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BV Nordics bring home BC Cup hardware

The Bulkley Valley Nordic team was in Burns Lake last weekend for the first BC Cup Biathlon race of the year.
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Frida Idoff takes aim at her target during the first BC Cup Biathlon in Burns Lake

The Bulkley Valley Nordic team was in Burns Lake last weekend for the first BC Cup Biathlon race of the year and brought home some much deserved hardware.

It was a fine day when the Bulkey Valley athletes took to the new shooting range in Burns Lake. Temperatures were warm and the snow fast, as biathletes from the Bulkley Valley, Burns Lake, Vanderhoof, Prince George, Quesnel, Vernon, Kelowna and Vancouver lined up for their first crack at the top competition in the province.

First up was the individual competitions. Frida Idoff, an exchange student from Sweden and the newest member of the BV Nordic team racked up some solid stats for her first ever BC Cup event tagging all except two targets landing her a time of 32:52. Putting her in first place for her division.

Angus Tweedie landed another first place finish in the Jr. Boys division. With a time of 23:27, missing only one target on the track. His teammate Ben Kinkela also had a good run, only missing four targets on his first day landing him in sixth, with a time of 28:39.

In the Midget division Lowell Hug got himself a third place finish, hitting all of his targets with a time of 14:52, a solid victory for the young biathlete. His division mates Rachel Cuell and Seamus Murphy finished at the back of the pack with running times of 17:36 and 18:20 respectively.

Seton Kriese finished fourth in the Juvenile division, timed in at 22:21, followed by Amanda Wilson at 23:49. Liam Tweedie fell in at eighth place at 26:19 with Travis Pete on his heels at 26:48.

Finally rounding out the first day of competition was the masters division that saw Bryan Swansburg capture second place with a time of 54:13 in the ten kilometre race, hitting all but three of his intended targets.

The second day of competition was a tough sprint event, with temperatures dropping to -20C.

“Sunday was a test for the team,” said Head coach Peter Tweedie. “It was pretty cold, so we tried to keep everyone moving. But they had fun and made it through. I just kept reminding our team that everyone out there was in the same boat.”

In the Sprint event Bryan Swansburg pulled off a solid victory, capturing first in the masters division with a time of 30:10. Idoff was the only competitor in the master women’s division and put up a race time of 36:09.

In the Jr. Boys division Angus Tweedie landed himself again in first place with a time of 16:43 followed by Kinkela in fourth with 20:52. Hug finished  second in the midget division, missing only two targets, at 13:50 only 20 seconds behind the leader. Cuell finished in fourth at 18:01, as Murphy was disqualified at the end of the race.

In the juvenile sprint division Kriese had a time of 17:39 followed by Pete in fourth at 18:12, Liam Tweedie in fifth at 19:11 and Wilson in seventh with a final time of 20:50.

Finally at the tournament banquet on Saturday night the president of BC Biathlon, Doug Forsdick presented last year’s aggregate Biathlon BC Cup awards. Liam Tweedie received the second place Midget aggregate award as well as his brother Angus Tweedie, who picked up the third place aggregate, Junior Boys Cup award.

The BV Nordics are now set to tackle the next Biathlon event in the north at the Spirit of the Nechako in Vanderhoof Jan. 28.