Biathletes from across the province will be at the Otway Nordic Centre today and Sunday, skiing and shooting for gold at the Stride & Glide B.C. championships.
The meet, the third and final event of the 2012-13 B.C. Cup series, will bring together 11 clubs and 67 competitors, including Emily Dickson, Claire Lapointe, Leah Forsdick and Josiah Fisher of the host Caledonia Nordics.
The competition will help determine Team B.C. for the national championships in mid-March in Whistler and, for officials, will serve as a test event for the 2015 Canada Winter Games.
The meet will be significant for another reason because it will be the last one that will utilize the current rifle range, which is two kilometres away from the lodge. A new range, near the parking lot, will be ready for next season.
"They've started flattening out a bank there already and there's lots of design work being done so as soon as the ground thaws I think they're going to be breaking ground on that," said Heather Tandy, who will serve as the chief of timing this weekend. "There's lots of nostalgia [with the current range] but, at the same time, as officials we'll be really glad to see the end of having to Ski-Doo everything out and back."
Sprint races are scheduled for today, starting at noon. Sunday has been set aside for pursuit races, with competition beginning at 10 a.m.
Dickson, who represented Canada at the world youth championships in Austria earlier this season, will compete in the senior girls (15-16) category this weekend, as will Lapointe. Forsdick is entered in the youth women's (17-18) class and Fisher will take aim in the senior boys division.
