Already blessed with brains and brawn, Canada's national biathlon squad will be going in the buff to promote the sport and raise funds for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Five of Canada's top female biathletes roller skied along chilly Stephen Avenue Mall yesterday clad only in shorts and running bibs in an effort to stir up some buzz for their nude calendar: Bold Beautiful Biathlon.
Red Deer's Zina Kocher, who captured Canada's first world cup biathalon medal in a decade at the 2006 World Cup, said the sport is still overlooked compared to Europe, so disrobing to drum up awareness and funds wasn't a hard sell.
"Our sport remains significantly under-funded compared to our competitors and is one of the few winter sports in this country without a title sponsor or personal sponsors," she said.
The team is hoping to sell enough of the $25 calendars, which feature two artistic black and white photos of each of the athletes as well as two group shots, to raise $80,000, enough to train for the 2010 games.
The team followed the trail blazed by Olympic heroes Sara Renner and Beckie Scott who produced a similar calendar in 2001, parlaying the support into a cross country olympic gold medal for Scott in Salt Lake City in 2002 and a silver for the pair at the 2006 games.
Joining Kocher in doffing the normal uniform of parkas, toques and mittens are Calgary's Sandra Keith, Rosanna Crawford of Canmore, Megan Imrie of Falcon Lake, Man., and Megan Tandy of Prince George, B.C.
To purchase a calendar or get more information, CLICK HERE.
