Winterberg IC

We raced today, I had two personal best down times and finished 10th overall, Lindsay Alcock set a new track record.

Iain Roberts was in 6th place after run one and finished 8th after the second run, his best ever result.

Ben raced in Lake Placid finishing 7th, and Tionette finished 18th.

Katharine has been fore-running and got lots of run in here in Winterberg.

I am now waiting to hear from the NZBSA selection committee to see what I need to do next, I will either head to Cessana to prepare for the world cups there or head to North America for the races there...

Check out all our results www.fibt.com

New Track Record in Konigssee

I set a new track record in Konigssee and reached 107kmph.

The season so far been a very big learning curve, with Tim on board as my coach he has been putting me through my re-education, and has been successfully weeding out bad habits I had mastered over the last 8 years.

At the first race of the season, the EC in Igls, it seems like I made more progress in 2 weeks there than in 4 years on my sled, but a warm day, deteriorating ice and a draw that saw me head off 31^st out of 32, meant that the best I could do was a 6^th place.

Next stop was the IC in Cessana, I missed the last World Cup there last year and had not been since the Olympics in 2006, at first I found it to be quite an intimidating track, and did not manage to relax the way I could in Igls, but by the race day I understood the track again and was comfortable, I set two personal best down times on the race day and finished 10^th. But I think that one more week of ice time on that track will see me get it.

Next we drove to Konigssee in Germany, again I had not been to this track since before the Olympics, and I had been sent to hospital after crashing there many years ago. Training was going very well though, I loved the rhythm of the track and the exit of Kriesel (360 degree corner) was problem free. I finished up the last training day with a 6^th place, a personal best down time and a massive power skid up the last uphill straight (meaning that if I could repeat the run and tidy up a few wee mistakes and not do the power skid, I would have been in the mix for a top result).

Race day arrived and from the moment I left the block, my run was beautiful, I was able to give the sled up and let it run before corner 1, the 4 S curves were beautiful and I felt the rhythm of them and I got down the straight with out hitting any corners, I barreled into Kriesel faster than I have ever gone before, I got the first two steers right on the money for the first time, which meant the sled did not drop down where I usually do my 3^rd steer, and the higher speed meant I was under more pressure and the timing for my steers needed to change, anyway the memory is fleeting, but obviously I missed the timing on my 3^rd steer, and next thing I am up at the wooden roof looking down at where I should be, I saw the hit coming, my memory is very clear and definite about that moment. I hit the short-wall hard, and was bucked off my sled. Next thing my body is on the ice and my hands are out stretched clutching onto the back of the sled, I did not want to loose it, but my grasp was not good enough and it peeled away from me in slow motion, my poor sled took off on its own. I hated the sound of it crashing and bashing its way down the track, but then I started to hurt and had to get moving, rolling and wriggling to get an even coverage of small bruises, burns and wounds rather than one big raw one, I was not wearing any padding or layers under my speed suit, ouch.

I stopped in the bend before Ziel curve, jumped up and started chasing after my sled, I caught it in Ziel, and began pushing it up the hill towards the final corner, my helmet triggered the final timing eye, with both myself and my sled attached, setting a new track record time of 3 minutes and 31.54 seconds. I finished 20^th out of 21, with a new scar to add to the collection. Despite this, I am still leading NZ athlete on the points table.

A few years ago a crash like that would have probably scared and shaken me enough to make me cry, but instead I was on a high from how wicked the run felt before the crash, I just wanted to get back to the top and put my sled back in the park ferme and wait to see if anyone else crashed to let me have a second run at it, no one else crashed in the first run, so I did not get a second run, which is good, my legs were probably too swollen to fit in the sled anyway.

I am now in Winterberg, nursing a sore, swollen bruised body, it’s not pretty but I heal fast. I hope we can get on the track today, even though I crashed, the first half of that run was one of the most beautiful runs I had ever had and I want to get back on and do it again.

Iain had a fantastic race in Konigsee, even though he was sick for the training and only managed to get 2 runs in before the race, he finished 11^th setting a new personal best down time.

