Squamish Boston Pizza

Every season, I encounter thousands of dollars of expenses that I must overcome in order to achieve my goals. These expenses are all huge barriers Canadian athletes must hurdle, in order to reach the international podium. This season, the Squamish Boston Pizza has acknowledged this obstacle, and generously offered to donate 10% of your next bill to my achieving my goals this season. All you have to do is enjoy your next meal at the Squamish Boston Pizza and write my name, Matt Neumann, on the bill. I appreciate Boston Pizza's generousity and would be very thankful for your support. Every dollar goes a long way!

2009/2010 Season Opener

The first races of the season are in the books after a double medal effort at North American Cup #1 in Canmore, Alberta. With a gold in the 10 kilometer sprint, and silver in the 12.5 kilometer pursuit I am excited to see that the summer training has paid off. The course featured a four stage uphill, which favored strong skiers followed by a quick set of turns during a steep and icy decent. In the range I am adjusting to my new stock, and had excellent prone shooting. Standing proved to be a bit tougher again, and was not as successful, but that cannot be blamed on my new stock.

I finished the weekend as the top Junior Man, and I'm looking forward to the next set of races coming up in Canmore. With this start, I am excited to see how the rest of the season plays out. I have all the tools and training behind me, & I look forward to bringing it all together. Thanks for following!

Thank you PGRGC!

A big thank you to the Prince George Rod and Gun Club for their generosity this season. They gave $550, which will help me in achieving my goals this season and covering the $3200 team fee for 2010 World Junior Championships in Torsby, Sweden. I encounter thousands of dollars of expenses each season, so every dollar goes a long way. I appreciate their support! Check the PGRGC homepage out at www.pgrgclub.ca.

I'll be competing in the first races of the season (Noram #1) this weekend in Canmore, Alberta. The entire course has been created with man-made snow, so other than the white band of snow, everything else is brown and green! You can check out results at www.biathloncanada.ca.

The Noram #2 will be held in Canmore, too, the following weekend. (December 5th and 6th). I'm excited to start the season and looking forward to some good results this year!

(photo: Daniel Giroux- Flex Art Studio)

Growing Champions

Visit www.growingchampions.ca to see how you can support a BC athlete!

Early Snow!

On October 15^th coach iLmar Heinicke decided to cut the Switzerland camp short and move to Klingenthal, Germany. It was getting hard to roller ski in Switzerland, with snow blowing onto the track, but not nearly enough to ski. In East Germany, they had received an unexpected snow dump, and in places there was enough to groom and ski. We skied three days in Klingenthal, and four days in Oberweisenthal. In Klingenthal we only had the option to ski on a 3km cross country track, but Oberweisenthal had a five km loop and the opportunity to shoot. We had perfect conditions! We shot on the range three days, and the skiing was amazing. On the last two days, it was -5⁰C and bright sun. It felt like February rather than October 18^th.

Oberhof Ski Hall

We spent the last nine days in oberhof, skiing in the ski arena. The snow hall had a 2 km horse-shoe loop that i skied about 250 km on. It wasn’t action packed, but it provided awesome training, and perfect, consistent conditions. The hall was maintained at minus four degrees and groomed daily. You couldn’t ask for better fall training conditions, especially in September.

For the remainder of the European camp, we moved to Antermatt, Switzerland in the heart of the Alps. October 11^th was the first day of training, and the conditions were a big change from oberhof. We went from 15⁰C and shooting in an indoor shooting range to -6⁰C and 30km winds in Switzerland. It was a hard adjustment, but reminded me that biathlon is an outdoor sport.

World Summer Champs/ European Training Camp

For the next four weeks ill be continueing my training camp in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The first race of the camp began in Altenburg, Germany with German National Summer Biathlon Championships (septmeber 19^th-20^th). I was racing in the senior category against some of Germany’s top biathlon celebrities. In the Saturday 10km sprint, I finished 3:10 behind World Champion Christoph Stephen (Germany). I started the 12.5km pursuit in 22^nd place (3:10 behind the leader) and finished the weekend in 19^th place.

Immediately after German Champs the BC Biathlon High Performance Team travelled to Oberholf, Germany for Summer Running Biathlon World Championships. In the first 4km sprint competition I finished in 20^th position (out of 46 junior competitors) 1:17 behind the leader. I had a clean prone shooting (5 for 5) but had four misses standing! I was motivated for improvement the next day. In Sunday’s 6km Pursuit competition, I cleaned my first two prone shootings, moving into 8^th for the first standing. I finished with 5 total misses (15/20) and in 13^th position. I was happy with a top 15 result at a world championships, but knew I was still capable of a better performance.

This weekend was World Summer Rollerski Biathlon Championships. I had two average races with good skiing and bad shooting. I finished the 10km sprint just inside the top 30, 3 minutes 45 seconds behind the leader. I had the 18^th fastest ski time, which i was happy about and was less than a minute from a top 20. In the 12.5km pursuit on Sunday I finish 32^nd overall, with 17^th fastest ski time and again poor shooting. I finished the week very motivated to improve my shooting, and happy to see that my ski times were competitive with the leaders.

Tomorrow is off and starting on Tuesday, we start a nine day ski camp in Oberholf Germany, where we will be skiing in a man made snow tunnel. I’m excited to continue the camp, and look forward to an awesome next four weeks!

Canmore-Whistler Rollerski Trip

Biathlon BC along with Galileo Coffey, CE Communications Limited, CE Corporate Electric Limited, Corsa Cycles, and SRB Rollerskis(www.ski-roller.de) put on a 1080km rollerski trip from Canmore to the Whistler Olympic park. The entire distance was covered in 5 days and divided between 8 athletes. The entire trip, we were followed by a support car, and often had TV Stations working beside. The trip was a very unique experience to rollerski parts of BC that we would never beable to, without the help of coaches (iLmar Hienicke) and team staff Daniel Giroux. The trip was important for putting in long slow base hours, essential for the summer training leading into the fall.

Canmore-Whistler Rollerski Trip

In light of the 2010 Winter Olympics, the provincial Biathlon BC team will be participating in a rollerski trek from Canmore Alberta, to the Whistler olympic Park. The Tour is set to start on July 12th and run until the 16th when the team will arrive at the 2010 Olympic Biathlon venue. There will be 8 athletes rotating in turn, rollerskiing continuous over the 1000 km journey. The idea of the trip is to promote the sport and to bring the Olympic spirit from the 1988 Winter Olympic site, to the 2010 Whistler Park. The trip will be sponsored by the German company SRB Rollerskis, as well as the German TV network Deutsche Welle, local coffee shop Galileo Coffee, squamish bike store Corsa Cycles, and local GM Dealer Greg Gardner. If you are interested, support is still needed.

Okanagan Bike Camp '09

I returned Monday from a five day bike camp through Okanagan (southern BC). The camp was hosted by Biathlon BC and included athletes from the High Performance program and development squad. The tour covered 800km over five days including Silverstar mountain, Apex mountain, and the Penticton Ironman course. After four days of sun and +30 C temperature, the only rain was on the final decent into Pentiction on the final day.

Brittania Beach Training Sesh

Brittania Beach has a 3 km uphill that we train during he summer for rollerskiing. The double poling test starts with about a kilometer of rolling uphill, followed by three switch back turns leading up the mountain. My last time was 17:13 (for 3km) which gives you an idea of the slope! Compared to last year, I started the season, over a minute faster, (18:26) which is looking good leading into the summer training.

Publish Post

Devinci Leo '08

I just received my shoes, and yesterday was my first day test riding my new bike from Devinci. I had a 50km road ride in the morning, and a 60 km group ride that evening. The biggest thing I noticed was the acceleration from a start and on steep pitches. With a 950 g frame, the bike had a noticeable jump when out of the saddle, or starting to sprint. As with most carbon frames, there was very good power transfer through the large bottom bracket . The SRAM shifting and braking was clean and precise. I was also impressed with the downhill handling, and felt confident tucking at 80km/h. All-in-all I'm very happy with the Leo, and I know it will satisfy my riding needs:)

http://www.silentsports.com/store/product/17679/2008-Devinci-Leo-1-S/

2009/2010!

My season officially started last weekend with a four day snow camp in Silver Star (Vernon BC) with the Foothills Nordic Ski Club. The training camp was a really exciting way to start the year, with four days of awesome snow conditions, and almost all sunshine! Directly after, I joined my coach in Squamish, for the yearly training at the Whistler Olympic Park. We are putting in lots of long hours, building an aerobic base and a solid shooting position to improve on for the rest of the year. It also feels good to be back home in Squamish and I’m extremely excited to be back into full training. I am looking forward to the upcoming spring training! 

Tour de Quebec

I spent the last week in Quebec and Montreal trying to develop and expand my sponsor relationships. I was in Chicoutimi (northern Quebec) to visit with David Regnier Bourque from Devinci Cycles. Devinci provided a bike, while Sport G.S. Inc (Stephane Cyr) in Laval provided shoes and pedals through Louis Garneau.

I would also like to thank the following individuals who have all demonstrated their commitment to sport in Canada.

David Regnier Bourque (www.devinci.com)
Stephane Cyr (Sport G.S. Inc)
Louise Lambert
Alain Baril
Daniel Giroux (www.flex-art-studio.com)

Devinci Cycles

2009 Canadian National Championships

Another season has come to a close and another step has been made forward in achieving my long term goals. The season was concluded with Canadian National Championships in Valcartier, Quebec. With an average shooting performance (and been a little tired at the end of the season), I depended heavily on my skiing speed to carry through my performances. I finished the week with three gold medals in the Junior Individual (15 km), Sprint (10km), and Relay (3X 6km) competitions. This came directly after, two podium finishes at the North American Cup #7 in Fort Kent, Maine. I was the top Canadian Junior, and second overall in both the Pursuit (12.5km) and Mass Start(15km) competitions.

The results were encouraging for next season, and left me motivated to train hard leading into the summer. I look forward to the summer training in Squamish, BC, and am eager to make another step forward for next year. I have alot to work on, but am focused entirely on bringing my shooting to a higher level. I am still hungry for a top 20 result at the 2010 World Junior Championships in Torsby, Sweden which is realistic based on my current ability. April is very low key, with almost 4 weeks of active recovery. This is not a complete break, but mainly a mental rest from the day to day schedule of the rest of the year. I look forward to the “vacation” and coming back in May, clear minded, and physically rested.

2009 World Junior Championships

This weekend' North American Cup in Callaghan Valley concluded a three week racing tour of Western Canada. January 17 was the first World Junior Trials Race in Canmore Alberta. I finished the week as the top Canadian Junior, going into World Junior Championships. At World Junior Champs (January 25-February 4th), I had three tough races, with a top result of 47th. In the relay, the Junior Canadian team finished 15th. The tour concluded this past weekend at the Whistler Olympic Park, with a North American Cup. I had two good races, finishing in the sprint 3rd among the Senior Men. It feels like a long way off to next years World Championships in Sweden, but I am determined to work towards my goals for 2010. I learned alot at my first World Champs, and will hopefully beable to carry it through the rest of this season and into 2010.

Rudy Project Eye Wear