FORT KENT – Residents of northern Maine are on the verge of seeing international world class biathlon competition in two venues at Fort Kent and Presque Isle where multi-million facilities have been constructed in the last three years.

The events would attract worldwide attention to the area through radio and television broadcasts that would be broadcast to more than 40 million people in Europe and Asia.

Officials of the International Biathlon Union were in Aroostook County this week on an inspection tour of the facilities. Their approval of the sites, a decision which could come in a matter of days, could place the two venues on the schedule for World Cup and World Championship biathlon competitions.

Fort Kent and Presque Isle are two of three sites being inspected by the IBU on this tour of the eastern United States. The third site is at Lake Placid, N.Y.

Biathlon is a winter sports event combining cross country skiing and rifle workmanship.

IBU inspection approval is one of the final hurdles the Maine Winter Sports Center needs to meet its bid to host the 2004 World Cup event at Fort Kent and Presque Isle.

“I am astonished with what you have done,” Gunther Zwatz, vice president of finance for the IBU, said. “Biathlon sites are not so usually advanced so quickly.

“Things have been professionally done, and it shows,” he said at a press conference at the Fort Kent venue. “We are here to advise and adjust things to our high standards.

“The future is World Cup and World competitions,” addedthe Austrian native.

“Technically, you have done some great steps in the last year,” Janez Vodicar, IBU vice president for sports, said. “There is a future in biathlon here.

“Things are not perfect, but it is an interesting place,” the native of Slovenia said on his second trip to Fort Kent. “This is an interesting place, with a good opportunity to develop the sport.”

The pair, along with officials of the United States Biathlon Association and local officials of the Maine Winter Sports Center, have been touring not only the biathlon venues, but also local motels and restaurants, and the facilities of the Universities of Maine at Fort Kent and Presque Isle. They have also been meeting with local volunteers and looking at the communities in general.

Tuesday morning they inspected the biathlon shooting stadium, the 10th Mountain Division Lodge at the Fort Kent venue and walked the cross-country trails at the site.

A big part of the process, according to Max Cobb, event manager for the Maine Winter Sports Center, is the people and the community effort.

“This has been a huge community project,” Cobb said. “Many volunteers created this. This speaks volumes of the people who live here. We can’t create this [the human picture], but it’s here and it makes for a bright future.”

An important factor for the inspection team is creating opportunities for broadcasting. Television broadcasting is a big factor for the IBU.

There is six hours difference between Aroostook County and Europe. Zwatz said that morning competitions in Aroostook County could be available for radio and television prime time in Europe.

“We must build for television to get the picture out to the world,” Zwatz said. “These new stadiums must fit the standard that has been developed.

He talked about television stations atop the lodge at the Fort Kent site, and places along the trail for television cameras.

Andy Shepard, president and CEO of the Maine Winter Sports Center, said his group agrees with the logistical suggestions made by the inspectors.

Shepard believed that a decision could be announced by the inspectors before they leave the county Wednesday night.