Katharine Eustace a new slider from Wanaka was sliding well in the Konigssee European Cup few weeks ago finishing 10^th, which is very good, Ben came in 10^th in the Park City World Cup, and Tionette came in 22^nd there also. Ben and Tionette are in Lake Placid; they race there on Thursday, their results will be up live on fibt.com,

We race here on Saturday, then Tim flys home for Christmas with his kids, I will stay sliding for another week then head for Christmas with my Grandmother and family in Liverpool, following that… who knows, I will be waiting to hear from the NZBSA selection committee after the race here to see if my world ranking and Tionettes pulled hamstring means we switch circuits, if not and I’m on the Intercontinental Cup for the second half, I’ll fly to the US, where I will race in 3 IC’s and 3 AC’s before returning to Europe, where I will compete in/forerun/watch the last two World Cups before racing in the World Championships in Altenberg Germany.

Europa Cup training

Just a quick note to say that I am in Austria, official training began today for the European Cup race, I am sliding well, today I beat all the women and most of the men and had the highest speed of the second run (higher than all the men) and I set a new personal record yesterday with a 55.93 and 108kmph (I was sliding 57’s in the world cup here last year), not only is my down time improving but my push is back too.



We have 2 more days of training then we race and immediately following the race we will drive to Italy for the Cesana Intercontinental Cup. There are 33 women racing and over 60 men representing 35 countries, which makes for a very full and smelly start house. Iain Roberts, Mike Coutts and Katharine Eustace are all here too (other kiwis) and sliding well. We have no internet access in Igls so sorry for the silence.

Well the selection races are over, I am off to Intercontinental Cup and European Cup races in Europe.

Race one was very close in Lake Placid, Tionette was .2 of a second faster in run one, but in run two I beat her, but with the times totaled she was .07 of a second ahead and won.

Here in Calgary I was ahead in training but Tionette was very fast on race day and was again .2 of a second ahead after run one, in run two the intermediates show I was picking it up and going for a better time, but then I hit hard at the exit of corner 9 and lost too much time there. I had dropped half a second by the finish line.

So now I head to Igls as soon as possible for the Igls Europa Cup race. Then onto Cessana for the Intercontinental cup race, the new system this year means that the points from every race will contribute to your overall world ranking, so although Tionette and I will not compete together this year until the world championships in February we will still be ranked together.

I am headed back to Igls where I spent a whole month in over christmas and January, the training was going very very well until I crashed the day before the world cup in the out run and went off the end of the track and tore ligaments in my ankle, I ended up competing in the race with an plastic air cast on and all my expensive training seemed wasted. So I am looking forward to getting back there injury free and going as fast as I was last January.

It will be interesting to see who ends up competing in IC and how this new world ranking and points table works, a win on IC is worth 150 points where as a 10th in the World Cup is worth 144. A win in European Cup is worth 75 , 18th in World Cup will get you 80. I think that this first EC will have a lot of IC athletes there, as we have two less races than WC and need to pick up two EC or AC races to reach the 8 races that will be counted for World Championship qualification.


Selection races have been good in the way it has made me go through the whole race day process prior to my first international event, but it has meant that there has been no time for equipment testing, so today before we leave we are doing a bit of equipment testing.

World Cup selection races, official training

Today was day 2 of Official Training for New Zealand selection races, I had a few days off prior to official training, so I am feeling great and well rested. My runs today and yesterday were very good, I got some great split times... and highlighted areas of the track that need some work. Tionette and I have 2 more days of training then we race each other on Friday. Combined time from two runs, held under World Cup conditions. Then on Saturday we head to Calgary, where we will have a second race on the 9th, if there is a tie, then we will hold a third race on the 10th.

The winner of these races will be NZL1 and will compete on the World Cup Tour, NZL2 will head for the Europa Cup race in Igls then onto World Cup B - Intercontinental Cup a newly created race series. The NZBSA selection committee have said that the intention is that after 6 IC's and 6 WC's (but not counting the EC points) our points will be totaled and the NZBSA will select the highest points getter for the World Championships. It is important for both athletes to gain as many points as possible(= as many races as possible) in order to qualify and get the best possible seeding for the World Championships (a new rule change means that race seeding will be based on international ranking and not a random draw).

Below is some information about my coach Timothy Nardiello, Peter van Wees and I will be working with him through to the 2010 Olympics.

Nardiello has been coaching skeleton since October 2002.

Nardiello is a two time United States Singles and Doubles Olympian 1984 Sarajevo, 1988 Calgary, 1984 Singles National Champion as well as 5 time 1983,85,86,87,88 United States National Doubles Champion.

Nardiello retired from sliding following the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics, and began a successful Luge coaching career. In 2002 he was hired as head coach for the US skeleton team, where he successfully coached his athletes onto the podium, where they achieved a total of 53 World Championship and World Cup medals.

