Winter Sports Hang On

 



Richards practicing her sharp shooting.

Olympians, 

Despite the calendar calling it Spring, the weather has brought some late chilly days and snow squalls to Burlington. Rather than fight the mood, we're going to revel in a one more winter event!

Coming Up: Figure Skating II: Ice Dance

Join us 6:30-7:30 at Leddy Ice Arena in Burlington on Friday, April 1st (it's really not a joke!). Gustave has rented out the studio rink, which is smaller than a normal hockey rink, for that hour, so please show up in a timely manner. We'll do some warm up skating, and then you'll have one minute to lay down your best free skate routine with a partner. Even if you arrive solo, we'll find you a partner! Feel free to bring your own jams to crush your "well rehearsed" routine to. All attendees and non-skating spectators will serve as honorable ice dance judges.

Just Finished: Biathlon I: 5km Sprint

On one of those post-rain, icy days this winter, two of our athletes ventured onto Fort Ethan Allen for shooting and herring bones. That's right, it was our first foray into the hunting centric sport of biathlon. Thanks to some man made snow, there was plenty of coverage on the 2km loop, and thanks to the man made snow and freezing rain, it was frozen granular in the best stretches. Kelly Richards and Gustave Sexauer signed up for the sport category, meaning that the rifles were left on the mats. The course consisted of a 2km loop, shooting five targets, a 2km loop, shooting 5 targets, and a final 1km loop. Off the line, Richard and Sexauer were neck and neck in their wave and got caught up in some tricky traffic with other skiers sliding down the icy declines. Other skiers from the expert class blew by on the left like semis passing bikes on a highway. Turns out one of them was Leif Nordgren, just back from Beijing! At the first shooting stage, Richards was ahead by a nose, but took a big lead when Sexauer accidentally got prone with an unfamiliar lefty rifle and tried to load it from the top. After a few skates through the penalty loop for missed shots, Richards was well in the lead, not to be caught. Both athletes persevered amid the chaos of maybe Olympic, but not Our Olympic, athletes, all the way to the finish. Sexauer did miss the finish area initially, but after a quick switchback, was able to log a finishing time. Despite the low turnout relegating this to "demonstration" status for Our Olympics, it was truly one of the most exciting and dynamic events we've ever attempted!

What's Next?

So we may have missed the boat on big air skiing and more Nordic action, but Spring is here and so is March Madness. 5x5 basketball anyone? We're also looking to find anyone with some field hockey equipment to enable us to break ground on yet another totally new sport!

Our Olympics

-Gustave

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