Crossing over

Damien Georgyev wasn't quite born with nordic skis on his feet but it wasn't long before his dad Peter got him sliding on snow.

Now at 14, with nine years of skiing already behind him, Georgyev has his racing engine fine-tuned for the rigours of climbing hills, taking high-speed corners and saving his strength for the final push for the finish line.

Kind of like he did over the weekend at Otway Nordic Centre.

The two B.C. Cup biathlon races he won were different from what he's grown accustomed to the past few years on the provincial cross-country circuit. This time he had more than just skiing to think about. He had to shoot a rifle and knock down targets and Sunday's windy, snowy conditions did not help.

"There was a bit of wind and we zeroed (the rifles) when there was no wind and that messed a few people up, including me," said Georgyev. "But after we got the correction for the crosswind it was easy to shoot."

He finished the pursuit in 25 minutes four seconds, 1:16 ahead of second-place Cody Vanwerkhoven of Nechako Nordics (Vanderhoof) and 1:42 ahead of Caledonia's Nicholas Veeken. Georgyev also won the senior boys 4.5 km sprint on Saturday, finishing 38 seconds ahead of his clubmate Veeken.

His sprint result gave Georgyev a five-second head start to start the pursuit. The staggered start meant skiers left in five-second increments, one after the other, based on the order of the sprint finish.

"I had a pretty good lead right off the bat and my skiing was pretty good so I came into the range probably more than five seconds ahead," said Georgyev. "I was close to being done shooting by the time the next guy started shooting so I got quite a bit of a headstart."

Biathlon B.C. rules mean athletes don't have to carry their own rifles on the ski course until they reach the age of 17. That kept Georgyev's load light for the steep climbs out of the stadium area at Otway but he still had to control his heart rate and breathing for three shooting bouts in the tricky weather conditions.

He missed three targets his first shooting bout and had to ski three 100 m penalty loops, but shot clean in the second round and had just one miss in his final trip to the range.

Georgyev trains constantly on the Otway course with the fastest skiers in the Caledonia club's Junior Racers program under coach Graeme Moore and made that knowledge of the course work for him in the weekend races.

"This is my home course and I've trained on it quite a bit and it's really useful because I know when to push and for how long because I know there's going to be a downhill after that," he said. "You try to go easy on the flats for a little bit to lower your heart rate. Then you take some deep breaths to try to control your breathing and you just lay down and just think about the shooting, not all the people around you."

He raced three years ago when the B.C. Cup biathlon series came to Prince George and won one of his races that weekend but hadn't raced in provincial series biathlon since then.

Halfway through the B.C. Cup cross-country races, Georgyev ranks in the top three in the junior boys points standings and he'll have a chance to improve upon that this weekend when the cross-country series comes to Otway for two days of racing. He'll race a 7.5 km free technique event on Saturday, followed by classic sprint on Sunday.

"I'm pretty strong at double-poling and that will help in the sprints," he said. "I've been focusing on trying to use my legs more to save energy. The distance race will be tough because my competition is very good at skate distance but I think I can still hold my own.

"I still like cross-country skiing better. It's a lot less complicated. You just go as hard as you can."

Brynn Witwicki of Prince George got to the head of the class in both junior girls races. As the 4.5 km sprint winner she started the 6 km pursuit five seconds ahead of Nicole Hamp of Burns Lake and held her lead throughout the 4.5 km race.

Witwicki finished the course in 28:17, 6:54 ahead of Hamp of the Omenica Ski Club (Burns Lake). Elise Clair and Leila Flavinano of Caledonia were third and fourth respectively.

Now in her fifth season of biathlon, Witwicki has always been quick on her skis - shooting has been her downfall. Her results over the weekend are positive proof all that practice on the range with the Caledonia club is starting to pay off.

"She's an incredibly strong skier, this is well-deserved," said Caledonia biathlon coach Bobby Kreitz. "We've been working all year to work on her shooting and it's finally come together for this race."

Witwicki hit 10 of 15 targets in the pursuit, after going 7-for-15 in the sprint.

"It was windy and there was a lot of snow and it's hard to stay focused when you have a huge crowd and it's cold," said Witwicki. "It feels good getting off to a strong start. It's the beginning of the season and there are lots of races."

One of the big events on Witwicki's competition calendar is the B.C. Winter Games in Kamloops, Feb. 22-25. Because there is no biathlon range in Kamloops, all competitors will use laser rifles and instead of skiing they will run.

She's looking forward to watching Megan Tandy and Sarah Beaudry, both Caledonia club members from Prince George, when they get their chance to compete in the Winter Olympics next month in Pyeongchang.

"I kind of knew Sarah before she went away to Europe, right when I started she was training here," said Witwicki. "It's just really cool how someone you knew before all of a sudden is in the Olympics. It feels like it wasn't that long ago that she was here. It makes me feel that I could do it."

Other Caledonia club event winners in the pursuit were: Liam Sinclair, juvenile three km; Jasper Mackenzie, men's 12.5 km. In the sprint, Mackenzie won the men's 10 km race and Bjorn Van Geloven captured the 2.25 km juvenile race.