麻豆社区

Nadia Moser isn鈥檛 the only up-and-coming biathlon prospect emerging from the territory.

A handful of other Whitehorse products made their mark at two championship events held this month.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 success breeding success,鈥� Biathlon Yukon president Bill鈥圕urtis said of the recent achievements by local biathletes.

鈥淧eople see the articles in the paper, the results. We have a very Nordic-minded community and it鈥檚 a fairly natural fit for some of the kids.

鈥淪ome of them have tried skiing and are maybe a little bored. Now they鈥檝e heard of biathlon because of the successes, and they want to try it.鈥�

Moser, of course, is the territory鈥檚 rising 麻豆社区athlete who recently participated at the Biathlon Youth World Championships in Romania.

Earlier this month, her former teammates took home seven medals from the British Columbia Biathlon Championship in Whistler.

Held Feb. 13 and 14, Yukon was led by Jake Draper and Micah Hildes, who each won two medals. Draper earned gold and silver, while Hildes took silver and bronze.

Other medal winners included Emma Marnik (gold), Bronwyn Goodwin-Williams (bronze) and Francis Reid (bronze).

Marnik also podiumed in an Alberta race earlier this season.

That鈥檚 an impressive haul, Curtis noted.

鈥淲e鈥檙e competing with the best in B.C. 鈥� one of the powerhouses in Canada. It鈥檚 nice to see our kids come out on top.

What we noticed in B.C. was the quality of our kids鈥� shooting.

鈥淭hey seemed to be doing much better than the other competitors when it came down to shooting. That speaks well of our coaching.鈥�

Coaches Dennis Peters and Laurie Jacobsen were recently honoured by Sport Yukon.

Then at last weekend鈥檚 championships held at Grey Mountain, masters athlete Steve Hahn, juvenile Isidore Champagne, youths Maria Peters and Bruce Wilson, as well as seniors Hildes and Draper each won two gold medals.

About 45 participants competed.

鈥淭he program is growing,鈥� Curtis said. 鈥淕one are the days when we were bottom of the pack.鈥�

This season, the organization put together a Pursuit squad for semi-serious biathletes who weren鈥檛 interested in being pushed onto the elite Velocity racing team.

鈥淲e鈥檝e grown from a handful a few years ago to 30 kids now between the two groups,鈥濃�圕urtis said, noting there is an additional 20 participants on the younger Bears squad, ranging in age from nine to 12.

鈥淲e鈥檝e got a good group of kids,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey get along well and it promotes good competition, I think.鈥