The first week of the Biathlon Climate Challenge is over and currently (Sunday, 09 May 2021), the 10 Team Leaders and their almost 7,500 team members are well on track to complete 50,000 trees by the middle of this month.

This recap wraps up some of the activities of the team leaders, their fellow athletes and team members alike:

Skiing, Banter and Roadside Clean-Up

Latvia's Baiba Bendika was still enjoying winter conditions when the Biathlon Climate Challenge was announced in April - by now she has exchanged the snow and altitude for sunshine and the Mediterranean Sea, however:

Climate action isn't just a national challenge - it's an international team effort. For that reason, it is great to see Swedish Team members in Team Dale, Italians joining Team Jacquelin, Germans joining Team Wierer and so on...

Obviously, it wouldn't be a team challenge without a little bit of banter. Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen has opted for Team Emilien Jacquelin - the reaction of his teammate Johannes Dale? "You don't train so much, so no worries."

A big thanks also goes to all the National Federations who have been helping to get the word out in the past few weeks - it is fantastic to have so much support from the entire biathlon family:

The first couple of days were the toughest - but it is great to see updates from team members who have kickstarted their physical activities again in order to contribute to the Biathlon Climate Challenge - giving everyone an incentive to be and to become physically active is one of the big goals of this challenge, too.

There were also several sustainability messages from some of the team leaders this week: Susan Dunklee participated in the roadside clean-up in her home state of Vermont - because every day is Earth Day, not just 22 April!

...and on a closing note: sometimes, one meme says it all: