Running and shooting, it’s a family thing

By Tim Devaney

FORT KENT – For some people, summer biathlon is a family-oriented sporting event.

Last week, the seven-member Saucy family came to Fort Kent so that three of them could compete in the National Summer Biathlon competition at the 10th Mountain Ski Lodge.

According to Master Biathlete Stephanie Saucy, the culture surrounding the sport encourages total participation in all aspects of family life, including quality time, training, warm-ups, and the competition itself.

For the Saucys, summer biathlon involves the whole family.

Kathy Mayo, director of the National Summer Biathlon in Fort Kent, says, “With them it’s total family time. They travel together, they stay together, and they train together.”

“It’s very much a family sport,” says Stephanie, the mother of five children, with one still in diapers. She says the biathlon community is also like a family. She said, “It’s such a tight knit family-oriented group. That’s what keeps us coming back.”

During a recent interview on Thursday, one of her children, just past the age of a toddler, clutched to her knee while she answered questions and recovered after the rigorous event.

That is life for the Saucy folks: a normal family that flourishes in a world-renowned sport.

They also get the benefit of traveling as a family. This weekend the Pennsylvania family is camping in Fort Kent for the first time, and they are impressed with the location. Stephanie Saucy says, “I like it.” She also complimented the 10th Mountain Ski Lodge for a friendly atmosphere and a relatively simple course.

While in Fort Kent, three members of the family competed in multiple biathlon events: Stephanie Saucy, in the Master Women’s division; Hilary Saucy, 15, in the Youth Women’s division; and Nathan Saucy, 13, in the Youth Men’s division.

On a humid Thursday evening, the Saucy family competed in the Sprint Competition.

The individual competitors took off every 30 seconds. The athletes ran a lap, shot at five targets from the ground, ran some more, shot at five more targets while standing up, and then ran a final lap. Penalty laps after missed shots were also common on a day when the targets were hard to see because of the bright sun.

According to Stephanie Saucy, “I usually would do better, but I couldn’t see our holes [this time].”

Overall, “It went well,” said Saucy.

During the summer they train by swimming each day and running Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) track events.

She says it is good exercise that keeps them in-shape for the season and is not too complicated.

Other members of the family participate as well. According to Stephanie Saucy, two of her five children, of the three children who are not competing in the biathlon, help watch the baby while the dad manages the family’s participation by taking photos, helping them warm-up, and taking care of any other managerial work.

Stephanie Saucy recognizes his importance. She says, “We wouldn’t do it if it weren’t for him.”
Stephanie is thankful he is there to help, because the family enjoys the sport too much to stop.

Prior to competing in summer biathlon, Stephanie was an accomplished tri-athlete, even competing in the prestigious Iron Man Competition in Hawaii.

“I wish I would’ve picked this up when I was fifteen,” says Stephanie Saucy. She says she has been an athlete since she was five years old, but she did not enter the biathlon until later in life.

Fortunately, for her children, that is not the case. Both Hilary and Nathan, who competed this weekend, are young and have plenty of years left to pursue the sport and fine-tune their games.