FORT KENT – Among the plaques and honors hanging in a trophy case inside the 10th Mountain Center is a certificate critical to both 10th Mountain and the Maine Winter Sports Center.

That certificate states the ski center is licensed by the International Biathlon Union to hold high-level biathlon events such as world junior championships or World Cup events.

The 10th Mountain Center will put its license to use again, five years after hosting its first such major international competition for the skiing and shooting sport of biathlon.

Organizers now have a little less than a year to prepare for a second World Cup event, which will take place March 12-15, 2009.

Although the 10th Mountain Center was very quiet on a recent afternoon, preparations began in earnest more than a year ago as committees began to look at what needed to be done to prepare – and examined the lessons learned from the center’s first experience.

“We had a huge learning curve but it was a good learning curve,” said Nancy Thibodeau, who is the event director for the 2009 Cup and was the event manager in 2004.

“Things worked so well back then, without having the education and that knowledge,” she added. “Looking back on it, we’ve learned so much more.”

There will be plenty of changes and some surprises, too, that will highlight northern Maine to the rest of the country and world. At least four European television networks will be on site to broadcast live to countries such as Germany and Sweden.

Thibodeau said negotiations are ongoing with a U.S. network – she declined to say which one but indicated it was a major network – to broadcast the events on tape delay.

Regardless of where the spectators are – whether they’re among the expected 8,000-10,000 watching from the stands in Fort Kent or following on prime-time television in Europe – a new organizational structure, physical changes to the venue, and new faces in the field of athletes are the result of those lessons from 2004.

Organizational changes

It’s hard to do two things at once, as the 2004 World Cup organizers learned. That’s why the committees and groupings for 2009 have been totally restructured.

“One of the problems we had in 2004 was we had multiple people doing multiple tasks,” Thibodeau said. “We overloaded our volunteers and our volunteer leaders. We learned we had to divide the tasks up more.”

In 2004, Thibodeau said, there were 15-20 groupings of volunteers and several people played different roles. This time, there are 30 different departments under four groupings. It might seem like a lot of bureaucracy, but Thibodeau said it should distribute duties evenly.

One grouping, event management, includes the financing, volunteers and management of the 10th Mountain venue.

The competition group will deal with all things racing – the courses and trails, stadium, firing range, timing and equipment controls, to start.

The event services group will work directly with the athletes and teams, so this group will focus on accommodations, accreditation and media and television. Transportation, which could include a charter flight from Vancouver, the site of the previous World Cup stop, also falls in this group.

The cultural and festival group will schedule activities in downtown Fort Kent in order to keep visitors in town after the morning races. The group will also plan parties for VIPs, work with sponsors and put together educational materials.

Changes to venue

By the time spectators and athletes arrive for the World Cup, the venue will have undergone a number of changes. Some will be noticeable and others won’t. But everything is being done with an eye to improving the experience.

One major project that affected the timing building has already been completed, said John Farra, the outgoing Maine Winter Sports Center vice president. The building was expanded and now has a basement for storage, the capacity for at least five television networks, and a concession stand.

Alterations to the course’s finish line area are also done. The straightaway toward the finish line was lengthened, which also created more space on a spectator berm next to the bleachers. The change in the was made to create more space for spectators and also opportunities for finish-line sprints.

“People love an exciting finish, and the finish line at Fort Kent was a bit too short for that,” Farra said. “This will give [the competitors] more of a chance to do things like draft and pass and increase the chance of a change in the [race leader].”

This summer the biathlon range will be moved back from the stadium by at least nine feet to open up more space. That should give the athletes and officials in that area more breathing room, especially for mass starts, during which 8-10 skiers all start simultaneously.

There will also be new signage at the entrance to Paradis Circle, the road that leads up to the venue area, indicating the 10th Mountain site.

The road that leads to the lodge, spectator area and course has undergone some improvements, which will continue. In addition, the parking area at the venue will be regraded and paved to cut down on the some of the slippery conditions spectators encountered.

That’s not all. There will also be additional trailers on site, Thibodeau said, because of the need for more wax rooms, where technicians get the skis ready for competition. The sound system will also be upgraded.

Again, the lessons of 2004 play into the progress organizers have already made for 2009.

“We know where to call for tents, for example,” Thibodeau said. “We know how many calls we make, who we talk to. A lot of things were done last-minute [in 2004]. We were putting up bleachers in January. This year we have a better start on things.”

Could we see Mainers?

Another change for 2009 could be in the faces of the competitors.

In 2004 the U.S. team had several athletes who were current and former Maine Winter Sports Center team members. They lived and trained in Fort Kent and Presque Isle, but weren’t native Mainers. Next year at this time, however, home-grown competitors are a possibility.

“The window is there, and I think some of them can reach that,” Farra said.

The U.S. women’s team is fairly open, which could mean biathletes such as Madawaska native Meagan Toussaint, who is one of the top junior women in the country, could make inroads next season. Hilary McNamee of Fort Fairfield and Grace Boutot of Fort Kent are promising U.S. youth-level biathletes but still lack senior experience.

The men’s side, however, is much more competitive, with four regulars on the World Cup circuit.

But there could be openings for biathletes like Russell Currier of Stockholm, who competed in the world championships this season, and Walt Shepard of Yarmouth, who took some time off to focus on collegiate skiing, but won three U.S. national titles at the recent national championships.

“The way Russell’s been skiing, and if he continues to shoot well, it’s very possible,” Farra said. “I would think that would be a goal for him, to compete on home soil.”

Passing inspection

Thibodeau and the rest of the team will need to have a lot in place this summer, when officials from the IBU come for an inspection.

There’s no set date yet, but whenever the IBU comes organizers will set up everything as if they were set to run an actual competition. Then, they’ll get a critique from the international officials.

“I consider them to be a helping hand,” Thibodeau said. “They help us, tell us what works and what doesn’t work.”

The television networks will also send representatives to Fort Kent this summer. There were 23 television cameras on course and in the stadium in 2004, Thibodeau said, but that number could be adjusted based on what the networks see this summer.

Thibodeau and several other Fort Kent organizers made a sort of inspection of their own in January when they visited a World Cup in Antholz, Italy, which gets about 20,000 spectators per day for Cup races.

While there, the Fort Kent group had a chance to watch a World Cup as spectators rather than organizers. They picked up ideas for more changes that could be in place for 2009.

“It was such a good experience for us,” Thibodeau said. “We were trying to get the experience that a spectator would get. We came back with some great ideas.”

jbloch@bangordailynews.net

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