March 22, 2010 (Fort Kent, Maine) – Russell Currier had felt like this was a lost season, but he overcame his disappointment to finish with a bang, taking the North American Biathlon 15k Mass Start Championship in convincing fashion.  Currier (1-2-1-1) had struggled with his shooting this season, but hit 15 of 20 shots including 4 of the last 5 to cruise to the win, 46.4 seconds ahead of Marc-Andre Bedard (2-0-1-2) from Quebec, Canada.

Walt Shepard, in his last race before retiring from an 18-year career, led halfway through the race, but uncharacteristically struggled on the range, hitting 13 of 20 (3-0-3-1), to take the Bronze medal in the North American Championships, 1 minute 42 seconds back – Silver for the U.S. National Championships. Shepard and Tracy Colliander were the only two senior competitors to make the podium in all 6 events this week.

Casey Simons took the Bronze in the U.S. National Championships, 3:16 back (2-2-2-1). Simons (2-2-1-2) and Zach Hall (1-3-1-3) also battled to a photo finish to decide the last spot on the podium.

On the Women’s side, Tracy Colliander and Susan Dunklee battled to the finish and it took a still-action camera to decide the winner – Dunklee by a few feet. She won her first North American Championship race in her second year in the sport. Colliander, who won the first two races of the Championships was uncharacteristically off in the range on her first shooting stage, missing four, but was clean from that point on. Dunklee missed six of the first ten shots, but only one of the last ten to work her way back into contention. She caught Colliander on the last hill before entering the stadium neck and neck. Annelies Cook (2-0-3-1) was 1 minute 7 seconds back for the Bronze.

For link to photo gallery of Mass Start click here.

For link to photo gallery of banquet click here.

Full results here.