Bill Koch Biathlon Clinic

On Sunday I had the wonderful opportunity to work with the local Bill Koch Ski Club. The local club is run by the Rochester XC Ski Foundation and under the guidance of Bob Witkowski. The ski foundation as well as the BK club is one of the major driving forces in the area to develop not only youth skiers but the sport of Nordic Skiing!!

Working in conjunction with the BK Club was Western New York Biathlon. Together the two clubs were able to introduce parents and athletes to the wonderful sport of biathlon. The WNY Biathlon club has a bunch of air rifles and pellet traps that are perfect for the little ones to use. Marty Maynard the WNY club president went over general rifle safety and range procedure. Together with Steve French, Marty and I were able to let each one of the kids shoot 5 shots in the prone position. It was amazing to see some of the kids lay down as many as 4 targets on there very first try!!!

After everyone was able to get some practice in we split the kids in to two 8 person relay teams for a little racing action! The protocol for the race was that each kid had to run a short loop, come in and shoot 2 shots (5 jumping jacks for each miss) and then tag off to the next person in line until the winner was decided. As many of us know it is one thing to hit the targets during zero but another story after skiing/running a loop and having the pressure of friends, family, and self!!!

The kids were doings so well and having so much fun that about ¾ of the way through the line they decided that they wanted to extend the race so that each person shot twice! The race was down to the wire and added to the excitement of the day.

After the race we presented WNY Biathlon patches to all of the kids and our gracious host Kim Douglas (Wife of local Olympian Duncan Douglas) provided everyone with a great snack. Duncan was not able to make it to the event because had left on his own mission to find snow on Saturday. Even without Duncan around we had an eventful day and hopefully did our part to continue New York Sates presence on the Biathlon scene!

I want to thank Rochester XC ski foundation BK ski League, Western New York Biathlon, Kim Douglas and all of the parents and athletes that made this a successful event!!!

Be sure to check out each one of these wonderful organizations website to see what they are up to this winter!

Rochester XC ski foundation BK ski League

http://www.xcrochester.com/new/GVBKYS/GVBKYS.htm

Western New York Biathlon

http://www.westernnybiathlon.com/

Duncan Douglas

http://www.jackedupoldman.com/