Two New Liskeard 2344 Army corps cadets will be heading to a national biathlon competition after winning medals at the provincial level in Sault Ste. Marie.
Alexandra Paquette, 17, and Marianne Roy, 14, both won silver medals in the open female 4.5km relay race at the 2016 Cadet Biathlon Provincial Championship on Sunday.
Paquette also won a gold medal for having the top individual time in the female youth category.
Paquette said this was her 6th year involved with biathlon and she’s been to the provincials three times but, because this was her last year as a cadet, she was determined to make it to the nationals.
“Since the year started, I said: ‘This year, nationals it is’ and I trained a lot for it.”
Paquette is very active in cadets, also participating in marksmanship, orienteering, and drilling (army-style marches and maneuvers) and she has been to provincial championships for these events as well.
When she is not busy with cadets, Paquette finds time for school activities such as basketball, and then summer camp activities like biking, canoeing, hiking, and rock climbing.
“I couldn’t count how many sports and activities I’m involved in,” she said.
Paquette said that she prepared by training extra hard all year round and she sought advice from the many expert skiers at the Temeskaming Nordic Ski Club where she and Roy train.
“We have a really great club with some really great skiers, so I had more than just my biathlon shooting coach helping me,” said Paquette.
Paquette has been able to inspire and pass on knowledge to her younger teammate Roy, who is in her second year of Cadets.
Sunday was her first time at provincial level event.
“She has taught me so many things. At biathlon and orienteering, she gives me so many tips. If I have a problem with some drill movements she’ll help me. She’s really great,” said Roy.
Roy is looking forward to the National Championship which will be held in Val Cartier, Quebec March 2-7.
“It’s really awesome because even though I’m just 14 I’m racing against people that are all older than me. To make it to provincials and now the nationals is amazing for me,” said Roy.
Ninety-six cadets from different Army, Sea, and Air Cadet corps and squadrons around Ontario travelled to Sault Ste. Marie for the weekend competition.
The Provincial Championship was actually supposed to be a full two-days but, -31 C temperatures on Saturday prompted organizers to move the competition relay races to Sunday and cancel the originally planned “camaraderie team-spirit building race” so that the competitive aspect of the weekend was not effected.
Public Affairs Officer Capt Roy Harten said that because wind temperatures and the risk of frostbite is high for skiers on a course, Cadets Canada will not race in conditions colder than -20 C with the wind chill.
Instead of racing on Saturday, the cadets did rifle exercises, other training, and watched movies at the Armouries in Sault Ste. Marie.
The event was held at the Algoma Rod and Gun Club Biathlon range and skiers did 1-2 km loops and used .22-caliber rifles to shoot sets of five falling plate targets in the range stadium.
The two cadets were both very thankful to the Cadets Canada program for offering them so many opportunities.
Paquette plans to continue onto the Canadian military as a logistics officer.
“It’s hard to explain to someone who isn’t in the program how great it is. It just changed me as a person. When I first went in, I was really shy and I didn’t know a lot about sports. And now I have friends all over the world and there have been so many opportunities presented to me, like travelling and just meeting a bunch of awesome people with the same interests as me. It’s a program I definitely recommend to young people,” said Paquette.
