| David Bergart (my son), will be coming to the Tuesday, February 11th
Digital Ski club meeting (Chelmsford Elks @ 6:30pm). He will show a
5 minute promotional tape about Ski-Archery, and then speak about the
sport and his experiences.
David is on the US National Ski-Archery Team and is the 3 time US
Jr. National Champion. He'll be bringing a Ski-Arc target, and his
archery equipment including the special holder he uses to carry his bow
as he cross country skis.
Free hand outs will be available with more information about the sport,
with dates and places when future fun events are scheduled for beginners.
(At all the fun events, bows and arrows are provided)
Regards,
Jeff
|
| Several DECies have come and tried the sport. See 1486.5 for schedule
details. There's lots of demo's going on at Bow, NH this week -- check it
out!
Last weekend we went to the New England Regionals. It was a good
warm-up for the Nationals next month. David won the Men's title
(Luckily he was not pressed, as his shooting was off, and due to snow
conditions, the course was shortened)
Hope to see some of you on the trails.
Jeff
|
| Fifth Annual National Ski-Archery Championships & World Qualifier
March 16th, 1997 --- Stowe, Vermont
For Immediate Release
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BERGART QUALIFIES FOR THE WORLD SKI-ARCHERY CHAMPIONSHIPS
In a dramatic finish, seventeen year old Acton-Boxboro High School Senior,
David Bergart, earned a spot on the US Men's Ski-Archery Team which will be
going to Italy next year for the 1998 World Championships. Bergart, the three
time National Junior Champion, chose to skip this year's junior competition and
instead entered the hotly contested Men's Division.
For three years David had been measuring his ability against his "heroes" Sam
Thornhill and Dan Norris both from Evenston, Wyoming. Sam and Dan were the
three time National and Runner-up Men's Champions, and were in Vermont hoping
to repeat their great 1-2 finish last year in Utah. On the other hand, Bergart
had trained very hard all year to challenge them. The young kid against the
seasoned veterans. Who would prevail?
Actually, Sam, Dan and David had become close friends over the years. Sam and
Dan have encouraged and helped David so it was with mixed emotions that he
chose to challenge them rather than stay in the junior division for one more
year. Then, right before the race, Sam and Dan told David that they had just
returned from Japan where they had placed 7 and 8 out of 100 competitors at the
1997 World Ski-Archery Championships! The question became, "Could Bergart keep
up with them?"
In very windy conditions, all the competitors were having major problems
hitting their archery targets. During the first two shooting rounds (after the
first and second 4 Km cross country skiing loops) none of the men, including
David, were able to hit more than 1 or 2 out 4 of their shots. With 4 arrows
remaining, Bergart needed 3 hits to ensure a victory over Sam and Dan. In
dramatic fashion, he nailed all 4 of his remaining shots and skied across the
finish line over 4 minutes ahead of both Sam and Dan.
Unfortunately, the current ski-archery rules favor the skier. Bergart, an
excellent archer who placed in the top ten at this year's Mass. High School
Cross Country Ski Championships, has only been skiing for four year. Two new
competitors came to this year's National Ski-Archery Championships. Ben Maki,
a member of the US Olympic and All Military Biathlon Teams made his first
appearance. And Christoph Schork, a ski instructor and former National and
World Ski-Archery Champion came from Wyoming. Both Ben and Christoph had much
better ski times than Bergart and the heavy winds worked in their favor to keep
the archery scores low.
The final order of finish was Maki, Schork, Bergart, Thornhill and Norris.
Bergart qualified for the 1998 World Championships and showed that he can
compete with the "big boys." David is now looking forward to five more years
of hard training to get ready for the 2002 Winter Games where Ski-Archery will
make its first Olympic appearance.
Other Results:
--------------
Men's Freestyle/Compound Dan Westover Jericho, VT Nat'l Biathlon Champion,
US World Biathlon Team
Woman's Freestyle/Coumpound:
1st Cory Fritzel Jericho, VT US Nat'l Biathlon Team
2nd Page Riff Lancaster, NH
3rd Edith Zecha Germany German Nat'l Ski-Arc Team
|