Schalke: Biathlon in a Soccer Stadium

Imagine a 50,000 roaring fans enclosed into a soccer stadium roaring at their favorite biathletes competing below. Wait, what??? A biathlon race inside a soccer stadium? With snow, skis, and a real shooting range? Yep that’s right. On Dec 29th, Tim Burke and I were invited to compete as a team in the World Team Challenge held in the Schalke soccer arena in Germany.

Tim and myself

We participated in three different competitions: a shoot out (a shooting race to clean four stages, with spares if needed) and two relays: a mass start and a pursuit with 1.5 hr break in between. The relay ski course consisted of over 1 km of trucked-in snow that zigzagged around inside the stadium and threaded through tunnels that added an outside section. The shooting range was inside, had 10 points, and was protected by bulletproof glass. Each team member completed four legs of skiing and shooting for each race.

Our wonderful waxing/zeroing crew and family: Kathrin, Christian, Lenia and Toni.

The scene during the shoot out competition

Flying to Germany in time for Schalke was one of the more complicated travel experiences I have had thanks to Vermont’s biggest snowstorm in 2 years. Many thanks to John Madigan, the Schultz family, and my dad and brother for braving snow and freezing rain to help me get there. I made it and even had a few hours to spare!

Read more about the Schalke race in this FasterSkier article