Nardiello has successfully coached more athletes onto the podium than any other skeleton coach ever.

the last two weeks

The last two weeks have been eventful. The weather here in Lake Placid was generally very nice, but not the best for sliding, we had several days that reached 25 degree Celsius, great for the garden barbecue and camp fire area but not very good for the ice on the track. They have managed to keep ice on the track for all but 2 days, which is bloody impressive considering this summer heat.

Tim, my coach, managed to secured ice time for our selection race in Park City, which meant that the NZBSA could follow through with plan A, one race here in Lake Placid, one race in Park City and if needed a race in Calgary. This plan was good, it would have World Cup selection races over by 1st of November (or 9th if we had a tie).

Unfortunately it was decided that 2 weeks was not enough time to organize a race in Park City, and plan b for selection races would need to implemented, one race here on the 2nd, and two races in Calgary. This was very fortunate for Tionette and the coach the NZ Academy of Sport has employed for her, as he said he would quit if we raced in Park City, lucky for them he did not need to.


Working with Tim has been great, having the support of a coach like Tim makes a massive difference, he is there on the radio after every run, there to do track walks with, ready to discus ideas and equipment with, and handy with a welding machine too. He needs a bit more practice with holding a camera steady though!

The US held their selection races and moved onto Park City for the next lot of selection races, the Canadians came and went having held their final selection race.

Norwegian, Swiss and Japanese athletes arrived, and there was a real international feel to the sliding sessions.

I went to Tim's 12 yr old daughters school lip sync competition, which was thoroughly entertaining. And after nearly 4 weeks, I am nearly a local at the Lake Placid Health and Fitness center.

All is going well.

Training is going very good, I am enjoying the track and have great control of my sled, still have not been told what date our World Cup selection race is, but as Tionette and I are both here sliding now it should be soon.

Here is a pic of me training in the gym yesterday.

Sliding time

I am now back in Lake Placid. I have had 3 days of training, and all is going well.

Some words of wisdom

Every one should read this.

Sponsors to help me get to Europe are hard to come by, but sponsors for my wee mini, well thats a different story :)

I have been excited all weekend about my flight today, but this morning I woke up to a claggy foggy day with very poor visibility, so no flying, and no flight for a couple of mates who were going to fill the two spare seats in the R44 for the lesson, hope we can reschedule, I would love to take them for a flight. Instead I went for a sprint session and an easy run around the lake edge, with Green Day blaring, it was very refreshing, I really do live in one of the most stunning spots on earth! While out running I spied a spot where lots of drift wood has been left from the last time the water was high, so I’ll have to cruise over and collect it – can’t turn down free fire wood! I’ve spent the best part of today sitting next to the fire studying for my Basic Gas Turbine exam, its pretty technical stuff, this will be the last exam I do this year, but I will probably look at starting a couple of my ATPL exams next Winter, it’ll be a good way to keep everything fresh in my mind over the next few years as I focus on skeleton and not flying. Anyway the reason I decided to blog was not to bore everyone with my quiet day, but to say that Tyre Land Wanaka called and they are sponsoring me with a set of 12 in. superlights for my Mini!!!

My mini will be pimped. I’m stoked, my wee mini began it’s transformation 2 years ago when Wanaka Glass and Collision dealt to the rust and painted it black, and Wanaka Signs had my sponsors decals put all over it and a silver fern down the roof – the same style as my race helmet has, but the old-granny original 27 year old wheels (and cracked plastic hub caps) left it looking a bit tired, but not anymore, in 3 weeks the old girl will be stylin’ it through the streets of Wanaka (probably the oldest car on the road in this town). 12 in. wheels are hard to come buy now days, but they managed to track some down in Aussie, I’ll put up some pics once she’s shining. Now I’ve gotta go and plan tomorrows flight to Bluff in the R22, it will meet my 100 nautical mile cross-country requirement, I get to fly into Invercargill and the heliport in Bluff, and no doubt my instructor has some diversions planned for me on the way home, will take most of the morning with a 8.30am lift off. So I hope this fog lifts.

