At Crosman, we have long looked to the future of the shooting sports, actively engaging the next generation of shooters with innovative new products and exciting new events. Working with youth organizations and the shooting community, the Crosman Shooting Services staff developed the Bikathalon. The Bikathlon is an exciting repackaging of the Olympic Biathlon, a winter Olympic event involving cross-country skiing and small-bore rifle shooting. In the Bikathlon, bicycles are substituted for the skis and CO2 powered airguns replace firearms.

The event is very versatile and can be set up in a parking lot, baseball park, open field, wooded area or gymnasium. The length of the course is not critical and can be determined by the event’s location.. This makes the event a good fit for a variety of groups in almost any location.

The timed event involves one to three firing stations along a fixed bike course. Shooters head out from a starting point and ride to each of the stations. At the station, the participant is directed to an available firing point and proceeds to shoot five shots. The range officer records the score and the shooter proceeds on to the next station or the finish line. The time-in and time out is calculated with the shooting score to gauge the overall performance of each participant.

This event has been used in locations across the country at a variety of different events. Crosman was honored to sponsor the Boy Scouts of America’s 2005 National Scout Jamboree. If you were present at last year’s NSJ, you may have seen Crosman air rifles used in both the Bikathlon event and at many of the rifle ranges.

The Bikathlon orientation begins with twenty boy scouts at a time, who receive complete instructions, safety training and information regarding maintenance of target shooting rifles. They also receive helmets, safety equipment and thorough coaching on the use and operation of Crosman AirSource 1077 semi-automatic air rifles.

Scorecards are distributed and worn on scouts’ wrists throughout the event. Each individual scorecard is used to log the scout’s overall time and shooting score. The scorecards also serve as markers for safety officers on the firing line to confirm that each scout has successfully completed the safety and skills orientation.

The official Bikathlon begins after the orientation is completed. Scouts ride and shot a course for a combined time and target score. At the Jamboree, there were two action centers in place, which both had a 15-ft. air rifle shooting range and five NRA-approved metal disk targets that each scout was required to shoot down.  Each station was operated as a standard rifle range and the Bikathlon followed the National Rifle Association and BSA’s requirements.

The ’05 Jamboree drew more than 25,000 scouts to four courses, during the 10-day event and more than 600,000 pellets were fired. Crosman is always eager to participate in creating the next generation of shooting sports enthusiasts and the Jamboree Bikathlon was no exception.