Biathlon Course, Glenmore Lodge, 28–31st July 2011
Colin Blackburn
One of the great sports to come out of Nordic skiing in biathlon. This is a mix of cross country skiing and rifle shooting. A typical competition involves five bouts of skiing wrapped around four shooting sessions: two prone, two standing. There are then variants such as sprint and relay. This sport is absolutely huge in countries such as Germany and Austria with their top biathletes getting the sort of attention, and money, that a top footballer might get here in Britain. In Britain biathlon gets very little attention and even less money. It's very much a sport confined to the military who have the opportunity to shoot and ski. However, that doesn't mean that ordinary citizens can't get a feel for the sport here in the UK, and in summer.
There are a couple of places in Britain where you can learn to shoot a biathlon rifle and Glenmore Lodge in the shadow of Cairngorm is one of those. The Lodge offers a wide variety of courses on various outdoor activities throughout the year and this year they added biathlon to their list. They were already home to the Cairngorm Biathlon & Nordic Ski Club and they have a six-lane biathlon range and an extensive rollerski circuit so these courses are a natural addition. The course is given by the indomitable Mike Dixon. Mike's a six-times Olympian and a fantastically knowledgeable and motivational coach.
So, what form does the course take? Over the four days, it's residential and includes all meals, you learn shoot and then build your shooting skills. The costs include all equipment hire and the ammunition—I fired around 150 rounds per day over the course. You do this both rested and out-of-breath. Although rollerskiing is integral to the training of biathletes it isn't a required part of this course, you can opt to rollerski, run or cycle to get out of breath.
Each morning would begin with some classroom activities. These ranged from holding rifle positions, balancing or watching videos of your previous day's exercises or of professional biathletes.
This would then be followed by some rested shooting at paper targets. This allows you to zero the sights as well as to get some sort of ranking for your precision. After zeroing you can then shoot at the proper metal biathlon targets, five targets in a row that turn from black to white on being hit. In the prone position the target is around the size of a golf ball. Oh, did I not mention that it is 50m away! In the standing position you are given a bit more leeway with saucer-sized target.
Then it is on to the out-of-breath shooting which is dramatically more difficult! It's very much a case of trying to control your breathing, a few deep breaths followed by a slight exhale and a hold, then a very gentle squeeze of the trigger when the target is central. I chose to run and so a 4–8 minute light jog around some of the Lodge's trails—think red squirrels and pine martens—would be followed by some shooting. Prone follows the first two runs with standing after the third and fourth runs. So, standing is when you are most tired. I think my record for out-of-breath standing was 2 out of five targets and my record overall was 7 out of 20. The top biathletes rarely miss one out of the 20. There were three people on the course (the maximum allowed is six), me, my friend Chris and Bev who I had previously met rollerskiing, so these sessions were mini-competitions with lots of chocolate as prizes. Bev was the most consistent shooter of the three of us, even managing to hit all five targets on one occasion.
On this particular course Mike's son Scott was helping out (Mike had a broken rib and so holding a rifle position wasn't easy) and he usually hit 18 when out-of-breath and 20 otherwise. Scott is only 17 and heading out to the Youth Winter Olympics, hopefully he's destined to represent Britain in the Winter Olympics in a few years time. Scott was great to have around as he demonstrated just how to get it right!
The later part of the afternoons were designed to take your mind off of shooting. One day we did a brisk hill walk up Meall a' Bhuachaille (a Corbett), on another I rollerskied up a (very small) section of the ski road. As the courses were residential it was then time to relax over a meal and a pint or two—the bar has some decent Cairngorm beers on draught as well as a wide selection of bottles!
Overall this was a terrific course and I found the shooting very addictive. I'm already looking at trying to do some biathlon on snow this coming season and I'll certainly return to Glenmore next year if I have the chance. I'd wholeheartedly recommend the course to anyone who'd like to spend a few days in a beautiful location doing something a little different. If nothing else comes out of it at least some of Mike's enthusiasm will rub off on you!
