Thursday, January 26, 2017

Wednesday’s Nordic ski meet at Gunstock Mountain was packing heat.

Substituting paintball guns for rifles, more than 100 high school athletes took part in a Nordic biathlon.

“The paintball biathlon at Gunstock is an annual favorite for skiers and coaches,” Bow Coach Chris Naimie said. “In a year that has provided many challenges with getting time on snow, the folks at the Gunstock Nordic Center and from the Gunstock Nordic Association did an impressive job by preparing a mid-winter quality course.”

The racers made one lap around that 1.4K course, stopped to shoot at four targets, made another lap, shot at four targets a second time and then finished with a third lap. For each target hit, 10 seconds were taken off the final time.

Gilford’s Sander Valpey made the most of this unique event as he had a race time of 12:10, but he hit all eight targets to finish first overall on the boys’ side with a final time of 10:50. Valpey was the only athlete to hit all the targets. The next highest total was six.

The host Golden Eagles swept the top three spots as Josh Valentine (10:58) and Mark Young (11:48) finished behind Valpey. Valentine had the lowest race time with an 11:28, but he hit only three targets.

Belmont’s Zach Ennis was fourth overall with a final time of 12:37 and Bow’s Sully Blair was fifth (13:24). Bow’s other top finishers were Bryce Northrop (10th, 14:51), London Warburton (11th, 14:58) and Christian McDonald (12th, 15:02).

Bishop Brady’s Treybig Garin (43rd) and Jeremy Bates (46th) also competed.

The top local finisher on the girls’ side was Bow’s Sohani Demian, who was fourth overall with a 17:53 final time. Demian was joined in the top 10 by teammate Isabella Urbina (sixth, 18:32), and Bow’s Gwen Molind finished 11th.

Gilford’s Abbie Fillion had a nice day on her home track by finishing seventh overall in 18:34. And Bishop Brady’s Mary Trafton was 36th.