Races in Nove Mesto na Morave

     I officially have been studying at Gymnázium Vincence Makovského for over a month, it is hard to believe that have been here for this long. The teachers and students are very helpful, making it a lot easier for me to get things organized. Everyone is very welcoming so I have made tons of new friends. Overall it has been a very enjoyable experience so far for me in the Czech Republic.

     The other weekend I had a couple of races in Nove Mesto na Morave where I have been training for the last month and a half. These biathlon races where running instead of roller skiing. I was really excited to compete in these races because my grand parents who live in Nove Mesto na Morave and my father who was visiting the Czech for a week could watch me race. I was also excited because I have never competed in a running biathlon race with the amount of competition as there was here.  

  

     On Saturday the race was a sprint competition. Before the start I was informed that the age category I was in was shooting two prone, instead of one prone one standing like a typical sprint competition. Regardless I was still ready to race. The race course was very short with only a 700 meter loop, an issue for me was I did not have a good understanding as to what speed I should go into the race. I shoot exceptionally well with a shooting of 2,0. I ended up in 4th place out of a field of 26 competitors, I was 36 seconds back of the leader, and 8 seconds back from 3rd. I was satisfied with my results, especially since I did not know how the race would go for me.  

     On Sunday the race was another sprint competition, instead the race being an interval start, the race was a mass start. The race course was also a bit longer with the loop being 1000 meters instead of 700, I figured it would be relatively similar to Saturdays race. I finished the race in 3rd place with an okay shooting of 2,1, 29 seconds back from 1st place. I was really excited about how things went that weekend.

Some photos

My School Gymnázium Vincence Makovského

Me and my dad before the start of my race Sunday.

Start of Sundays Mass start race.

Me on the podium, I did not get a medal because I am not officially racing for a club team yet. But the 4th place guy looked pretty happy ( : 

             

Czech biathlon roller ski nationals in Letohrad

     The weekend after my last post I competed in the Czech Biathlon roller ski Nationals in Letohrad. The venue there is absolutely fantastic and the amount of spectators that were there gave the races such an amazing atmosphere, nothing even close to races in the United States.

     On Saturday, the race was a sprint competition. Before I started the race I did not feel the greatest, almost as If I caught a cold. I talked to my coach about it and I decided I felt well enough to race. In the race my shooting performance was pretty fit by my standards with zero misses in prone and two misses in standing. Even with my shooting, my skiing was not strong enough to get me the results I wanted. I finished 11^th out of 22 competitors.

     After my race I felt like passing out, even worse than how I felt in the morning, so I decided not to race in the Super Sprint qualifier. The Super Sprint is a night race where if you qualify to the finals you can compete with the Czech nation team members. Overall the event is a big festival with 1000+ people there. Needless to say I was pretty bummed that I had to stay in bed and not participate. But I figured that is what I would have to do to feel well enough to race in the pursuit competition on Sunday.

    On Sunday, the race was a pursuit competition and my finish from the sprint race placed me fifty seconds back from the leader. I felt better than I did on Saturday but I still did not feel 100 percent. My shooting performance during the race went from low to high shooting 3,2,1,0. My skiing still was not at the level I wanted it on but it was better than on Saturday. I finished the race in 7^th place. The level of competition in these races are a lot tougher than what I am used to in the United States. Even though it's hard, I believe it will help me reach my goals for this season.

Some pictures from the races.