FORT KENT – When the U.S. Biathlon Association announced almost a year ago it was moving to Portland, biathlon officials figured the move would occur around January 2006.

They got the time span about right, but the location has changed.

The USBA has signed a lease to occupy space at the Pineland Center, a 3,500-acre facility in New Gloucester whose cross-country skiing facilities are part of the Maine Winter Sports Center. Pineland is owned by the October Corp., the nonprofit titleholding company of the Portland-based Libra Corporation, which has been a major MWSC contributor.

The USBA signed a multi-year lease in November, association interim president Bill Lilly said, and plans to be in New Gloucester some time in February.

The biathlon association’s offices have been located in various locations in Vermont – most recently in Colchester, a suburb of Burlington – since the 1970s. The move to Maine was announced last January, when Portland-based Banknorth Group Inc. announced it would pay more than $1 million to become the USBA’s title sponsor.

The association looked at a number of options for a move, including downtown Portland and Pineland, and decided after two meetings in New Gloucester that it preferred the country site.

“Over a period of time it was recommended that Pineland would be the optimal location for us, so we went with that recommendation,” Lilly said.

The Pineland Center, formerly the state’s largest residential institution for the mentally retarded, closed in 1996.

Work has begun to renovate the office space, and Lilly said the USBA is paying full rent despite Pineland’s connection with the MWSC and the Libra Foundation.

“We may try to apply for some grants down the road, but right now we’re paying our full weight,” Lilly said.

The Libra Foundation purchased Pineland in June 2000. The property now encompasses 19 buildings and three farms. The entire facility is situated over four towns: New Gloucester, Gray, Pownal and Yarmouth.

All that land means USBA workers can take their lunch breaks on the cross country ski trails.

“It’s a very campus-type environment and the skiing is right there,” Lilly said. “It’s country-ish, but that’s biathlon and that’s Maine.”

The conference center has five specialized meeting rooms, two banquet rooms, a cafeteria called The Commons, and an athletic center. Pineland’s tenants are a mix of nonprofit and for-profit businesses, including Energy East, which operates Central Maine Power, and Apple Computer.

In other USBA news, Lilly announced at a membership meeting that executive director Steve Sands has stepped down but will remain on as paid consultant while the association looks for a new leader.

Sands has been the executive director for 10 years. A search committee has already been formed to find his replacement.

Mass start not historic for Steer

Rachel Steer is back in Fort Kent for the first time since the March 2004 World Cup, when the Anchorage, Alaska, resident made history by becoming the first U.S. woman to compete in a World Cup mass start.

But coming back to Maine doesn’t make her at all nostalgic. In fact, most of what she recalls from that race was the embarrassment she felt by her finish.

Only the top 30 athletes based on World Cup points participated in the mass start, which is an event in which everyone starts the race at the same time. Steer didn’t qualify, but she was an alternate.

The mass start was scheduled for the final day of competition in Fort Kent. As the second alternate, Steer, the top-ranked U.S. woman, figured her World Cup was over and went dancing until 10:30 the night before the event. The next morning Steer got a call that several athletes had dropped out of the mass start, putting her into the race.

She finished 29th – more than three minutes behind winner Olga Pyleva of Russia – and admitted she was tired from the night before.

“I was clearly not prepared for that race and it was not my best showing,” she said last week. “Everybody knows I was out partying the night before, and that’s not responsible as an athlete. I was a bit embarrassed to have that kind of performance in front of other people. And to have people say that a historic thing … I wished it could have been a little better.”

Steer has since had the chance to compete in other mass starts. Her highest career finish in that event, 12th place, came last year in a World Cup in Russia.

Soldiers shine so far

The Maine Winter Sports Center athletes have had a lot of good results at the Olympic trials so far, but one other training program has put at least three different athletes in the top three after two competitions.

Men’s 20-kilometer individual winner Jacob Beste, women’s 15K individual winner Denise Teela, and Jeremy Teela, who was third in the men’s 10K sprint, are all members of the Army’s World Class Athlete Program.

Athletes have to apply to WCAP which is based in Fort Carson, Colo. The Army’s goal is to showcase its members.

“They’re trying to put soldiers on the podium at the Olympics,” said Jeremy Teela, who lives and trains part of the year in Fort Kent with Denise Teela, his wife. “They help us train and prepare for making the Olympic team so we can represent the United States and the Army.”

WCAP athletes serve in the National Guard and go on active duty two years before the Olympics. The Army pays athletes a salary that takes care of living expenses and also allocates a small sum for equipment and travel costs.

“I’m able to focus on biathlon 100 percent,” said Jill Krause, a WCAP team member who is ranked second in the country. “I don’t have to worry about working or finding sponsors.”

Krause and Jeremy Teela said the WCAP salary is based on Army ranking. They’re both ranked as specialists.

The military has a longtime affiliation with biathlon. An early form of the modern competitions, called Military Patrol, was a demonstration event at the 1924 Winter Olympics.

Salmela has return engagement

Biathlon fans who attended the World Cup event here in 2004 and plan to watch some of the trials this year may recognize the voice of announcer Chad Salmela, who was on the microphone for the Cup races.

“I think he’ll do a great job, as always,” said Max Cobb, the USBA marketing director and technical delegate for the Trials. “He’s really a pro. A good announcer really helps with the event and makes it much more exciting and interesting.”

Salmela will also work on NBC’s Olympic broadcasts. Cobb said Salmela has been hired by the network as the biathlon specialist.

A Minnesota resident who was a member of the national team and worked at the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002, Salmela will be in Presque Isle later this month for the Junior World Championships at the Nordic Heritage Center and then will head to Turin. He also does analysis for the Outdoor Life Network’s biathlon broadcasts.

The Salmela family is well known in biathlon. Cory Salmela, Chad’s brother, is a coach. Cory Salmela’s wife, Kara Salmela, was on the Olympic team in 1998 and 2002. Brit Salmela, Chad’s sister, is a member of the junior national team and is competing at the Olympic trials. She’ll be back in Aroostook County for the World Juniors.

Super-Disl

One of the names Salmela had to announce frequently during the 2004 World Cup in Fort Kent was that of Germany’s Uschi Disl, who won several races and became a fan favorite at the 10th Mountain Ski Center.

Disl was recently named Germany’s Sportswoman of the Year in a vote conducted by German sports journalists. She won two gold medals at the Biathlon World Championships to edge a speedskater and a discus thrower.

Previous men’s and women’s winners include Steffi Graf and Boris Becker (tennis), Michael Schumacher (Formula 1 racing), and Jan Ullrich (cycling).