LACKAWANNA COUNTY, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Biathlon Club recently held its competition in our area for the first time.
A summer biathlon involves controlling your heart rate while running and then stopping to shoot a rifle.
"Biathlon is a running and marksmanship event," said Amy Cravath, co-director of the club. 'It's unique in that not only do you have to be a good runner, but you have to be a good marksman to do well in this race."
The event was held at Camp Freedom near Carbondale for the first time in the history of the Pennsylvania Biathlon Club.
"It has been going on in Pennsylvania for over 25 years. But this is the first time in northeastern Pennsylvania that we're doing it," Cravath said.
Everyone competing has to begin the event with a run of about a mile, then shoot five targets in one position before rerunning the same course and returning to the range to shoot another five targets in a different position. The event is completed with a final mile.
"Any targets that are missed, you have to do a penalty loop. So, the name of the game is to shoot as well as you can so you don't have to run as far. And then the final is based on time, so the faster you run, the better you shoot, the better time you're going to have
Before the event, all participants go through a training session on the range with the safety officers on how to handle the .22-caliber rifles.
"So that maybe if they're a runner but not really comfortable with shooting, they can kind of get a little bit of a practice run with it," Cravath said.
"The safety course was good, very in-depth, covered everything, so shouldn't be any problems," said Thomas McCune from Honesdale.
After the basics, everyone gets a chance to shoot the rifles in both positions—prone and standing—needed in the competition.
To keep the range from getting overcrowded, racers start individually every minute and run the first mile through the woods.
Each time you enter the range, you're given an assigned shooting spot. Then, back to the course or run penalty loops and repeat your run until it's time to come back and shoot again.