Conditions Friday at the national biathlon championships in Charlo, N.B., were brutal.
The remnants of an East Coast blizzard that dumped 45 centimetres of fresh snow the day before meant frigid temperatures and gusty winds for Friday's pursuit races but it didn't seem to bother a couple of Prince George biathletes from the Caledonia Nordic Ski Club.
Emily Dickson, 16, won gold in the senior girls and Sarah Beaudry, 19, found the high spot on the podium in the junior girls race -- her second gold medal in two national championship races.
"Once again, double-gold, it was awesome," said B.C. team coach Allie Dickson.
"Conditions were really tough. With the wind chill it was minus-20 right up to the cutoff and it was slow going but I think the Prince George athletes were better prepared than some of them. It was cold for Westerns [at Otway Nordic Centre], we had a cold race in Smithers, and that gave them a definite advantage.
Dickson missed six of her 20 shots and won 7.5-kilometre race in 39:28, 2:40 ahead of silver medalist Reagan Chicone of Alberta. Claire Lapointe, competing in her first year in the senior girls category, placed sixth, 5:41 behind her Caledonia clubmate Dickson.
"Emily is definitely a stronger skier than some of the other girls in the category and today she was one of the better shooters on the range, hitting 14 of 20," said Allie Dickson. "She only started five seconds behind the leader and was able to make that up on the first lap and held it the rest of the way
Beaudry stopped the clock in 39:32 in her 10 km race, edging B.C. teammate Julia Ransom of Kelowna, who was 1:04 behind. Beaudry held a hot hand on the range with just one miss, continuing on her success from the world junior championships last weekend.
"It was pretty incredible shooting from Sarah," said coach Dickson. "Her only miss today was her last shot, she went 10-for-10 in the relay at worlds, went 10-for-10 in the sprint here [on Wednesday] and 19-for-20 today."
It was a great day all around for Prince George racers.
Matt Neumann improved one position over his sprint result to finish fourth in the pursuit. He had seven misses in four rounds of shooting, same as gold medalist J.P. Le Guellec of Quebec and silver medalist Scott Perras of Regina. Marc-Andre Bedard, who won bronze, missed eight of 20 shots. Neumann finished in 45:35, 2:40 behind Le Guellec, who clocked 42:54.
Arthur Roots placed seventh in the 12.5 km junior men's class, finishing in 52:29, 8:44 off the winning pace of Christian Gow of Canmore. Roots and Beaudry were the only racers Friday to clean both prone shooting rounds. Roots missed seven of 10 while standing.
Bobby Kreitz had a tough day on the range, missing 17 of 20, and finished 28th in the senior boys pursuit, 17:40 behind gold medalist Teo Sanchez of Quebec.
All six Prince George biathletes will be involved in today's relay races.
