Maine Winter Sports Center’s 10th Mountain Center Lodge, designed and built in the image of Fort Kent’s namesake blockhouse, proved to be an able barricade against brutally cold weather for biathlon racers and spectators at last weekend’s Peoples’ Bank Festival at Fort Kent.

The temperature, which was as low as minus-21 Friday night and remained below zero until the early afternoon Saturday, caused people at the event to stay inside as much as possible, delayed race start times for two hours, and contributed to a relatively low turnout of athletes and fans.

“It certainly didn’t help very much,” explained MWSC Biathlon Coach Kris Cheney-Seymour, “but also, quite a few biathletes right now are in Europe at other races.”

Spread out among eight different age categories, the number of competitors totaled only 39, but the event still managed to draw some top racers.

Katja Ivanova, who won MWSC’s Nordic Heritage Sprints in Presque Isle in late December and went on to win three races the following weekend at the Chevy Truck U.S. Nationals in Rumford, took first place in the Women’s 7.5-kilometer Sprint competition with a time of 27 minutes, 12.5 seconds. Ivanova hit seven of 10 targets in the shooting portion of the dual-discipline race.

However, it was Fort Kent’s own Kelsy Bouchard, recently named to the U.S. Junior National Biathlon Team and set to compete at the World Championships in Poland next week, who drew the most fans and the loudest cheers. Bouchard skied to a first-place finish in the Youth Women’s 6K race with a time of 22:22.3 and a 4-of-10 shooting performance.

“Kelsy’s skiing very well right now,” remarked Cheney-Seymour, “as she has been all season. She’s worked very hard, and now she’s reaping the rewards. She’s in a good position to do pretty well in Europe.”

Other MWSC biathletes included Russell Currier of Stockholm, Blake Sherwood, Newt Rogers and Gib Michaud of Fort Kent, and Megan Toussaint and Chelsea Toussaint of Madawaska.

An Open Citizens race, held after the more serious skiers competed in the aforementioned age divisions, boosted the total number of participants to 62. It presented a unique opportunity for aspiring young biathletes and energetic older racers who wanted to try biathlon first hand.

“I was the only mother out there,” reflected Lehrle Kieffer of Caribou, “and probably the only woman over the age of 16. It was a blast!

“It’s a great family sport. Four out of five of us competed today, and it definitely made skiing a little more exciting for us,” she added.

Husband Rob and daughters Allisyn and Ginger, all newcomers to the sport, joined Kieffer in the race.

Several of the skiers had participated in past shooting clinics hosted by MWSC but, like the Kieffers, were competing in a real biathlon race for the first time.

Jesse Jandreau of Madawaska won the Boys 3K race in a time of 17:14.8, shooting two of 10 targets. Justine Cyr, also of Fort Kent, won the Girls 3K race (19:18.9, 0-for-10 targets), Brian Sirois of Madawaska finished first in the Senior Men’s 6K race (21:57.3, 7-for-10), and Chantalle Bard of Woodland was victorious in the Senior Women’s 6K race.

Mark A. Shea can be reached via email at shea@cariboumaine.org.