FORT KENT – If you think it’s easy to move a biathlon team from one state to another at the last minute, consider this: Some of the athletes competing in this week’s biathlon trials at the 10th Mountain Division Lodge arrived Tuesday before their rifles.

A decision Christmas Eve to shift World Championship team trials and other events from Lake Placid, N.Y., to northern Maine, which has more snow, meant a long road trip from New York state to northern Maine. As some of those athletes registered Tuesday morning, they were still waiting for their equipment.

Permitting issues meant many of the rifles that were going to be used during the trials at Lake Placid had to be driven in a special van that was still en route to Fort Kent on Tuesday morning.

“We always want to minimize the cost to the athletes,” said Steve Sands, executive director of the U.S. Biathlon Association. “Many of them flew to Albany [N.Y.] as planned, and then we drove them up to Fort Kent.”

At least one athlete was waiting for his skis Tuesday.

In the meantime, those without gear were able to borrow needed equipment from their competitors for training runs.

“Biathlon is a small community, and even when we are competing against each other we help each other out,” said one athlete as he arranged for a private wax room in anticipation of the arrival of his skis.

While the local organizing committee and volunteers rushed to get things ready Tuesday, Sands and his staff were busy rearranging the athletes’ travel plans.

The trials and the North American Cup No. 3 were moved to Fort Kent after rain and warm temperatures washed away the snow at the Verizon Sports Complex in New York.

Competition in Fort Kent begins at 10 a.m. today, Thursday and Friday. Organizers hope an enthusiastic crowd is on hand for each day of the competition.

Fort Kent was a host site for the 2004 Biathlon World Cup in March and drew up to 6,000 spectators a day over the three days of competition.

Official word of the change of team trial venue reached local organizers on Christmas Eve and they immediately swung into action.

“I had gotten a call on December 22 that it was a possibility the event could be moved here,” said Nancy Thibodeau, local biathlon event coordinator. “I started calling people to see if we could pull it off and they said, ‘Yeah, we can do it.'”

Preparatory work was already well under way at the Fort Kent venue for the 2005 International Paralympic Committee Nordic World Championships in March, and Thibodeau said she has a strong core of volunteers to count on.

In fact, Dec. 22 was cutoff day for the final venue decision on the time trials.

“When you pick a primary spot [for competition], you always have an alternate in mind,” Sands said. “We called Fort Kent and asked two questions: ‘Do you have any snow?’ and ‘Can you bail us out?'”

He said he got an emphatic “yes” on both counts.

More than 60 athletes plus coaches, wax technicians and officials are expected for the team trials in sprint and pursuit races with an additional 20 Canadian athletes and their entourages for the Nor-AM events.

Performances from the team trials will determine who fills two slots on the U.S. Biathlon Association senior men’s World Cup team and World Championship team and one slot and two slots on the women’s senior World Cup and World Championship teams, respectively.

Four positions on the eight-member team have already been filled by virtue of earlier competition results in Europe.

As this is a pre-Olympic year, U.S. Biathlon Association personnel are closely watching times and scores in anticipation of the 2005 World Cup season.

“The number of slots we have for the U.S. Biathlon Team at the 2006 Winter Olympics depends on how well we do this year,” Sands said. “We hope to have four men and four women.”

Race results from Fort Kent will be combined with those after races next week in Minnesota and used to select one additional member each for the upcoming men’s and women’s European World Cup in Turino, Italy.

Given the cold temperatures and solid base at the Fort Kent venue, organizers anticipate some very fast times over the three days of racing.

Jeff Dubis is in charge of trail conditions and has been out every day and night since Christmas Eve with groomer Mike Paradis to prepare the course.

“We have a 10-inch base and it is going to be perfect for World Cup competition,” Dubis said Tuesday as he was raking down rough spots.

The impact of the last-minute event was being felt around the St. John Valley as lodging facilities not already booked with snowmobilers quickly filled with athletes and coaches.

“Participants are on their own as far as finding lodging,” Thibodeau said. “But we are helping out where we can and there are plenty of rooms for them.”

Among those called in to help out this week were Pat Dow and Terry Theriault who were registering athletes, coaches, officials and journalists Tuesday morning.

“You don’t always have time to help out, but you make time for something like this,” Theriault said. “I know how much work is involved.”

Don Guimond, Fort Kent town manager, said he believes Fort Kent will “pull this off one more time.”

“We have an excellent core group of organizers. I’m going to be up there for the next three days volunteering my time,” Guimond said.