By Kevin Mills,Staff Writer

NEW GLOUCESTER – When James Upham sees a young biathlete frustrated and impatient, he knows the feeling.

In a sport where the peak performances come with age, it can be hard for a young 20-something athlete looking for immediate results.

Upham, the Farmington native and current development coach for the U.S. Biathlon team, understands those struggles. He was there once, himself.

“I sort of retired early,” said Upham, a Mt. Blue graduate. “It happens very often, around 23 or 24. I didn’t see myself making the next Olympics or getting the international results I wanted. There were very few races. It was a lot of the same struggles that these guys face. So I sort of know the same challenges they face.”

He’s also hoping to do something about that. As a coach working with nearly a dozen young athletes with Olympic dreams, he’s trying to nurture their talent and aspirations. Some skiers like Jeremy Teela, Tim Burke, Tracy Barnes and Lanny Barnes are expected to fare well in Turino, Italy, in the 2006 Olympics. Others, like Yarmouth’s Walt Shepard and former Bates College skier Haley Johnson could make a bid for the Winter Games in Italy, but may have their best biathlon years ahead of them.

“That’s what we’re trying to push for these guys,” said Upham. “We want to get them to Europe to race a few weeks here and there during the winter and get them racing here in the North American circuit. It’s still very, very fun and an extremely high level of competition.”

It can still be a challenge to keep their spirits up and their bodies fresh. During these summer months, the athletes are training regularly – often five hours per day.

“How they stack up with other athletes, they’re right in there,” Upham said of his young skiers. “They’re on track. You’ve just got to keep them in it. I’m trying to push them as much as I can. At the same time, it’s an endurance sport, and the training gets stacked on top of itself year after year.”

Upham was a skier and soccer player at Mt. Blue, graduating in 1990.

“I took part in the high school program and also competed regionally and nationally in cross country skiing,” said Upham, who won the North American Junior National Championship. “That’s really what I was good at.”

Kirk Siegel, a coach at Gould Academy, noticed Upham’s ability and pitched the idea of the biathlon.

“He got me started,” said Upham. “He said, You’re a great skier. Do you want to try shooting?’ He told me there was a camp in Lake Placid, and that I could go along to see if I liked it. I loved it. I picked it up right away. The shooting was pretty easy. I never was a hunter, but any 15 year old boy, you put a rifle in their hands, and they’ll have a good time.”

Upham went to Northern Michigan University and earned a degree in history. When he discontinued his pursuit of Olympic glory as an athlete, he got involved in coaching. In 1996, he went to Burke Mountain Academy in Vermont and coached there for three years. After working as the head of the Nordic Racing Service for Swixsport USA, he joined the U.S. Biathlon team in 2002. He was named the National Coach of the Year in 2004.

“It’s fantastic,” he said. “It’s a great opportunity. We have a pretty homogenous group. I don’t have to completely adjust. There isn’t one person that’s totally dragging things down. They’re all very, very fit and very capable and very professional. It’s a very good training group.”

He pushes his team hard, but has fun with the athletes as well. Recently when his team was visiting Pineland Farms for a brief training session, he took the athletes sailing one day and had an orienteering session on another day. Many of the athletes came to the sport just like he did as a kid. Though he cut short his athletic pursuits, he’s hoping to keep this group going strong for Olympics to come.

“A lot of this group is actually more experienced than I am,” said Upham, who works with the team at the Maine Winter Sports Center in Fort Kent, “But you can do any biathlon race anywhere and understand the challenges of physiology and shooting and the combination.”