Sarah Beaudry’s homecoming party was seven years in the making.
She could have chosen to go back to Europe to race the IBU Cup circuit after helping Canada’s women’s relay team knock it out the park with 10th-place finish at the Beijing Olympics.
But the lure of four days of racing in the Canadian biathlon championships on her home course at Otway Nordic Centre and week of home-cooked meals at her parents’ house in College Heights was too much for Beaudry to pass up.
The 27-year-old two-time Olympian brought along part of the senior national team contingent for the ride from their base in Canmore, Alta., and they raised the star quality of the 200-athlete field assembled this week in Prince George for biathlon nationals.
Fresh from her World Cup and Olympic racing experiences, Beaudry had only a couple misses on the shooting range in Sunday’s women’s 7.5-kilometre sprint. But those two penalty loops were enough for fellow Beijing Olympian Megan Bankes of Calgary to capitalize. For Beaudry, it spoiled the promise of a Mars bar reward from Heather Tandy, the mother for former Olympian Megan Tandy, who years ago used to reward kids in the Caledonia Nordic Ski Club with chocolate if they shot clean.
Beaudry took part in the Western Canadian Championships in 2014, the year before Prince George hosted the Canada Winter Games, but that was her only prior experience on the revamped biathlon course. The spectators lining the trails Sunday made her feel right at home.
“I definitely heard the cheers all along the course and it was so nice,” said Beaudry. “I’m just catching up with people I haven’t seen awhile. It’s nice to be at home and obviously there’s not much pressure riding on this race, it’s more for fun and more to just be here. I wasn’t feeling great skiing but it’s just fun to be out in front of the home crowd.”
Although she hasn’t been happy with her ski speeds this season, Beaudry’s shooting has been consistent and she went 10-for-10 in the Olympic relay in Beijing to keep the Canadian women (Beaudry, Banks, Emma Lunder and Emily Dickson) in the top 10.
“Definitely my individual races I was disappointed, and there were up and down races for the women’s team, not as strong as the men’s team was doing, so it was nice we all had a good day together on the last day we were all racing,” said Beaudry. “It was nice to end on high note.”
After two years of racing in tight bubbles, sequestered from the outside world and avoiding their racing peers from other countries to try to avoid COVID infections, the lid has been lifted on pandemic restrictions, especially for the national team racers in their race Sunday. They were enjoying the freedom of racing out of the pressure-cooker for the first time in a long time.
“It’s been hard being isolated the last two years, even in training in the summer in Canada and you want to be cautious because if you catch it (the virus), that’s along time out of training and it obviously has some serious health implications too,” Beaudry said. “It’s nice to be here and relaxed and see the kids all together.”
Despite three missed targets in her standing shooting bout, Bankes had enough of a lead after shooting clean in her prone round to win the women’s race, finishing 40.2 seconds ahead of Beaudry, which gives her that much of a head start over Beaudry for Monday’s pursuit.
Bankes, skiing for Foothills Nordics of Calgary, also competed in the 2014 test event in Prince George. She was satisfied with Sunday’s race after starting last out of five in the women’s category.
“I never saw Sarah on the course, but it was fun,” said Bankes, who had one of Canada’s best solo finishes in Beijing with a 33rd result, going 18-for-20 in the individual event. “It’s fun to be here and have so many people cheering. The climbs are nice because they’re not super-steep, so you can get a lot of glide on them. It’s not easy, but it’s got a nice feel to it.
“I’m coaching the senior boys and girls for Foothills in the morning and racing in the afternoon and it’s fun to be here on both sides. It’s great to be here seeing so many kids out here from different parts of the country and finally to have this after a couple years. It’s really nice to see everyone back together.”
Zoe Pekos of the Chelsea (Que.) Nordiq biathlon club, claimed bronze in the sprint, 3:44.3 behind Bankes. Pekos went 4-for-10 on the range.
This is the first year that athletes at biathlon nationals are representing their home clubs, rather than their home provinces. The change in format is designed to give club athletes and coaches more opportunities to learn by racing the cream of the crop in their respective provinces.
World Cup veterans Trevor Kiers of Sprucedale, Ont., and Aidan Millar of Canmore were among four men who battled the clock in Sunday’s 10 km sprint.
Skiing for Chelsea Nordics, a Quebec-based club near Gatineau, Kiers had just three missed targets, two while prone, one while standing, and he won in 26:25.2. Andrei Secu of West Coast Nordics of Abbotsford shot 8-for-10 and captured silver, 1:38.5 behind Kiers, while Millar was third, with four misses (+2:35.2).
Kiers, 25, raced in Prince George at Canada Winter Games seven years ago and he didn’t stand out in the crowd like he did Sunday.
“I was garbage, that was my first year competing, my best result was 16th in the sprint, so I did much better today,” said Kiers. “Not the greatest shooting, but it was interesting to do the course analysis and just be like, ‘wow, this is a lot easier than I remember.’
“It’s still a really tough course. Some of the corners were a little slick and on the way down there’s a couple of hairpin turns that keep you on your toes. It’s going to be even more challenging the next little while as it ices over a little more. We’ll see how it freezes overnight but as of right now the conditions are fantastic.”
Despite has humbling race results, Kiers has fond memories of representing Ontario in 2015.
“I really like it here, the start of my biathlon career was here at Canada Games, probably the best event I’ve ever been part of,” he said. “So far, the atmosphere feels very similar, there’s a lot of people cheering, which is amazing to have. We haven’t had that a lot.”
The IBU classes (women, men, junior women and junior women) start their pursuits at 1 p.m. Monday.
