15km Cross Country Race (Classical)

Carlos Pointer
02.02.13
Conditions (Snowing, slow mushy snow, around 2 degrees celsius) 
Starting off the miserable, wet, rainy day with morning mobility and stretching off our tired limbs in our skin tight lycra, race suits.
As mentioned above the previous races this season have already taken its toll. Especially with Steve Perry and myself. The past couple of days I've suffered with a minor tummy bug. Ewwww, I know!
Anyhooser, back to the races. The weather conditions were atrocious, making the already ridiculously tough course, challenging. This race along side the Patrol Race, that is yet to come, is without a doubt on par with an event on Pre-para. (Trust me, I know! Lol)
Saying that we completed with the race with grit and determination, few falls, no injuries just sore lower backs from the total climb of 477m in deep, soft snow.
As a team we came 13^th overall! Not bad going, considering most of the teams above us in the results are GB/ex GB/National Development squad ;)
Grant is now the 15km RAF Champion 2013, amazing for a Novice! Let alone a Youth Novice. Excellent potential there! GB Team, who knows? ;)

4 x 7.5km Biathlon Relay

Carlos Pointer
31.01.13Conditions ( Sunny, firm snow, around 5 - -5 degrees celsius)
Today was the 4 x 7.5km Biathlon Relay Race. Shooting format = prone, stand. However, in Biathlon relays, relay rounds are given. (An extra 3 rounds per shoot ). The team selected was...Frank Kelly, Steve Perry, Mat Bailey and myself (in race order).
Before the race had begun there were obvious signs of fatigue from the ferocious racing cycle. Can you think of any other sport that demands the sportsman/woman to complete 8 ardious races, within 13 days? :P

RHETORICAL QUESTION! ;) The answer is no :)

The relay races are very competitive! And the heat is always on for each team member selected to perform well! Ski fast and shoot straight as the Coach would say lol.
In the end we came top 10 out of 38 strong teams! Missing only 2 shots in total helped! Special shout out to Mat Bailey for his extra slick fast drills AND skills...Shooting all of his targets down with only a quick little breath inbetween in shoot. Impressive.

20km Biathlon Individual AND 15km Biathlon Individual (Youth Men)

Carlos Pointer

29.01.13Conditions ( Snowing/raining, soft and wet snow, around -1 - 1 degrees celsius)
The longest biathlon race had arrived! The 15km was the first race of the day! In both the 15km and 20km there are 4 shoots; prone, stand, prone and stand again. It is extremely important to shoot well because for each shot missed, a 1 min time penalty is added instead of doing the usual penalty loop.

Grant was the only participant of the 15km race in the team (because he's a Novice) which he came top of! After shooting well, only missing 3 targets out of 20, he had set the standard! A high one! Great news!
Before the 20km race had started, there was supposed to be the very popular Andi Birnbacher of Germany (last years, world number 3 in biathlon) showing up and setting off 30 seconds before me! I told my Mother, she replied with," You can do it son! Go kick his ass!" Yeah good one Mum! lol. I think he was too scared to show up :P
Everyone had a good race and even when we weren't racing we were busy cheering on the RAF ladies team and sorting out various bits of admin.
Oh and I also forgot to mention the fact that I only missed 2 shots; hitting 18/20 and claiming the National Best Shot title! Boom! One of the shots I took in prone was also without a cuff which is much more difficult to hit! Especially with a high heart rate! How do you like those apples? :P

12.5km Biathlon Mass Start AND 10km Biathlon Massstart (Jnr Men)

Carlos Pointer
27.02.13
Conditions ( Overcast, hard packed snow, around -4 degrees celcius)
On Sunday there were 2 races held, the 12.5km Biathlon Mass Start (Senior Men) and the 10km Biathlon Mass Start (Junior Men – Grant Wilson only!). Both races included 5 laps, with 4 shoots - prone, prone, stand, stand.
This race was seeded from how well we did in the previous day! Mass starts are always extremely exciting because where you come in the race is where you finish. Unlike the 10km Sprint Race, which is kind of like a time trial, between each person there is a 30 second gap. Meaning you have to guess how far infront/behind a fellow competitor you are.
Throughout the beasting the pressure was on, big time! Most of the RAF team were laying on the firing point at the same time! Scary shizzle! For every shot missed an extra 150m had to be skied around the penalty loop, ultimately wasting precious time. Hitting the same amount of targets as the Coach (13/20), we met at the start of the last lap. I heard the Coach mutter something, but I was more bothered about keeping up with his old ass! With a sprint finish at the end the old timer won! By a measly 1.4 secs. I'll get him next time ;)
After our race was over there was no time for feeling sorry for ourselves! Warm kit on and straight out to cheer on Grant!
Grant as mentioned before in the blog has taken to snow exceptionally fast, which allowed him to 'smash' the Novice Race. Getting him top Novice by a whole 2min lead! :D

10Km Biathlon Sprint Race

Carlos Pointer
26.02.13
Conditions ( Sunny, hard packed snow, around -6 degrees celcius)
(3 x 3.4km loop, with 2 shoots, prone and stand)
This was our first race at the Nationals! Due to our late arrival to snow-training, there was no wonder we were all a little rusty for the 10km sprint. However, we still managed to perform extremely well, knocking down most of our targets and achieving decent results :)
The banter between the RAF Regiment and the 'Blue Air Force' (anyone in the RAF that's not a Rock Ape lol) is hillarious! Laughing at the boss's cringe-worthy military sayings, such as, "Negatron". That's when we all break out into a funky robotic dance lol.

The British National Inter Service Nordic Ski Championships, have begun! (26.02.13)

Quick Update

Hi all,

The team are back in Ruhpolding and are conducting final preparations for the National Championships that begin at the end of the week (26th). The guys have been training hard and have now been joined by the rest of the RAF squad.

In total there are now 7 Male RAF athletes and 4 Female athletes here all fine tuning for the first races which this year will be the biathlon races starting on Saturday until Thursday before the competitions switch to the cross-country phase.

All results will be linked form the blog as and when they come on line, but if you can not wait you could keep an eye on www.britishbiathlon.com for all the news and results.