I will give you the contact info. I'm just not comfortable posting someone else's phone number on the 'net.
The Chelsea Nordique Biathlon Club will be holding training sessions for novice adults this winter at the Camp Fortune Biathlon Range. We expect to have 6 sessions starting in early January followed by an out of town race. Sessions will be on Sunday mornings at 10:00 and will run for 2 hours. Rifles will be supplied and no experience is required.
If you are interested get in touch with me and I will give you the contact info. I'm just not comfortable posting someone else's phone number on the 'net.
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Navalsnipr said:
I don't think that it was an easy decision. Alot of it seems to have come down to the drop in participation. I know in Pet, it dropped off the radar in about '99 - we just got too busy at that time of year and couldn't provide the training time to people. Also, if the unit didn't have anyone interested in running a team... it died.
They tried to get the Canadian National Team and their program to take over the facility at Val, but they have a facility out west already and couldn't come up with the $$ needed to keep it running. Its not just a CF sports problem, the civ sports world has a hard time coming up with $ too.
Broomball and triathlon are also dead as CF sports (tri is still a CISM sport) and I think squash/badminton should get the axe too.
If you want Biathlon/Classic or Skate XC racing to be CF sports, then you have to organize at the base level. If enough bases have active scenes, then they will re-institute these sports.
One more thing, if you want to talk about a sport that has a good crossover for military training: Adventure Racing. There should be a CF AR series....
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Best winter I spent in the military,no field, no duties, just ski and shoot everyday from 8 to 4......and then DJ'ed at the Embassy tavern at night.....good times.
