BRILLION, Wis. (WFRV) – The Ariens Nordic Center has been under construction for some time now with the goal of becoming a world-class facility and on Friday, Ariens Co. hosted an open house to highlight the progress being made.
With plans to open in December of 2022, the Ariens Nordic Center has made great strides in completing the project. With a paved trail, a fully functional shooting range, and plans for a shelter, the facility is on track for its December opening.
The United States Biathlon Team was at the facility to check out the upgrades and many members are excited to see the complete product.
“Growing up in this area and not having access to this or knowing the sport exists when I was having all these dreams of being a professional athlete,” said Deedra Irwin, U.S. Biathlon Team, Olympian from Pulaski. “Having this in my backyard only 40 minutes away from my house is just a dream come true.”
Irwin and fellow Wisconsinite Paul Schommer from Appleton are both thrilled to have a training facility in the Midwest.
“Being able to have one, we have a couple out East, a couple out West, but we can finally say that we have one in the Midwest,” stated Irwin. “It’s really cool to bring my Team USA teammates here and show them my hometown and home state.”
“I think that [the facility] is going to be huge to this part of the country,” explained Schommer. “Growing up, I always saw a lot of great athletes come out of northeast Wisconsin but I thought to myself ‘I wonder how many good skiers are here?’ but they just have no idea that the sport is here. They now have a place to learn about the sport and train at a highly advanced facility.”
Dan Ariens, Chairman and CEO also expressed his excitement about the development of the Ariens Nordic Center.
“We’ve been a supporter and a sponsor to the U.S. Biathlon Team, which is primarily in the European Alps, and we thought that this is a really cool sport that not many people know in the United States,” said Ariens. “We had this wonderful property and we decided to expand and build our own Nordic Center.”
Once completed in December, many are expecting the facility to host major tournaments and events.
“I’m sure that we’ll have a couple of U.S. National competitions here in the next few years,” exclaimed Irwin.
For more information about the Ariens Nordic Center, you can visit its website here.