THUNDER BAY - Lake Superior Biathlon 0.22 Competitive team competed at the 2018 Manitoba Provincial Championship at the two-day event at the Falcon Lake Resort in Falcon Lake, MB.
In the Youth Men 7.5k Sprint race, Keegan Tremblay, 18, serving only penalty for a missed target, allowed him to secure a 17.5 second lead over the Manitoba’s Provincial favorite, Lucas Smith of Red River Nordic of Winnipeg, MB. Tremblay won Gold with a time of 27:41.4 and able to secure the first seeding position on Sunday’s 10.k Mass start race.. Mathew Viikery, 17, completed the event in 5th with 3 penalties served and finish time of 34:23.1.
In the Sr. Boys 6k Sprint – Matthew Waboose, 14, racing up a category from Junior Boys, dominated the podium with a Gold victory despite serving a seven-penalty deficit. He shared his victory with his other younger teammates, Nicholas Biesenthal, 12, and Natalie Biesenthal, 10, who podium in their developmental categories with a silver and a gold respectively.
The second day presented a podium reversal between Tremblay, and Smith, where Tremblay despite being the most accurate shooter of the two crossed the finish line 1:10.1 behind the lead with a time of 41:07.7. Viikeri climb the finishing ladder to the fourth position with a time of 48:48.4 and 8 misses.
Natalie Biesenthal was the only competitor to clean all her shooting bouts during the Mass Start Event. Besides taking away the gold medal for the Developmental Girl 11-14 category, she was recognized during the award ceremony with a clean bout award. Her brother Nicholas, with 3 misses secured the top medal positions with three misses and finishing with a time of 27:54.0 in the 4k Mass start race.
Tremblay, Viikeri, and Waboose will be joining other Team Ontario Members later in March for the 2018 Canadian Biathlon National Championships in Charlo, NB.
