Mar 5, 2007

By the age of 10, Mareck was already an extraordinary athlete – she biked, ran, sailed, played soccer and participated in many other sports. But it was when she watched her older brother compete with the cadets that she discovered her real passion – biathlon.

She had cross-country skied for six years, but in biathlon she saw a sport that was greater than skiing alone. “Biathlon completes cross-country skiing,” Mareck said. “The element of precision for shooting balances out the raw effort of cross-country skiing.”

She had to wait until she was 12 years old, the youngest age cadets are allowed to start shooting and has been chasing her dream of competing in biathlon in the 2014 Olympic Winter Games ever since. It is a dream that demands extraordinary dedication.

“In biathlon, everything relies on you – on what you do, what you eat, if you are sick,” Mareck said. “There is no one else to depend on for motivation.”

Sixteen-year-old Mareck, who is Métis, trains between two and four hours per day, six days a week, in her hometown of Gatineau, Quebec. In the summertime, Mareck uses cycling and rowing to stay in shape. During the racing season, which usually lasts from January to March, she competes in an event every weekend, driving up to Estrie and Quebec City to participate in up to 14 back-to-back races per year.

Mareck said that, after competing in so many events over the past two years, she no longer gets nervous before a race. “I get in my bubble, I concentrate and I visualize my race,” she said. “If other athletes are stressed out around me, I try to avoid them so that I don’t become stressed.”

Driving to a different competition every weekend takes up to 10 hours round trip. Sometimes Mareck uses the time to relax, listen to music and chat with her family. Other times she mentally prepares for the race ahead by practicing the shooting element in her mind: she visualizes slowing down her breathing, taking aim and making the perfect shot.

Mareck has already made remarkable achievements in biathlon. She has been a member of the Quebec team in biathlon for the past two years, ranked second among senior girls in the Canadian biathlon championships last year and recently won second and third place for her age group at the Lake Placid biathlon in New York State. She has been classified as one of the best relay athletes in Canada.

Mareck credits her passion and dedication for sport to her mother, who taught her to ski, pushed Mareck and her brother to play outside when they were young and “never let us watch TV.”

While her dream is to make the 2014 Olympic biathlon team, Mareck hopes to practice for as long as possible, and to share her passion with other youth through coaching, because “biathlon is a great sport, the feeling you have when you ski is so strong. It is really worth a try.”

“When I ski, I feel like I’m in another world. If I feel sad, I get on my skis and it seems that everything is going well,” Mareck said. “Skiing is what made me who I am.”

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