Biathlon competitor dies following heart attack

The 7th Annual Mammoth Winter Biathlon took place at Red’s Lake behind Mammoth Mountain Ski Area March 21-23. With 236 participants, the Mammoth Biathlon continues to be the largest winter biathlon in the country. According to Mammoth Biathlon Race Director Mike Karch, M.D., this year’s event was “fantastic. Far and away the smoothest event we’ve had. The weather was superior. The logistics were superior.”

However, the day also bore with it a great and unexpected loss. Competitor Robert Baillie of Los Angeles, age 56, suffered a heart attack after completing the beginner adult race on Saturday. Baillie “laid down and he probably wasn’t feeling well. That’s normal—I’ve done that hundreds of times,” Karch said. “The next time he was seen, he was face down and that’s when the code was called.”

Ski Patrol received the call at 2:40 p.m. Baillie was then taken to Main Lodge, transported to Mammoth Hospital, and air-evacuated to Reno where he remained in critical condition until passing away Tuesday morning.

Due to HIPPA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) regulations protecting patient privacy, neither Karch nor the MMSA Ski Patrol could elaborate upon their care of Baillie or his health history.

Karch updated MMSA Ski Patrol and senior management late Tuesday night via email: “I have been in contact with the patient’s close friend over the past three days. Unfortunately, today I was informed that the patient passed this morning.”

“As first responders and health care providers, sometimes we win in this game and many times we lose … I feel confident that if there is ever a collective group of individuals capable of saving a life in adverse and austere environments, it is the members of your team.”

According to Karch, there were about 30 first respond responders and healthcare professionals who helped care for Baillie until he was flown to Reno. Many people saw Karch himself doing compressions on Baillie as they rode the sled from Red’s Lake back to Main Lodge.

“It was a team effort,” Karch said. “Ski Patrol, Nordic Ski Patrol, and others responded. The extrication time was incredibly fast and efficient.”

According to the Mammoth Biathlon website, biathlon is a winter Olympic sport that combines cross-country skiing with precision target shooting, which takes extreme cardiovascular endurance and sharp mental focus.

The Mammoth biathlon beginner adult race, in which Baillie was a competitor, consists of three, one-kilometer laps, separated by two shooting phases of five shots each. The participants have a 75 meter penalty lap for every shot they miss. Baillie’s time was 28:31:4 with 7 misses.

“It’s not just an endurance sport; it’s an intense endurance sport,” said Karch. “You need to be fit. It’s the most intense of all the endurance sports and uses upper, middle, and lower body strength. Whether or not they possess the fitness level is a decision each athlete needs to make.”

Biathlon Results

• Beginner Adults, Women: Lindsay Barksdale (1st), Kate Wilson (2nd), Heather Crall (3rd)
• Beginner Adults, Men: Alan Franz (1st), Joseph Mueller (2nd), Peter Mehrhof (3rd)
• Elite Division (Wave 4), Women: Lorene Samoska (1st), Crystal Hockett (2nd); (Wave 5) Claude Godbout (1st), Siena Ellingson (2nd), Barbara Blanke (3rd)
• Elite Division (Wave 4), Men: Wolf Thiele (1st), Keith Weiland (2nd), Rik Eckert (3rd); (Wave 5) Casey Smith (1st), Marc-Andre Bedard (2nd), Jake Ellingson (3rd)
• Junior Women: Amanda Kirkeby (1st), Alexia Craven (2nd), Amy Blanke (3rd)
• Junior Men: Connor Kusumoto (1st), Cameron Small (2nd), Trace Calvin (3rd)
• Masters Division, Women: Amanda Kirkeby (1st), Dayna Stimson (2nd), Sarah Hoff (3rd)
• Masters Division, Men: Cameron Small (1st), Jared Mahler (2nd), Carson Bold (3rd)