The Utah Winter Games greeted one new sport and bid adieu, for this year, to another in the second day of the annual cold-weather series.
Competitors attached cross-country skis and strapped bows and arrows to their backs Sunday afternoon in the first ski-archery event ever held in Utah.Earlier, teams of biathlon skiers competed in relays over the same Jeremy Ranch course.
Also held on Sunday was a recreational 12-kilometer cross-country race at the Solitude Nordic Center and mogul races at Brighton.
Competition will continue over the next two weeks in skiing, skating and hockey.
The team relays finished up the biathlon events, which started Saturday with individual competition. Sunday, under sunny but cold conditions, 18 teams from around the country skied and shot.
Winning the event was the team of Victor Winter, Mike Johnson and Dan Meeham from Anchorage, Alaska, in a time of 1:56.04. Second was a team from Colorado in 1:56.09 and third was a team from Washington in 2:01.01.
Utah's team of Jeff Stuart (2nd in the individual on Saturday), Brent Sears and Frank Matheson finished fourth in 2:05.01. Minor problems slowed the Utah threesome. Stuart, for example, had the strap on his rifle break, which caused him some carrying problems and ultimately bothered his shooting.
"I usually shoot well," he said, "but I didn't today."
There were no complaints about the course. Several visiting competitors remarked that it was ideal. "Good snow, rolling hills, and very nicely set up," said Stuart.
It was even better for the archers, because by the 1 p.m. start the sun had warmed air temperatures.
Two celebrities for this event were Ed Eliason and Denise Parker. Eliason has represented the U.S. in archery in two Olympics and Parker won an Olympic bronze last year in Seoul.
Under the ski-archery format, explained Eliason, competitors ski for one kilometer, shoot four arrows at 30 meters at a small target, ski another three kilometers, shoot another four arrows, then sprint to the finish. In each class, the fastest skier gets 100 points and the top archer 100 points. Other scores are then computed off the top time and top score.
Unlike the biathlon, there are no penalty laps on skis for misses. Each competitor skis five kilometers and each shoots eight arrows. An arrow anywhere in the 30-centimeter target is counted as a hit.
"It's simple to score and can be very fun," said Eliason.
"We've got 24 skiers out for this event . . . Someday we hope to see it as an Olympic event. Over in Europe it's getting very big."
Eliason finished second behind Fred Hillard in the senior men's class. Hillard got 82 points in skiing and 100 in archery, while Eliason got 97.3 points in skiing, 75 in archery. Mike Hillis was third in the class with 171.9 points.
Parker won the junior girls' class. She earned 54.5 points in skiing, a sport she just got involved in, and 100 points in archery. Her mother, Valerie, won the women's senior class with 100 points in skiing and 87.5 in archery.
Holly Hunter was second behind Parker with 112.5 points and Jessica Workman was third. Christian Killian won the junior boys' event.
In the men's open, Christoiph Schork won with 90.8 points in skiing and 75 in archery. Jim Becker was second and Jason Jones third. Marsha Groth and Cindy Becker were one-two in the women's open.
In the cross country at Solitude, Andrea Clark won the women's 14-18; Paul Dixon the men's 50-plus; Ray Groth the men's 40-49; Greg Janic the men's 30-39; George Clark the men's 19-29; and Chris Jorgensen the men's 14-18.