Photo By Spc. Dustin B. Smith | Oregon Army National Guard biathlon team members pause for a photo ahead of the start...... read more read more
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SALEM, Ore. – Utah claims to be the “Home to the Great Snow on Earth” where with more than 100 sunny days a year, it creates a “magical environment,” one of “skiers’ dreams.” But for the Oregon National Guard’s Biathlon Team, it was a bit of a different experience. “We hit every quadrant of severe winter weather,” recalls veteran biathlete Capt. Kyle Roe, 1st Squadron, 82nd Cavalry Regiment, “even the nice days, had ice. Another day, we had significant snowfall without a re-groom. It was slow, even for elite skiers.”
Regardless Roe, left the 2024 competition on a high, “individually I feel happy, its technically the best I’ve ever done.” This was the second year in a row Roe made the All-Guard Team, consisting of the top 15 male biathletes from across the participating states and territories. “But it’s also humbling as you get better, you realize there are more things you can work on and get better at…”
“I take a lot of time watching other people,” says Maj. Kristy Boucher, deputy inspector general, Joint Force Headquarters, “Trying to work on my posture, my stride, all the little things that I could see people with more
experience and who were skiing faster were doing. I try to mimic them.”
The 2024 team included a mix of veteran competitors Lt. Col. Rocky Kumlin, Capt. Kyle Roe, and Maj. Kristy Boucher, alongside newcomers Maj. Rob Gruber, Maj. Leslie Reed, 1st Lt. Parker Wiltrout and Staff
Sgt. Jason “Manny” Mahnesmith.
“I’ve had an interest tangentially in biathlon for years, seeing it in the Olympics,” said 1st Lt. Parker Wiltrout, 1st Squadron, 82nd Cavalry Regiment, “and a couple year ago I learned that Kyle (Capt. Roe)
did it, and I mentioned it to him and this year he was like, ‘hey you want to do biathlon?’ And I was like hell yeah. The opportunity arose and I pounced on it.”
“I was totally unprepared that it was actually like roller-skating, only worse.” Wiltrout’s least favorite part initially were the “hills and going up them” but he later concluded that “…after that fourth race, you have the previous days of exhaustion sort of building on it – and then the patrol race, it’s long as hell. Being tired afterwards it probably the actual worst part.”
“I’m super proud of all of our members, everyone came out and left it all out there. Nobody felt like they could have given it more. Tired legs, lats, and brains,” said Roe.
Biathletes participate in four different races during the championships – a sprint race and the pursuit which are individual races, followed by the relay and patrol which are done with a team. For the men’s distance, a team is comprised of four skiers for both races, while the women’s teams are comprised of three.
For Oregon’s Biathlon Coach and Coordinator Lt. Col. Rocky Kumlin it’s now about taking the program to the next level. Kumlin first started participating with the program in 2007, and later took the reins in
2013.
Both Kumlin and Roe assisted with range and course operations for the International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup event, also held at Soldiers Hollow Nordic Center, near Midway, Utah, the very same facility where just a few weeks prior the Chief of the National Guard Bureau Biathlon Championships were held.
A non-profit organization, the IBU is recognized by the International Olympic Committee as the international governing body for the Olympic sport of biathlon. It regulates and oversees competitions world-wide in cooperation with other national federations.
In order to work as officials at the event, both Kumlin and Roe obtained official credentials after taking a weeklong course and passing a written test mandated by the IBU and U.S. Biathlon Association. In total, a
team of six National Guard members from Utah, Oregon, Wyoming and Washington supported the international event.
"At the end of the day, if Rocky and I are going to continue to grow our program,” says Roe “It’s good to be able to say that we’ve had the proper training and then have used that training to support an official event.”
This last year, the two also started volunteering locally with the Mount Bachelor Sports Education Foundation (MBSEF).
“Rocky and I did an initial touchpoint last year,” says Roe and “linked up again about four months ago.” Roe volunteered in January supporting a rifle clinic for high school aged kids using laser rifles. Then in
March, both he and Kumlin volunteered for a biathlon-type familiarization event put on by MBSEF coaches, where 7–to-12-year-olds skied a loop and then completed the range portion with paintball guns.
Being involved in the community has multiple layers for Kumlin, “the main one, is just to grow the overall sport of biathlon. The U.S. has never medaled (in the biathlon) at the Olympics and there are a lot of really
good skiers in central Oregon. If I can potentially help find that next biathlete, that’s a win for our nation and potentially even the Guard.”
The National Guard had three Soldiers compete in this year’s IBU World Cup, Sgt. Deedra Irwin, Spc. Sean Doherty and Pfc. Maxime Germaine, who all serve with the Vermont National Guard. Both Irwin and
Doherty previously competed in the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing as members of the U.S. Biathlon Team.
| Date Taken: | 02.19.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 04.04.2024 17:54 |
| Story ID: | 467740 |
| Location: | SALEM, OREGON, US |
| Web Views: | 79 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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