For Sarah Beaudry, it was like skiing on a carpet -- soggy and sluggish.
Beaudry couldn't do anything about the spring-like ski conditions Saturday at the biathlon national championships in Hinton but what she could control was her shooting.
Already well-seasoned in the art of firing a rifle with a racing heart, after a year of competing in World Cup and IBU Cup events, Beaudry blasted her way to the top of the junior women's charts in Saturday's mass start race, missing just two of 20 targets to earn her third gold medal of the week.
"The goal going into this week was to focus on good shooting and I definitely accomplished that," said Beaudry, who turns 21 on March 19. "The skiing has been rough, but the organizers have done a great job of making everything able to run. It's been neat seeing all the younger kids (from the Caledonia club) having some good results. It's different now, being one of the older athletes."
As part of the Caledonia Nordic Ski Club, Beaudry finished the 10-kilometre race in 42:44.1, more than four minutes ahead of silver medalist Leilani Tam Von Burg of Ottawa. Beaudry shot 10-for-10 in winning the national sprint on Wednesday and went 17-for-20 on the range while winning the pursuit on Thursday.
In December, Beaudry finished 63rd in her first career World Cup event in Austria and helped Canada to an 11th-place World Cup relay result in Slovenia. She returned to the World Cup stage in Oslo, Norway Feb. 15, where she skied the anchor lag of the women's relay and shot 19-for-20, winning a sprint for the finish over Belarus to finish eighth in the team event.
Beaudry admits she wasn't at her best a few weeks ago at the world junior championships last month in Estonia but finished the season on target with a sixth-place result in the individual race at an IBC Cup event in Canmore and continued her success at nationals, her final races of the season.
She plans to take the month of April off, then will return to training full time in Canmore as a senior athlete. She hopes to be a permanent fixture on the World Cup scene next season, keeping in mind the next Olympics are only three years away in PyeongChang, South Korea.
Beaudry said it was a proud moment accepting a Biathlon Canada award Friday on behalf of her father Pierre, the sport leader for biathlon at the Canada Winter Games. He recently had hip surgery and was unable to attend the national championships.
Emily Dickson of Prince George won her third gold medal of the week by more than two minutes in the youth women category over Megan Bankes of Alberta. Dickson covered the course in 50:14.5, with six misses.
After posting silver medal results in the senior girls sprint and pursuit, Claire Lapointe of Prince George appeared on her way to winning gold in Saturday's individual race in Hinton. But she made the mistake of thinking the first two of four shooting bouts were both designated for prone shooting when in fact her second bout called for her to shoot while standing. The 16-year-old Caledonia club member realized her mistake as she headed into her third lap, but by then had already been disqualified.
"When I went to shoot what should have been my prone I thought I was shooting standing and I was corrected," said Lapointe. "At that point I knew it was over."
Kyra Teetzen of Quesnel, who completed the course nearly two minutes after Lapointe, went on to win gold in the senior girls individual race.
Lapointe, who also won gold and silver at the Canada Games, went 7-for-10 at nationals in the sprint, 18-for-20 in the pursuit and missed four of 20 targets Saturday.
In other Caledonia club results, Matt Neumann's medal hex once again left him just off the podium. The 25-year-old from Prince George was fourth in the men's mass start race, after finishing fourth in the sprint and fourth in the pursuit. Marc-Andre Bedard of Quebec, Vincent Blais of Quebec and Scott Perras of Regina sewed up the top three positions.
Arthur Roots was ninth in the junior men's race Saturday.
In the senior boys individual race, Logan Sherba was the top B.C. athlete in 11th place. Bobby Kreitz was 17th, Mark Hartley was 19th and Ryan Elden of Quesnel was 27th. Colton MacDougall placed 18th in the youth men's individual race. Chris Elden of Quesnel won silver in the master men's 50-59 mass start race.
