Minnesotans Top Summer Biathlon Rollerski Festival Competitions

Jericho , VT , August 14.  Brynden Manbeck (Grand Rapids, MN) won both the Women’s Sprint and Pursuit competitions, while her brother Kevin Patzoldt and Mark Johnson (both of Grand Rapids, MN) each won one of the Men’s titles at last weekend’s Summer Rollerski Festival at the Ethan Allen Firing Range. | Results in PDF: Spint | Pursuit

The Minnesota trio, all who train at Mount Itasca, Minnesota under Coach Vladimir Cervenka, topped the combined senior/junior categories over the two days of competition.

In Friday’s Sprint, Johnson finished 56 seconds ahead of Patzoldt. Much of the margin of victory was attributed to Johnson’s clean shooting compared to Patzoldt’s two miscues. Johnson was the only clean shooter of the 35 competitors, who culminated a two week training camp with the competitions.

In Saturday’s Pursuit, Patzoldt overcame the 56 second deficit to defeat Johnson. Both competitors' shooting suffered over the longer 5 loop/20 shot competition, as they had six and eight penalties respectively. Wynn Roberts (Brainerd, MN), fresh from training in Argentina with Cervenka and several junior athletes, claimed the youth division titles in the Sprint and Pursuit.

Manbeck, a junior competitor, narrowly edged Jill Krause (St. Cloud, MN) in the two competitions. In the Sprint, Manbeck won by seven seconds, 25:01 to 25:08 with four-penalty shooting to Krause’s six. Over the longer Pursuit distance, the margin was 20 seconds, with Manbeck again gaining the upper hand with four penalties to Krause’s nine.

As this group of mostly juniors and youth completed a two week training camp, the senior National Team began their second camp of the summer with new National Team Coaches, Per Nilsson and Mikael Lofgren in Sweden. The five women and four men include Lanny and Tracy Barnes (Durango, CO), Sarah Konrad (Laramie, WY), Carolyn Bramante (Duluth, MN), Denise and Jeremy Teela (Anchorage, AK), Brian Olsen (Jericho, VT), Lowell Bailey (Lake Placid, NY), and Tim Burke (Paul Smiths, NY). Jay Hakkinen (Anchorage, AK), just completed a camp with Lofgren and will continue his current training regime in Oberhof, Germany.

During the time in Sweden, the team will train in Solleftea, Ostersund and Torsby. In addition to roller skiing and shooting, they will compete in summer competitions at Ostersund as well as do some on-snow training and ski testing in the new ski tunnel at Torsby.

The United States Biathlon Association is the National Governing Body for the sport of Biathlon in the United States as recognized by the United States Olympic Committee and the International Biathlon Union. The US Biathlon Association supports the US Biathlon Team and development of the sport on all levels within the United States.