It is with much sadness that we report the death of Friedl Bartsch on 7 October in Wollongong. Friedl had bravely battled cancer for the last two years and was a fighter right to the end. 

Friedl started cross country skiing in the early 1980's and many people in the cross country skiing community would have met him over the years. He was an extrovert who engaged with everybody and was a person who contributed positively and extensively to everything he did.

He had two major loves - cross country skiing and shooting which he combined into another love - biathlon. Friedl was extremely innovative and drawing on his electronic engineering qualifications was the first person in the world to design and construct laser rifles for biathlon use. He manufactured them in his Wollongong garage and they were used for over 20 years at Perisher where he established the biathlon shooting range. He was a tireless promoter of biathlon and junior development and introduced hundreds into the sport through school and junior programs plus races. 

Friedl also competed as an athlete at all levels of cross country skiing and biathlon from citizen races to World Championship level. He was a World Masters Biathlon champion for 4 years and won gold and silver medals at Masters Games, including a World Masters Relay Championship gold. At one World Masters Championship he shot clean rounds over three races. It is such a rare event that the organisers struck a special medal for him.

An example of his creativity, cleverness and community-mindedness - Friedl developed the rechargable battery lighting system for the Nordic Shelter Night Relays fundraiser, which removed the onerous task of installing 100's of meters of power cords and lighting poles.

He will be sadly missed around the XC trails at Perisher. The Snow Australia National and NSWACT XC committees would like to express their condolences to Friedl's family.