PRESQUE ISLE – Just a day before the 2006 Biathlon Junior World Championships were expected to get under way, local volunteers were out in full force working out the bugs and completing last-minute preparations for the international event.

Volunteers from as far away as Connecticut, South Carolina and Minnesota were at the Nordic Heritage Center in Presque Isle on Friday doing everything from checking credentials and prepping the shooting range to setting up a large video wall near the race course for spectators and constructing platforms for cameras.

“We’re doing very well,” said Tim Doak, event director for the organizing committee that is hosting the event. “Today was the day for us to work out the bugs logistically and for competitions.”

Volunteers also spent the day chasing down lost baggage for athletes and support staff, making sure accommodations were acceptable and conducting equipment control checks.

As part of the checks, officials were ensuring that skis, rifles and uniforms met regulation standards.

Officials also were host to four delegates from Martell, Italy, the site of the 2007 Biathlon Junior World Championships.

Local officials conducted similar shadowing of biathlon officials last year in Finland during the 2005 championships to help them prepare for the 2006 event.

Most significantly, Doak said officials were preparing to meet two prominent biathlon officials: Anders Besseberg, president of the International Biathlon Union, and Janez Vodicar, another high-ranking IBU official. They were expected to arrive in Aroostook County on Friday.

“The president of the IBU generally has not attended events in the U.S. aside from the Olympics,” Doak said. “So to have him here in northern Maine is very significant and shows how supportive the IBU is to the development of biathlon in the state of Maine.”

With less than 24 hours to go until competitions began, Tammy Wheeler, volunteer coordinator for the event, said they had about 700 volunteers registered to help out with the event.

“We have most of the volunteer positions filled,” Wheeler said Friday. “We need people to come out as noisy spectators now.”

On the racecourse, volunteers were cleaning up the shooting range area and raising flags of the 28 nations that have athletes participating in the championships.

Ray Hews, chief of competition, said Friday that biathlon officials had inspected the stadium, racecourse and shooting range, and that, other than minor suggestions, “everything was perfect.”

During the first team captains’ meeting on Thursday night, Hews said team officials had no questions after the presentation and they gave local officials a standing ovation, “which is not typical.”

“Everything is in good order,” Esa Haapala, IBU technical delegate for the event, said Friday of the venue. “The organizing committee has high enthusiasm and has done a lot of good work for preparation.”

“All of our volunteers get the credit for that,” Hews said.

Despite the brisk temperature on Friday that left volunteers who were working outside stamping their feet to keep warm, several of them said they wouldn’t give up this opportunity for the world.

“I want to repay the people at the Libra Foundation for their terrific investment in Aroostook County,” Dave Griffiths, deputy chief of equipment, said Friday of his willingness to volunteer. “I’m anxious to get started. I want to see everything evolving into success.”

In the spectator parking lot, Richard Moore, who was volunteering with a group of students from Loring Job Corps Center, was partway through a 12-hour outdoor shift lining up cars in the lot.

Moore admitted he had never heard of the event until a week ago, but said that he was outside at 4:30 a.m. to try something new.

“I wanted to do it,” he said. “This is community service. I wanted to come out here, hang out with my friends and do something good. This is actually a lot of fun.”

Back at the lodge, where officials were attending to thousands of last-minute details, Melanie Stewart, event manager, took a moment to sum up the feelings of volunteers and officials across the venue.

“It’s hectic,” she said. “The pace is really fast and furious. And we’re putting out small fires. But it’s all details at this point. … Everybody’s excited, it’s emotional. We’ve worked so long and so hard and now it’s finally here.”