Celebrating A Lifetime of Support for Youth in Alberta Biathlon
It was February 1996 in Ruhpolding, Germany and all the top biathletes in the world had come to compete in the 31st Biathlon World Championships. It was here where two Canadians of European descent met and formed a friendship that would ultimately lead to a funding legacy that continues to this day. Mr Veli Niinimaa, who has his own incredible legacy within the biathlon community in Canada, was at the World Championships as an executive member with the International Biathlon Union (IBU) and also serving as a member of the executive of Biathlon Alberta. The other was Mr Oswald (Ossi) Treutler, who grew up not too far from the Ruhpolding facility, but resided in Banff, Canada. Another member of the IBU executive knew that Ossi was visiting from Canada and coming to the World Championships. So he thought, who better to host Ossie and his wife Freya at the World Championships than a fellow Canadian, Veli. The two were introduced and Veli shared his knowledge and passion for biathlon with Ossi. From that moment on, Ossi was true and loyal fan of biathlon and decided he would like to help grow the sport back home in Alberta. After all, the Canmore Biathlon Range had recently been built to host the 1988 Olympic Winter Games in Calgary.
The rest, as the saying goes, is history. Calforex has become synonymous with the annual biathlon race series in Alberta – The Calforex Cup. The funding support provided by Calforex is used to host an annual race series throughout Alberta with no less than five events per year. Each event typically hosts up to 200 athletes ranging in ages from 10 years old in our youngest categories to our more “mature” athletes in the Masters’ categories! In recent years, Canmore, Camrose, Edmonton, Grande Prairie, and Hinton have been host cities for this race series.
Biathlon Alberta is incredibly fortunate to have a partner like Calforex. In fact, the Calforex Cup race series is where many of our past and current Canadian National Biathlon Team members started their careers and many have gone on to represent Canada at the Olympic Games!
The Board of Biathlon Alberta would like to take this opportunity to thank Ossi and Freya Treutler for their unwavering and continued support of biathlon in Alberta. You are truly “Shooting Stars”! Your impact is immeasurable and our words not enough.
On behalf of Biathlon Alberta,
Clayton Paradis, President
About Calforex Currency Exchange
Calforex began operations in 1983, with a single location in Calgary, Alberta. Today, they operate retail locations throughout British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec. The company was founded on the principles of integrity, honesty and a highly trained and knowledgeable team working together with the community to achieve common goals.
Calforex provides clients with preferred rates on currency exchange, wire services and the most up-to-date market information. Having grown since those early days, Calforex now provides these services to over one million individuals, financial institutions and businesses each year.