Biathlon Yukon has brought home multiple medals from the Canadian Biathlon Nationals.

The Nationals took place March 13-19 in Valcartier, Que.

Biathlon Yukon and Nationals race official Sophia Marnik said, “It was a wonderful, super event, really well-organized.

Marnik said the QFB (Fédération Québécoise de Biathlon) “were just really friendly and welcoming and accommodating.”

Yukon coach/wax technician Nick Marnik said they sent more athletes than usual to Quebec – 11. Two post-secondary athletes participated in the nationals – Romeo Champagne and Noah Marnik.

“We decided instead of using a selection criteria that we would just take all eligible athletes,” said Nick Marnik.

Tracey Hutton and Ted Hupé were the other coaches.

Champagne won gold in the Junior Men’s 12.5 km pursuit and, along with Isla Hupé, a bronze in the Junior 7.5 km mixed relay.

Champagne joined the team from Kazakhstan, where he was competing in the World Championships.

Marnik said “it was really exciting to have Romeo join us from Kazakhstan.”

Champagne had some serious baggage issues, as he arrived in Quebec but his gear didn’t.

“He has the wherewithal to travel with a minimum amount of race gear and his ski boots in his carry-on,” noted Marnik.

Champagne had to borrow skis and poles. Biathlon Yukon did have a spare rifle, but it was right-handed. Champagne normally shoots left-handed.

“He’s legally blind in his right eye … he took this right-handed rifle and re-jigged it as much as he possibly could … he shot much slower than normal, but shot really good,” recalled Marnik.

Champagne’s rifle showed up the next evening.

“The first competition was the sprint,” related Marnik. “And the second competition was the pursuit. The starts for the pursuit are based on the finishes of the sprint. He didn’t have a great sprint result but he managed to come back and be first across the line for the pursuit. He was supercharged. He had a phenomenal pursuit race.

“It was literally a fight right til the end.

“Really, really great to see him be able to succeed after so many challenges.”

By the third competition, Champagne had his own skis back in his hands.

Sophia Marnik was also amazed at Champagne’s performance.

“He’s completely jet lagged, he has borrowed stuff, and he went out there and he competed anyway, so he didn’t win a medal on that one. He cleaned his first bout of shooting and in pretty difficult circumstances.

“I managed to catch him crossing the finish line and realized he was in first place, which is amazing. So that was just wonderful.”

Overall, Nick Marnick said the Nationals went “very, very well. There was definitely mixed results. First time for quite a few of them to the national championships, but not all.

“Isla Hupé managed to get a third place finish in the single mixed category with Romeo as a partner.

“Really pleased to see that between the two of them they managed to place really well. I think the event was definitely invigorating for both Romeo and Isla.”

“It’s just kind of icing on the cake to top off the season like this and to get some hardware when you’ve been working so hard.”

Cole Germain struck silver in the Youth Men’s 10 km mass start.

“I haven’t shouted so loud – we are standing on the firing line, literally counting shots trying to figure out ‘Where is this going?’” recalled Marnik. “We had folks in the penalty lap, as he’s shooting. He’s leaving and it’s a matter of ‘Who does he get out ahead of?’

“It was literally down to that last shooting bout and the fact that Cole raced his own race. He was persistent right til the end. Just cause he’s not in the lead, bout 1 and bout 2, by the time bout 3 is over, he’s really catching up and bout 4, when he cleans (no misses), he’s just rocking out of that range and getting ahead of the guys stuck in the penalty loop.”

Germain hit 18 of 20 targets during the race. The other athletes on the podium missed three shots each. The penalty laps were 150 metres per miss.

Sophia Marnik noted, “The kids are always happy for each other when they do well. Romeo bringing home the gold, Cole as well and in the relay, Isla Hupé and Romeo.

“They’re all just very, very happy, excited for their friends.”

Nick Marnik was asked what he thought was the team’s key to success.

“One part of it is definitely the team aspect of the individual sport we compete in.

“A lot of these athletes compete with each other on a really regular basis. They flip from being competitors to best friends to competitors. There’s these sincere, heartfelt moments at the finish line where they congratulate each other, they’re asking them about their races.

“It’s not just the results. It’s everything leading up to them. It didn’t mean getting on the podium for all of them. By and large, they all had super substantial successes.”

“They’re really solid athletes,” Sofia added. “They shoot well. They might not be the fastest skiers out there yet, but they work their hardest when they’re out there. They really give it their all.”

She added that one of their younger athletes, Chase O’Brien, got to race on an unofficial team with a Master’s athlete, Eric LeMee from Alberta.

“So he was racing with a guy that’s probably about mid-fifties, and they won.

“The guy that he was racing with was so happy to be cheered on by this group of teenagers every time he went around a bend or every time he took a shot. He was like, ‘This is the best experience ever.’ So that was really awesome.”

Marnik said O’Brian really enjoyed himself as well.

Lydia Brown, Stella Mueller, Claire MacMillan, Matthew London, Keelan Robins and Bruce Porter rounded out the team.

According to Nick Marnik, half of the team had serious travel woes on the way to Quebec. But they were able to persevere through them and “do their thing,” said Marnik.

Then they had more problems flying back to Toronto.

“There was some massive fumbling around with checking in the team,” recalled Marnik. “There was four of us that were refused entry to the plane when we got to the gate. I would say that it was really a staffing issue on the airlines part. It was the combination of lack of experience from the check-in agents as to how to deal with the firearms. It’s literally one extra piece of paper that goes into it, but when it takes over 10 minutes to check in an individual and you have 12 people, it doesn’t matter if you’re there two hours before the flight.

“The customer service supervisor was fully aware of who needed to get on that flight to Toronto, but did not assist in expediting us at all.”

On the flight fiasco, Sophia Marnik said she just wished that Air North would give them a charter.

“We got stuck in Toronto, we went out, taxied, came back to the gate, waited around for a few hours, did the same thing again and then they canceled the flight. So then it was about 12 hours of hanging around in Pearson (airport) with five athletes who have to go and train the next day. It can really throw people off a bit, so I’m proud of them for not being too thrown off by that experience, especially if they’re nervous about flying and nervous about competing.”

Sophia Marnik said that the biathletes were “the best group of kids to travel with. They were just a delight.”

Nick Marnik added, “At the end of the day, all the luggage is here, the rifles are here, everybody’s back in Whitehorse.”