Biathlon Yukon continued with their Arctic Winter Games (AWG) trials this past weekend.

They held their snowshoe biathlon trials Dec. 2-3.

Due to a lack of snow, they had a running biathlon on the range at Grey Mountain Saturday and only skied at Mount McIntyre Sunday.

The Star stopped in on Saturday to see how the athletes were coping with running as opposed to skiing on snow.

Ironically enough, plenty of snow was falling during the trials.

The Star spoke with the athletes before they got their results.

Niamh Hupé finished first in the U15 Girls 3 km Individual category.

“It was good. I’m not really used to the running bit of biathlon but I’m happy to be back. It was a good race to be in.

“I think I did pretty well for my category. I think I have a good chance of making it to Arctics.”

Hupé, 14, hasn’t experienced anything like this before.

“I did two races running last weekend but it’s still kind of weird not skiing.”

Hupé said it’s much easier to ski.

“I find I can control my breathing a lot better.

“Going downhill is so much easier skiing.”

Hupé said she’s very excited to go back to the Arctics, which will be held March 10-16, 2024 in Mat-Su, Alaska, 50 kilometres north of Anchorage.

“I want to compete against the same girls as I did last year.”

Hupé had mixed feelings about ski racing last Sunday.

“I guess it’s going to be nice to have a skiing race, but there’s no shooting involved, which kind of sucks, but it’ll be a good chance to get onto skis.”

Matthew London finished first in the U18 Boys 4 km Individual category.

“The conditions are a little bit worse than they were last year but honestly, just makes it more fun. Pretty tired right now, though. It was a tough race, for sure. I had an amazing time. That was so, so much fun.

“It definitely is a lot different of a dynamic when you’re running. You don’t get as much rest in the downhills, so you have to plan your race almost completely differently. It was really interesting and fun.”

London, 17, said his shooting was “all right.”

“It could have been better. I think I ran pretty fast so hopefully I’m up there.”

London thought he had a pretty good shot at going to the Arctics.

“I think I performed pretty well today. We’ll just see about tomorrow. I think I can do it.

“Arctics last year was such a blast. This year, I just know it’s going to be even better. It’s just going to be an amazing time.”

Lydia Brown and Stella Mueller pushed each other around the U18 Girls 4 km course. Brown came in first.

“I was just racing behind her the whole time, so she kept me moving,” related Mueller.

“I was just trying not to let her catch me,” said Brown. “It was a good push.”

Both girls would have rather been skiing.

“It’s too bad,” said Mueller.

“It’s pretty sad,” agreed Brown. “We want the snow. And the snow’s super-soft, so it’s like you’re running in sand. But it’s OK, it’s still fun.”

Mueller said she was pretty happy with her shooting.

“We both had quite a few misfires, which was unfortunate, but we have spares, so overall, I think it went pretty well,” said Brown. “The snow’s a little bit hard – my sights were covered a couple times.”

Both girls figured they’d qualified for the Arctics.

“The two other girls in our category I think, are going for snowshoes,” said Brown.

Athletes can compete on skis or snowshoes at the Arctics, but not both.

Mueller and Brown are excited at the thought of going back to the Arctics.

“I’m really excited to go to Alaska. Its going to be really fun,” said Brown.

“They have a lot of snow there, too,” said Mueller.

“And apparently they have a really nice range,” added Brown. “I’m excited to check out their range. I’ve never been to Anchorage.”

Biathlon Yukon’s Sophia Brown said, “The competition went really well today, despite the fact that we had to modify them slightly because of the lack of snow. Until this morning, we really didn’t have enough snow to safely ski the competition.

“So the kids were doing a shortened version of an Individual competition. So they had to shoot and they had to run and they didn’t have to do any penalty loops but if they missed shots, they’re going to end up having time penalties added.

“And then tomorrow they’ll do a ski race at Mount Mac where they will show their skiing skills and between those two competitions, we will have results to create an Arctic Winter Games team.”

When asked how the athletes dealt with the conditions, Marnik replied, “I thought they did pretty good. There was a lot of misfires, where extra snow in the rifles causes the bullets to not fire properly and so that made it difficult.

“It was a bit gusty and falling snow makes it hard to see targets but they did overall pretty well and when we get results together, I’ll know exactly how well they did.”

Marnik added, “I’m so grateful for the volunteers, for the coaches, for people coming out every time we have a competition and I get people that want to help us be as successful as we are.”

Biathlon Yukon will announce the 2024 AWG teams next week.