Flying the 44

I got to have my first flight in the R44, it is a bigger more powerful 4 seater. It feels like a real helicopter compared to the tiny little R22 (which is way smaller than my mini 1275 gt). I love the R44, we got to go and play in the low flying area, flying 50ft off the ground at 120knots, thats like 200kmph, ahhhhhh, it was soooooo cool. It was one powerful wicked machine. I have another flight in it on monday morning, for advanced mountain training. I wish I could afford to do the rest of my training in the R44, but it is too expensive for that. Flying it was so much fun that I think I enjoyed flying the 44 as much as I love sliding the Lake Placid track.

My blog works!!!!!

after months of contacting blogger, searching their help pages, and scratching my head as to why my blog would not work, I deleted the longest html link on my side board, and it looks like it worked!!!!!

it's snowing

Winter arrived, we had 15cm of snow in the garden yesterday, the pass to Christchurch is still closed, there is crazy heavy snow fall in the south, a tornado hit Invercargill and the supermarket has run out of bread!!! I’m keeping warm by the fire, and keeping the mini off the road tucked up safely in the garage, luckily the gym is walking (or slipping and skidding) distance from home.

P.S. for all you Europeans and North Americans: Kiwi towns are not equipped for dealing with a bit of snow, schools close, roads close, supermarkets run out of bread, the news paper does not get through and the post is not delivered if the foot path is slippery, oh and planes don’t fly either! Snow is meant to fall in the mountains not the towns.

Well I have had a very busy week, I have been flying lots; 2 flights a day when weather allows, and weights and sprints in between. Working on sponsorship and fundraising, and planning for the race season, studying for my Basic Gas Turbine exam and trying to avoid the cold out side (which is impossible when your at 2000ft agl, it is -3 degrees, flying with the doors off and you need to stick you head outside to check the load your carrying) brrrr.

trainings good, flyings good and exam passed.

Training is going great, and I have found a new sponsor, Getstrength.com the makers of the front squat harness, well they also make a back squat bar that I can use with out stressing out my shoulders, it is brilliant and they have given me one, THANK YOU. Flying is just awesome. I passed my Nav exam, that's all my compulsory exams done. I'm now starting my sling training and soon I'll be flying the Robinson 44.

Training, exams and my new wee Niece.

I’m back up in Christchurch to sit my navigation exam, it went well, I am confident that I passed but I used every minute of time to get through it, which worries me as I was told that by others who sat it recently that there was heaps of time left at the end, I have to wait 10 days for the results. I also came up here to catch up with my trainer Ashley, I’ve been following his program for 5 weeks now and I’ve been getting stronger and stronger and the front squat harness is just brilliant. I have found a few things that my new shoulders don’t like, dead lifts, and incline bench press, but I don’t have to do them to become strong and powerful, they are certainly not a prerequisite for skeleton so they are off the program.

I caught up with Ashley in the gym at Rugby Park in Christchurch, the sacred home of the Canterbury Crusaders, my 16yr old brother and my 5 year old sister (who knows the names and faces of more crusaders and All Blacks than I do) are jealous that I (I don’t even understand the rules of rugby) get to be in the gym while these international rugby legends are training. My dad and brother are both Crusaders fans and were very keen to know who I saw and met, and they find my ‘I don’t know’s very entertaining and frustrating. some rather good looking, fit athletes is not what they wanted to hear…at least my step Mum could appreciate what I had to say ;)

I also got to meet my new little niece Breanna Louise Corcoran. She was just gorgeous, a placid chilled out baby. Guy and Dani are handling the task of being Mum and Dad just fine.

Air borne adventures

My flying is going great with two flights a day, I hope to take my brother for a flight next week, he’ll be my first real passenger!

I got to go exploring in the helicopter, my instructor circled all the little huts in the shotover/skippers/mototapu area and sent me and another instructor out to find them, I haven’t flown navigating off a tramping topographical map before, there is a lot more detail, neither myself or the instructor who came with me had ever flown in the area we were headed to and it was rainy with low cloud, so it was challenging and exciting conditions to fly it – but as a commercial pilot I wont be able to only fly on good weather days, so it was good experience. We found all the huts, even landed at one, there are some beautiful remote spots up there. We got to fly over Shania Twains mansion she is building, checked out the old chinese gold miners water tunnel they built to divert water into another river, and saw massive waterfalls with all the rivers in flood from the 3 inches of rain the night before. We flew home via Skippers Canion, and through the Queenstown control zone, it was very cool.

