Biathlon Yukon held their skiing Arctic Winter Games trials at the biathlon range off the Grey Mountain Road Dec. 3-4. Athletes competed in four categories for the right to go to the Games.

Two athletes from each category make the AWG team. That includes Snowshoe Biathlon trials that take place Dec. 10-11.

The Star spoke with Mason Parry, 13, who finished first in the Juvenile Boys 5 km Individual category, after the race.

Parry didn't know he had won at the time of the interview.

"Each target we miss is a 45 second time penalty, so we don't know until the results come in."

"I think I shot pretty well in the beginning but at the end I kind of crashed a little bit. I got five (targets), I got four, then I got two, so a total of four missed shots, so … three minutes (added).

"But it really depends on how everyone else shot. So I won't really know until I ask them how they shot."

"I felt really fast on my skis and shooting felt really good. The last one, I don't really know what happened but I died a little bit and less consistent on my shots but it was a very good race."

The top two athletes in each discipline are determined by races on two days. Saturday's race was a Sprint, while Sunday's race was an Individual event. The points from each of the two races are combined to determine who goes to the Games.

Those not making it for skiing biathlon can try out for snowshoe biathlon. Even the athletes that qualified in skiing can compete in the snowshoe biathlon for the experience.

"I haven't really tried snowshoeing yet this year, so if I do go in this competition, I might have a little less experience," related Perry.

Stella Mueller, 16, finished second in the Junior Female 7.5 km Individual category.

"It was really fun. It was super fast out there today, so that was great."

As for her shooting, "Not so great but that's OK, because I loved the skiing," she related.

Regarding her finish, Mueller said "I would say second, since Isla (Hume) shot amazing."

Mueller added "Thank you to everyone for making this possible. It was really fun."

Bruce Porter, 17, came in third in the Junior Male 7.5 km Individual category.

"It went pretty well. The shooting was good to start with and and then by the end I started to rush it and wanted to get to the finish line, so I think I lost it a bit there but I'm happy with it overall. The weather was great. It wasn't too windy and the snow is really good."

Porter said the course was really good.

"They had a shorter one than yesterday, which was nice and one we don't use very often, so it was kind of fun to try something new, a little less hilly, which is always nice."

Porter said the skiing was good.

"I've had a back injury for about nine months now and luckily, it didn't affect me today, which I'm really happy about."

Regarding making the team, Porter said "I think it's kind of neck and neck right now, but we'll find out soon enough."

Overall, Porter said "I feel really good about it. I've been working more on my standing shooting and I think it's kind of showing in the results. It's getting better, so I'm happy about that."

Claire MacMillan, 17, finished third in the Junior Female 7.5 km Individual category.

"It went pretty great. It felt really good and we had a competition in Canmore last weekend so it's been going pretty great lately."

MacMillan was pleased with her shooting as well.

"My shooting was pretty great. I hit four (targets) most of the time and I cleaned once, so I was very happy about that.

"I felt really good on the course. It was nice and fast today."

MacMillan was also happy with her skiing technique and had a "nice strong finish."

The Hupe sisters also had a very good day.

Isla Hupe finished first in the Junior Female 7.5 km Individual category and only missed two targets while shooting two clean bouts (rounds).

Niamh Hupe finished first in the Juvenile Girls 5 km Individual and only missed twice, recording one clean bout.

Cole Germain captured first in the Junior Male 7.5 km Individual category, missing only one target and recording three clean bouts.

Sophia Marnik, chief of competition for the AWG Trials, said "It went really well today. It was our second day of competition. It was a beautiful, warm day and there wasn't much of a wind, which is always nice, and we had about 20 athletes out there today, which is really great for the Arctics trials and we had competition happening in all four categories, which is also really nice."

"I think for some it's an experience to be able to try doing a competition, really, for some of them, a big competition for the first time.

"Overall, they did really well. There was some excellent shooting out there. Not having any wind makes it a lot easier to hit targets. And this is quite the neat race in that they don't have to do penalty loops for every missed shot but instead they get time added to theirs, so they just have to ski like the wind.

Marnik said this is definitely a "shooter's race."

"The shooting in this case would be very important because they would get 45 seconds added to their time, so you don't want to miss too many shots."