By Andrew Chisholm

When I moved to Canmore this fall, I had one goal in mind. I wanted to become a better biathlete. From classic rollerskiing for the first time in my life during my first uphill classic time trial, to zone 5 max intervals, I knew it was going to be a hard push. I saw my first gains in the first race weekend of the year, where although I had some rough races, I was able to feel and see that I was capable of achieving good results.

Right now I am in La Patrie, Quebec (also known as the middle of nowhere). We have limited internet access (we go park outside of a bank and steal someone's wireless) and limited phone service (you hold your phone against a certain wall or window in the house where we are staying). I am here for the World Youth Biathlon Championship trials with Joel, Beau, Roddy, and some athletes from Foothills Nordic. So far two races have taken place, both being 7.5k sprints. The first day I couldn't get in a good warmup, so I was worried about that during my race. I had a not so hot shooting day, hitting 6/10 and not skiing very fast, so I came 11th. Today was another sprint. I hit 8/10 and I had an okay skiing race, but I was very tired still. I came 8th today, but the field flipped around a bit so it is going to be very exciting for the pursuit on Sunday. I am ranked around 9th place overall right now and I need to be in the top 3 if I want to go to Sweden to the World Youth Champs, so have your fingers crossed! It is the pursuit competition tomorrow, which just happens to be my favourite competition.