The Fort La Présentation Association held its 2019 Primitive Snowshoe Biathlon on March 2 and 3, 2019 at the St. Lawrence Valley Sportsman’s Club.
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. Last year the Association partnered with the St. Lawrence -Lewis BOCES to replace its swinging iron targets for the annual event and they were still in great condition for this year’s Biathlon!
The trail conditions this year were perhaps the best we’ve experienced in years in terms of the amount of snow cover and weather conditions.
The top 3 runners in each class were:
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.
The 10th annual St. Lawrence Valley Snowshoe Biathlon is scheduled for March 7 and 8, 2020 at the Lisbon Sportsman’s Club.
