Tawingo College hosted its first ever invitational biathlon on Thursday, February 15. Students in grades 3 through 8 at local schools were invited to participate and almost 150 of them took up the challenge.<\/p>\n
“Cross-country skiing is a hugely popular activity in the area. Look at all of the students who attend the Arrowhead Nordic Ski events,” says Tawingo College principal Tia Pearse. “We thought we might open students up to yet another fun, winter activity. With it being an Olympic year, it was meaningful to offer an Olympic event. We didn’t realize until it was all over that two biathlon events happened in Pyeongchang on the same day \u2014 the 15km Women’s Individual and the 20km Men’s Individual races \u2014 a very cool coincidence.”<\/p>\n
The racers skied a 1.5-kilometre course through the sprawling Tawingo grounds \u2014 the grade 3\/4s skiing it once while the 5\/6s and 7\/8s made two and three laps respectively \u2014 before reaching the shooting range where they used paintball markers to try to hit a target three times in a row. For each shot they missed they had to ski a lap on the 50-metre penalty loop. Patience paid off for the students who took their time to aim well.<\/p>\n
“The biathlon, as an event, is a great leveler,” notes Pearse. “Fast skiers can get held up by penalty loops if they aren’t good shots, good marksmen can get ahead even if they aren’t fast skiers.”<\/p>\n
Tawingo hopes to make the biathlon a biannual event.<\/p>\n
Grade 3\/4 boys:
\n<\/strong> James Laughton, Tawingo, 9:17
\nGabriel Nakamoto, Montessori, 11:15
\nSterling Boothby, Riverside, 11:26
\nMatthew Hochfellner, Tawingo, 12:31
\nDaniel Gamper, HPS, 12:43<\/p>\n\n\t\t