The cadet program, which is run by the military, is a huge source of exposure to biathlon. Cadet units across the country have the opportunity to do biathlon as one of their optional fitness activities each year.
The cadet program is not terribly good at telling us how many people are exposed to biathlon, but looking at average cadet numbers from each of the land force areas, we estimate the number at between 3,500 to 4,000 young athletes who have exposure.
Unfortunately, the population who are involved in cadets tends to be from a lower income demographic. One of the challenges we have in biathlon is that as soon as you look to move outside of the cadet program, in which everything is provided directly to you—skis, boots, poles, and the rifle—and move into the civilian side, you need to provide all this equipment for yourself. That can be a very steep initial upgrade for people. Unfortunately it's not like triathlon, in which, if you want to do a triathlon, you can start out on your BMX bike and still participate.
The reality in biathlon currently is that we don't have distinct levels of technology that can get you up to using Olympic-calibre equipment. An athlete at age 16 anywhere in the world will go immediately to the very same rifle system that is being used by the top people who compete. That means a $4,000 investment. Of course, we need to be careful with such things as clubs owning rifles or getting grants to own rifles, because then you have an issue with who is in actual control of the rifle. This is generally an area that we just don't want to get into.
This is why I think that using some of the technology we have been able to put together in the shooting lab and finding ways to bring costs down so as to be able to put together a $500 biathlon system would be a major boon for us.