Matt Michaud puts more miles on his skies each week than many of us put on our automobiles. He also fires more rifle rounds in a week than some of us will fire in a lifetime.

Michaud, a 1995 graduate of Fort Kent High School, is a biathlete in training. A gun totin’, snow sloggin’ 2nd Lieutenant in the Air National Guard whose mission is to help build a biathlon program in the Guard and then someday win the National Guard national championship. From there, who knows. Maybe go on to the international competition.

To that end the National Guard has developed a program which allows its biathletes to train on a full-time basis.

“The Guard provides an opportunity for biathletes specifically to excel in their sport because it allows them to make a living out of it,” Michaud said.

To be selected for the program guardsmen must compete in the National Guard Championships.

Michaud graduated from the University of Maine-Farmington in 2000. He then attended the Academy of Military Sciences in Knoxville, Tenn., where he was commissioned a 2nd Lt. upon graduation this past November.

Michaud was then assigned to the 101st Air Refueling Wing in Bangor. He will be shipping off to Columbus, Miss., in May where he will learn to fly the KC-135.

“Once I graduated from college I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do. I did find out about flight school and applied for that. That took two years,” Michaud said.

During his wait he took advantage of the facilities in Fort Kent and began training for the biathlon in the summer of 2000. Michaud estimates he cross-country skies 115 kilometers (approximately 72 miles) per week. He also shoots about 400 rounds each week.

Michaud recently competed at the National Guard Biathlon Championships at Camp Ripley in Little Falls, Minn.

The 6-foot, 165-pound Michaud competed in Nordic skiing events while at Fort Kent High School. He showed promise at the National Guard Championships when he finished 21st out of 75 competitors and was selected for the National Guard developmental team. His selection allows him to train full time.

The competition consisted of two phases. The first is the Sprint, which is 10 kilometers for men and 71/2 for women. Competitors ski to a shooting range and shoot five rounds each from the prone and standing positions at a target 50 meters away.

“The target is the size of a half-dollar,” Michaud said.

The next regimen is the Pursuit.

“It’s normally 121/2 kilometers for men, 10 for women,” Michaud explained.

In the Pursuit, competitors shoot four times, two each from prone and standing positions.

His goal is to someday make the U.S. National Team and compete against the best in the world. But for now Michaud said he’s focused on helping to build a program one brick at a time.

“We’re trying to establish a program here in the Maine Guard that hasn’t been around for about four years. It kinda’ fizzled out,” Michaud said.

Bangor PAL boxers in finals

Five Bangor Police Athletic Boxers have qualified for the Northern New England Golden Gloves Championships at Burlington, Vt., on Feb. 9

Seventeen-year-olds Jason Foley (178 pounds) Chad McAuliffe (147), Richard Perreault (139), 20-year-old Josh McAuliffe (178) and 21-year-old Robbie Achorn (156) all advanced to the finals with wins last Saturday in Burlington.

Paul White, a detective with the Bangor Police Department, is the Bangor PAL boxing coach. He said the win was especially gratifying for Foley.

Foley overcame an injury, not to mention a popular hometown Burlington fighter for his win.

“[Foley has] had a broken nose that he’s still trying to get over. It’s still not right. It’s really kinda’ slowed his progress down,” White said. “But he fought a heckuva’ fight and it was against a local fighter, too. That’s not easy to do.”

Winners of Saturday’s championship matches advance to the prestigious Tournament of Champions beginning Feb. 12 in Lowell, Mass.

Don Perryman can be reached at 990-8045, 1-800-310-8600 or dperryman@bangordailynews.net