The races in Fort Kent were probably my worst races of the season. The course there was the toughest course I have ever skied on. As you leave the range you climb a hill that is steep and where a normal hill would end you are only half way up it, after a quick flat section another tough climb awaits you! Magdalena Neuner said about the pursuit race you have to"...ski the Mount Everest of biathlon five times..." Lowell Bailey of US team called the initial climb possibly "the biggest hill I've ever seen on a biathlon course." Needless to say it was not a course that played to my strengths! The sprint was on Friday and I hit 5/10, putting me in 56th place, last place. I don't think I have ever been last in a race. But because there wasn't that many starters it meant a spot in the pursuit, so I needed to leave the sprint behind and get ready for the next race. I had to start 5min behind the leaders, and a 2km loop takes about 5min30 to 6min, meaning I was going to have to hammer off my first loop and shoot well in order to not get lapped and pulled out of the race. Right when I started Andrea Henkle (sprint winner) was about 250m from the range! When 5min hit I was out of the start gate so fast! I came into the range for my prone shooting, hooked up my sling and my arm band broke (in prone shooting we use an arm band to make shooting a bit more stable) I knew the leaders were close behind so I set up and tried to hit the targets. I hit 2/5 and while in the penalty loop the leaders were leaving the range, meaning I was lapped and not allowed to finish.
I was lucky to have my parents there to cheer me on and cheer me up! Sunday and Monday morning we trained in Fort Kent and then around 11:30 we took to the roads for our 6hr drive to Montreal. But there was a snow storm, the roads were horrible and about an hour away from Quebec city they closed the main road. We hung out in a small town for 3hrs, ate some food and found a new route to Montreal. At 6pm we were back on the road, the bad luck doesn't end there, when we stopped for gas our keys got locked in the car. Quick call to CAA and onwards at 10pm with 4hrs to go. At 2am, 14.5hrs later, we rolled into our hotel in Montreal. Just another horrendous travel day to add to the books. Our flight to Europe isn't until 8pm so it's nice we get the day to rest before jumping on the plane.
The rest of my season plans have now changed as well. Where I was going to World Champs in Russia I am now going to Under 26 European Champs in Ridnaun, Italy and then an IBU cup in France. Melanie and I will get to compete in some races against girls more in our field. I am really happy with this decision. As much as I want to be racing against the best in the World I know I am not quite there yet.
Hope you are all well!
Cheers
Rosanna
ps with all our border crossing last week we spent approximately 2hrs waiting at the border!
with my dad there he was able to take some great photos!!
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