You might be asking yourself, “What is the Primitive Snowshoe Biathlon?”
The Biathlon requires that participants run (or walk briskly) along a snowshoe trail through the woods and fire a muzzleloading rifle or musket at each of 5 targets on the trail. Runners are timed, fire 2 shots at each target and throw a tomahawk; each hit reduces the runner’s time by 5 minutes.
Trail conditions, can vary every year depending on what the weather is like leading up to the event. Luckily, in 2019 the trail conditions were the best experienced in years in terms of the amount of snow cover and weather conditions.
In 2018, the Association partnered with the St. Lawrence -Lewis BOCES to replace its swinging iron targets for the annual event and they are still in great condition for this year’s Biathlon!
The 2019 Top 3 Runners were as follows:
Woman’s Primitive Rifle:
Wendy Butler (1st)
Amanda Faskin (2nd & 3rd)
Youth Primitive Rifle:
Joseph Hanss (1st)
Men’s Primitive Rifle:
Joe Tamagni (1st),
Jacob Hanss (2nd),
Bryan Carson and Randy Butler (Tied for 3rd).
Senior Primitive Rifle:
Eric Piccioni. (1st),
Randy Butler (2nd),
Ray Haines (3rd).
Men’s Smoothbore:
Lloyd Hargrave (1st)
Dallas Robinson (2nd)
Men’s Elder In-Line Rifle: Matt Sheehan (1st)
The Fort La Présentation Association offers its sincere thanks to its event sponsors, including: The St. Lawrence Valley Sportsman’s Club, The Heuvelton Lions Club, the Chazen Companies, T.J. Fiacco Construction, Gray’s Gun Shop, Forsyth’s Rifles, Inc. and St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES.
Volunteers are critical to the success of the event. Marsha Hough, Karen Katzman, Jean Fallon and Peggy Murphy prepared food for the event and raised a total of $196.10 in donations. Volunteers from the Association and Forsyth’s Rifles staffed the Biathlon; volunteers included:
Tim Cryderman, Dallas Robinson, Bill Granger, John Miller, III, Bill Merna, Charlie Shene, Matt Sheehan, Ron Keeler, John Madower, Josh Bennett, Lucas Hanss, Barb O’Keefe, Marsha Hough, Karen Katzman, Peggy Murphy, Jean Fallon, Dana Denhoff, Solange Denhoff, and Bonnie Hummel.
We hope to see you this year at the 10th annual St. Lawrence Valley Snowshoe Biathlon is scheduled for March 7 and 8, 2020 at the Lisbon Sportsman’s Club.
