It's minus 18?Celsius and I have to be careful handling the gun - any moisture on my finger and it will freeze to the metal trigger.
Five grapefruit-sized targets sit 50 snow-flurried metres away. Channeling my inner sniper; I exhale, squeeze the trigger and- Bang! A solid miss.
That would mean skiing a penalty lap in a real biathlon, but up here at the Whistler Olympic Park (WOP) things are a bit more lenient.
"Take your time," said Steven Murray, coach, rifle safety instructor and giver of moral support. Murray also helps facilitate WOP's public programs, which offer anyone a chance to don some skate skis and try their luck skiing and shooting on the same range that saw Olympic glory and drama at the 2010 Winter Games.
Biathlon (derived from Greek, meaning "two tests,") originated in the Scandinavian military-they'd endurance-train on cross-country skis and then practice their marksmanship. Not an easy task.
Using the .22 calibre, Russian-made regulation biathlon rifle, I shoot two of five targets on my first round while Allie, a local fitness instructor trying the sport because "skate skiing is supposed to be a great butt workout", hits all five targets in a row.
Then we race. Real biathletes will ski up to 20km and shoot at four sets of targets. We manage to chicken-foot a few ungraceful laps around the penalty loop to ward off the freezing cold before taking to the guns again.
The snow-rimmed evergreen beauty of the Callaghan Valley blurs out of focus as I fight to steady my breathing and draw a perfectly concentric vision of target and sight.
The Olympic rings stand vanguard over everything, a reminder of the glory and dreams won in this very spot.
I shoot five-for-five. So does Allie, but about 15 seconds faster. She wins, but we both get a nice butt workout.
This weekend, March 2-4, the Stride and Glide Sports BC Biathlon Championships are being held at WOP. If you have ever wondered about this seemingly strange sport, and would like to find out how it is done right, check out the event details at www.whistler.com/nordic/olympic_park.
Feet Banks
