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P.G. athletes add to medal count in Halifax

B.C. biathletes ended their Canada Winter Games with a bronze-medal bang.

B.C. biathletes ended their Canada Winter Games with a bronze-medal bang.

The men's and women's relay teams blasted their way onto the podium Friday at Martock Ski Resort and three Prince George athletes were on the course to add to the province's medal count.

Arthur Roots, 16, and Aaron Neumann, 19, who both learned the sport in Prince George as members of the Caledonia Nordic Ski Club, earned their first medals of the Games with a third-place result in the men's 3 X 7.5km relay. Roots and Neumann, who now lives in Canmore, Alta., teamed up with Jasper MacKenzie of Kelowna to win bronze.

Sarah Beaudry of Prince George, the gold medalist in the women's sprint on Tuesday, joined forces with Julia Ransom of Kelowna and Karina Bakker of Vancouver to finish third in the women's 3 X 6-kilometre relay.

The B.C. men's team finished in 1:04:48, five minutes off the 59:33 winning pace of Alberta biathletes Stuart Harden, Aaron Gillmor and Scott Gow, who won his fourth gold medal. Ontario took the silver medal in 1:00.01.

Roots went 5-for-5 in his prone shooting round and 5-for-7 while standing. Relay shooters are allowed three spare bullets per round and it was a small miracle Roots did not have to use any spares in his prone round.

"It had just started raining at the start of our race and it got ugly," said Roots. "My rear sight iced up because of the rain and I couldn't see through it. I had a safety pin holding the number on my leg and I used that to pick the ice out of my sight and I shot 5-for-5.

"I was so happy to get through that, because I was super scared."

Roots took the middle leg of the relay and was fourth when he tagged MacKenzie. But by the end of his first lap, Roots had caught the third-place skier. Roots, whose top placing in an individual race was 12th, hung on to third place until he handed off to Neumann.

Neumann was forced to ski one penalty loop, a 20-second penalty, but was one of the quickest skiers in the event and was relieved his team held on for a medal.

"Alberta and Quebec had really stacked teams, all those guys are on top of the junior category (nationally), born in either 1990 or 1991," said Neumann.

"We had a fairly young team -- Arthur was born in '94 and will still be eligible for the next Games in Prince George in 2015 and Jasper was born in '92. Arthur started off great and we were waiting for him to shoot and no targets were falling. Then, all of a sudden, his targets started falling and he went 5-for-5.

"That was really good to get the medal, especially for Jasper and Arthur. They had great races for themselves and to come out on the podium and be in the spotlight was great for them."

Neumann had two fifth-place finishes and a sixth-place result at the Games.

Quebec's team of Audrey Vaillancourt, Yolaine Oddou and Rose-Marie Cote won gold in the women's relay in 1:00.22, followed by Alberta (Emma Lodge, Danielle Vrielink, Emma Lunder) in 1:04.53. B.C. stopped the clock in 1:05.34.

"Karina had three penalty loops, which is unfortunate, and we were over two minutes behind when I started racing," said Beaudry. "The Quebec girls shoot fast and they don't miss many targets."

Beaudry, who won three medals in four events at Games in Halifax, skied the anchor leg and posted the fastest ski time (19:23). Beaudry and Ransom hit all 10 targets in two rounds, each relying on two spare bullets.

"I was a bit tired after I got back from Europe (where she competed in the world junior/youth championships two weeks ago in the Czech Republic) but the whole week I've been feeling really good on my skis," said Beaudry. "I was just hoping for a top-five finish and I was so happy (to win the sprint). It was just such a surprise."

The next race action for Beaudry, Roots, and Team B.C. biathlete Rob Martin of Prince George will be March 5-6 at Otway Nordic Centre. Neumann will join the provincial team at the national championships, March 21-27 in Charlo, N.B. Beaudry is also hoping to compete in the Haywood cross-country ski nationals in Canmore, March 12-19.

Tim Hempsall of Prince George finished off competition in short track speed skating Thursday with an eighth-place finish in the super 1,500-metre race, then combined with B.C. teammates Thomas McLennan, Williams McLennan, Jordan Rosborough and Mitch Kupchenko to finish seventh in the 3,000m relay.