Sarah Beaudry is having the time of her life.
The 21-year-old Caledonia Nordic Ski Club member from Prince George is in Norway with Canada's national team, where she's been training for this weekend's biathlon world championships in Oslo.
In Norway, biathlon is not just a sport. It's a religion.
More than 100,000 tickets have been sold for the event, which includes 11 races over an 11-day span.
Beaudry is entered in the women's 7.5-kilometre sprint on Saturday, the third race of the world finals. If she posts a top-60 finish she'll get to race in the pursuit on Sunday. She also plans on competing in the women's relay next Friday.
Beaudry posted her best-ever World Cup results three weeks ago in Canmore, where she finished 38th in the sprint and helped Canada to a sixth-place result in the 22-team women's relay.
At worlds, it all starts today with the mixed relay event. Canada's team consists of two women - Julia Ransom of Kelowna and Rosanna Crawford of Canmore - and two men - Nathan Smith of Calgary and Brendan Green of Hay River, NWT.
Smith and Green are scheduled to race in the men's 10km sprint on Friday.
In other local biathlon news, the Caledonia club under head coach Allie Dickson has earned top club status in the province, based on the results of Caledonia biathletes in B.C. Cup events this season.
Eight of the 16 biathletes who will represent B.C. at the national championships, March 15-20 in Valcartier, Que., are from Prince George. That list includes Beaudry, Matt Neumann, Arthur Roots, Emily Dickson, Bobby Kreitz, Jarod Algra, Logan Sherba and Mark Hartley. Colton MacDougall of Prince George will also compete in the national event.
Kreitz won the youth men class in the B.C. Cup season points race.
The Caledonia club will host its annual Stride & Glide Sports - Spirit of the Rivers Loppet on Sunday, March 13, starting at
10 a.m. The mass start cross-country ski race includes 15km and 30km distances. Early-bird registration fees apply until midnight on Friday. Registration closes at midnight on Friday, March 11. Go to zone4.ca to register.
