Faced with mounting athletic bills, biathlete Carsen Campbell saw the light – literally.
The 18-year old member of Biathlon Canada’s development team has launched his own business putting up Christmas lights in order to fund his Olympic dream.
He rounded up teammates Sarah Beaudry (“she has a truck,” Campbell said) and Quebec biathlete Vincent Blais and and started putting up lights to pay his bills.
“My parents said I’ll have to figure out how to pay for (biathlon) myself anyways, so why not start now? I had to figure out how make it through the year financially, or else I’ll have to quit,” Campbell said.
“I can’t hold a real job because of my training schedule,” Campbell said.
His father came up with the Christmas lights idea, he confesses, but so far it’s been a winner. He’s decorated four houses and the Banff Legion, and has two more planned for this week. As a member of the Biathlon Alberta Training Centre, he trains every morning and squeezes in lighting jobs during his afternoons and evenings.
“It’s a little more effort, but it certainly pays better than hourly work,” Campbell said.
Operating in teams of two, the biathletes charge between $100 and $200 per household and plan to work steadily through the holiday season.
“We can do tall trees too. We have long extension ladders so we can do high roofs. The price depends on the job and the distance we have to travel. We always have two people for safety,” Campbell said.
His co-workers are no strangers to hard work. Beaudry is one of Canada’s best biathlon prospects and will be a favourite at Biathlon World Junior Championship. She juggles her training schedule with volunteer work with the Alberta Winter Games, the Christmas light gig and a regular shift at Starbucks, where she does everything from fixing lattes to toilets. Blais moved to Canmore from Quebec and has represented Canada internationally on the IBU Cup and is noted for his work ethic. They jumped at the chance to earn some extra cash.
This isn’t Campbell’s first small business venture. He played the bagpipes this summer, busking in Banff, playing weddings, funerals, birthdays and private gigs, making good money in the process. A former national champion, Campbell has played the pipes for eight years, and he’s not about to stop.
He needed to make enough to cover his team fees (about $8,000), cover European tours (about $3,000) and basic living expenses, and thus far he’s had success. A full summer of piping partnered with a good winter scaling icy roofs should help him reach his goal, he said.
“I did a lot of busking, and it was as good as anything else. It made all of my teammates jealous,” Campbell said. “My teammates were very skeptical at first. Now they all wish they could play the bagpipes.”
Campbell became a biathlete after he was “kicked out of hockey” and discovered a talent for skiing. His ultimate goal is to reach the Olympics, and Biathlon Canada has named him to the 2022 development team.
“My mom, being an American, said hockey was too dangerous and thought guns were safer than hockey sticks,” Campbell said. “My goal this year is to qualify for World Juniors. If I go, I’d like to get a top-10 result.”
His dad works in the tar sands and pushed him to work hard while in Canmore, so combined with the piping, he’ll be able to race free and clear.
“I have a dozen weddings lined up for next summer and I hope it will be flat out. If I get enough contracts, that’s all I should need,” Campbell said.
Anyone looking to hire the biathletes for their Christmas light needs can email [email protected] or call 902-432-0927.
