[EVERGREENS] More cowbells BIATHLON THE MAIN ATTRACTION AT VP'S HOUSE
STORY AND PHOTOS BY KENNETH AARON | DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS FAR LEFT: Jack Burke '78 with his wife, Mary Jean, outside their Paul Smiths home. LEFT: Burke and friends heat up in the final lap. BELOW: Tim Burke during a race.
his is biathlon in Europe: tenstailor-made for American appetites. of his rifle, so he could feel it through of thousands turning out to“Once you see it, you get hooked,” hissaid gloves,” said Pete McConville, who the season-ending race at theSimone McConville ’78, who was therealso decorated the basketball backboard Holmenkollen in Oslo, Norway,with her husband, Pete McConville ’77.above the Burke’s garage with the logo jangling cowbells and screamThe rules are simple: Skiers race, and for the 2006 Olympic games in Turin, Ting. Millions more watch on television.after each lap, shoot targets. Miss a target,Italy, where Tim raced. This is biathlon in America: Aboutget penalized. Burke’s bugaboo has beenBurke skis into the stadium again for a dozen people turning out to the shooting.Paul The crowd crosses its collectiveanother go-round with the targets. The Smiths home of Jack Burke ’78, the colfingers as he skis in to the stadium to takecrowd waits. He’s still far enough down lege’s vice president of finance, watchingaim at the first five targets. the leaderboard that his progress is vis a grainy online feed of the race. It’s a safe One hit. Two hits. Three, four, five hits.ible only on a graphic crowded with the bet that it was the biggest gathering on“Timmy’s in 28th!” his father exults.shooting results of more than a dozen this continent. The living room roars. others. Two, three, four targets fall again. But one that might have been heard Oddly, it seems that biathlon has a lotHe’s moving up the board: Eighteenth, across the ocean. Because the crowd therein common with Nascar. The typical fannow. It’s getting real loud. was hooting for Burke’s son, Tim, isthe a lot more likely to pick up a beer than“I said to him yesterday, ‘You will hear best American biathlete in ages. a pair of skis. There’s the drafting, or tenthis crowd in Norway,”’ says his m oth Since Burke’s son burst onto thedency to race in a pack, because it’s moreer, who was doing her best to fulfill the World Cup circuit two years ago, a klatchaerodynamic to do so than race alone.prophecy. By the time Burke skis into the of family and friends, including severalAnd there’s an urge to modify stock partsstadium for the last time, the living room Paul Smith’s alums, have been wakingfor better performance. is a cauldron of expectation; Burke is far up early on many weekends to catch on the hammer enough up the leaderboard now that his race. (Early, because the races are almost shooting is televised instead of confined to all in Europe, several hours ahead of the a graphic. More targets fall — he’s seventh, U.S.) Burke and his wife, Mary Jean, he’s seventh! the crowd erupts, as the brew the coffee and provide the Internet viewers jump up and down. Somebody connection; the rest bring potluck break says to break out the Champagne, which fast. So far this season, they’ve gotten is fetched from another room. together about10 times. He gets to stand on the podium with “We’re not going to see much of the top eight finishers. It’s the only time Timmy today,” Jack Burke warned as he’s been on the podium this year. the group piled lox and French toast on With trials for the 2010 Winter plates and crammed into the living room. Olympics in Vancouver on the Tim Burke was starting 45th after a poor horizon, it’s a good way to head showing the day before; with Burke into the summer. toward the rear he was unlikely to get “This really does make the much love from the cameras. season,” Jack Burke says. IS] American biathletes have never been huge on the world stage, anyhow. In Europe, though, they’re huge: the sport has speed, endurance, and gunpowder, which, come to think of it, would seem N0RDICF0CUS