Biathlon festival begins Shepard picks up rifle, returns to competition

FORT KENT – When Walt Shepard packed up his biathlon rifle for the final time last winter, he wasn’t sure when – or even if – he’d unpack it again.

So it’s a good thing Shepard left the rifle and the rest of his equipment in working shape, because he took out the rifle this week for the first time all season.

“I had cleaned it and put it away with care so it was all ready to go,” said Shepard, a Yarmouth native who will compete in the 2007 Festival at Fort Kent, which starts this morning at the 10th Mountain Ski Center. “I got it out today and it works just as well as I remember it working. It still shoots straight.”

The former junior national champion and senior national team member is one of about 70 U.S. and Canadian biathletes who will take part in the Festival, which is serving as the North American and U.S. national championships. The top finisher in each event will be the North American champ and the top U.S. finisher will win the national title.

Three days of events begin Thursday at 10 a.m. with individual races for masters, senior, junior and youth men and women. The athletes have Friday off for training followed by Saturday’s sprint and Sunday’s pursuit events.

Most of the competitors, including Shepard, spent a warm Wednesday morning skiing the course and practicing on the shooting range. He needed the practice. Not only has Shepard’s rifle been packed up all winter, so has his shot.

Fourteen months ago Shepard was an experienced biathlete who had been to some of the top international competitions including world championships, World Cups and world junior championships. But a disappointing ninth-place finish at the 2006 biathlon Olympic Trials – only four men were selected at the trials which were held last January in Fort Kent – forced Shepard to rethink his future in biathlon.

“Last year I was pretty discouraged,” he said Wednesday as he sat in the 10th Mountain lodge after the training session. “I went through phases where I wasn’t sure if I was going to continue and I didn’t know if I was even going to keep racing. That was part of the grieving process, I guess. But this summer I started training again and it was definitely apparent that I was still passionate about the sport and racing in general.”

The 2001 Yarmouth High graduate decided it was time to try college and got into Bowdoin, where he is the oldest freshman in the Class of 2010. He also joined the school’s Nordic ski team.

“It’s just been a lot more healthy for me mentally to have the balance of school, even though balancing school and skiing was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be this winter,” Shepard said.

It was around Christmas that Shepard started to get excited about competing in biathlon again. The timing of the national championships, which fall after the college skiing season and during Bowdoin’s spring break, worked out well for Shepard to compete in Fort Kent again.

He’s competing as a member of the Bowdoin ski team but formerly trained and lived in Fort Kent with other members of the Maine Winter Sports Center team. His father, Andy Shepard, is the MWSC president and chief executive officer.

Walt Shepard was pleased with how his rifle performed in its 2007 debut. He only shot 40 rounds Wednesday in practice but hit 16 of 20 targets in the first group and was 19-for-20 in the second. Not bad for a 14-month layoff.

“This is a baptism by fire, so to speak,” Shepard said with a smile. “Hopefully I’ve stored up some good shooting vibes over the last year and I’ll be able to hit all the targets.”

And if he doesn’t shoot 100 percent? That’s OK with him.

“I don’t feel like it’s all or nothing for me in biathlon,” Shepard said. “Even if it doesn’t go well here this week I’m still going to do biathlon races and I’m pretty certain I’m going to make another run at the 2010 Olympic team. But for now this is just an event to have fun at.”