Biathlon enjoys very muddy day

By By Marty Stamper/EMG sports assistant
June 8, 2003
The good news for all five athletes that participated in the State Games of Mississippi biathlon Saturday morning was that they each got a medal … a gold one, in fact.
The bad news was that the road around Camp Binachi was very muddy and very slippery.
Steven Palm of Gulfport edged David Carr of Meridian by one second for the fastest overall time.
Palm took first place in the military division with a time of 30 minutes, 19 seconds, while Carr took first in the civilian 50-plus age group with a time of 30:20.
Kim Reinike of Long Beach won the under-50 law enforcement age group with a time of 37:22.
Bill Calvert of Long Beach won the 50-plus law enforcement age group with a time of 32:49.
And Toby Graves of Collins won the civilian 30-39 age group with a time of 34:24.
In the biathlon, the athletes ran a lap, just under a mile, around Camp Binachi. They then went to the firing range and shot five times from a prone position at targets 25 meters away.
Then they ran another lap and fire at the same five targets from a standing position. Each miss at the 10 targets results in a short penalty run off the main course. A short run completes the event.
While Palm is a rookie at biathlons, he does have a background in running.
Carr was the only area participant in the event.