Back in Wanaka

I'm well into my new program, and now back in Wanaka and training is going great, the weight of my dead lifts, bench press and clean pulls are still limited by my right shoulder, but that is to be expected with surgery only 12 months ago, but the weights are going up and the box jumps and knees to feet jumps are getting easier, and the Turkish Get Ups are amazing for my shoulders. My front squat harness is a godsend, the strength and stability through my core that I used to have is finally returning. That painful, tired and achy body reminds me daily that I’m getting stronger and faster, the only problem in my training is that every time I decided to do a speed session it starts raining, I miss the athletics track in Timaru, it is much easier to train on than wet grass. But the big benefit of training here in Wanaka is the ice at the Southern Hemisphere Proving Ground, soon I’ll be back up there practicing my push starts on the ice high in the mountains. I cant wait.

A new trainer and a new program gets me moving forward.

I have a new trainer, Ashley Jones, he has been great and he is use to working with athletes who have shoulder issues. YAY. He has also arranged equipment support for me from www.speedpowerstability.com, THANK YOU!

Front Squat Harness

My first 12 weeks back in NZ were spent recovering from the injuries/illness I picked up on tour and sitting my 6 commercial pilots licence exams.

I knew that in order to get the amount of study required done I had to find a way to keep my head in the books every single day. I also needed to pay off my two credit cards that where fuller than they had ever been. Amazingly I found a way to do all of it! A free bed at my dads helped and after a short break to get healthy and fit, I started working 12 hour days, two jobs one at the reception at Tekapo Helicopters, and in the evenings a Kohan restaurant in Tekapo, the best Japanese restaurant in the country! With it being the quiet time of the year there was plenty of time for me to study for my exams while waiting for a keen tourist to walk in the door looking for a heli flight. Some how I also managed to find a way to get to Timaru 3 times a week to train at the gym and athletics track there too. After 7 weeks of way too much work, and way way to much study, and lots of yummy authentic Japanese dinners after work, I had done all my exams, and could start focusing on training.

My focus switched back to training and I started googling for ‘training tools dislocated shoulders’ as I knew that with all these rugby players that bust their shoulders there must be some kind of aids that would help me regain my strength in the gym with out pushing my shoulders past their limits…and I found the right site, www.getstrength.com makers of the front squat harness. Finally 2 years after I stupidly agreed to get on a trampoline for a ‘core conditioning session’ that became a ‘lets dislocate shoulders and screw up the next two years’ session, I was able to train properly and squat. The front squat harness is wicked and I recommend it to anyone who has suffered from dislocations, subluxations, or shoulder instability and finds it difficult or impossible to do back squats and front squats. Go the front squat harness!

Food Poisoning

The world championships was horrible, I got food poisoning. It really sucked, I spent 5 days lingering near by the closest WC, and only managed to do half of the official training, then on the first race day I got too sick and too weak and ended up in the local hospital 4 kg lighter. I was in hospital on a drip for 5 days. They think it may have been salmonella, but I'll have the test results sent to me in NZ. What ever little monster it was that I ate, I can say that was the sickest I have ever been. I am feeling much better now, just a bit too skinny. I am flying home today. No money left for racing. I'm going to miss 3 world cups, in 6 seasons I have only ever missed 2, so I am not too happy about having to head home and not race, but it has got to be done. The main goal of the season was achieved, that was to get the shoulders working and driving the sled after having surgery.

The shoulders are great and work properly on the sled now, and I was sliding extremely well in Igls before I hurt my ankle, I feel like I am getting close to being back on track after the shoulder/trampoline incident derailed me.

Homeward bound Hanover to Frankfurt to Hong Kong to Auckland to Queenstown (then a 3 hour drive to Burkes Pass), with a 10 hour stop in Hong Kong I am going to be a jet laggede wreck when I get there.

Ben and I are at the World Champs

Ok,so lets go back a week or two, training was going absolutely brilliant in Igls, I was flying I was loving the sliding, and going faster than I was last year and I felt like I was getting back to where I was the season before ( which was the main aim of this season, to get the shoulders working properly after surgery and find the fast form I had before I busted them), I was confident of a good result in Igls, I had no doubt that I would get the top 15 i need in order to continue being part of the NZ Academy of Sport Winter Olympic Performance program, my coach, Martin Rettle (former world champion and Olympic medalist) was very happy with my times and my sliding too. And I was having no trouble getting my shoulders on the sled, which I was finding difficult during the first half of the season, in fact I have not needed any pain killers for my shoulders at all, they are great!

On the Saturday before the official training started (monday) the track was fast, I reached what I think was my highest speed this year on the track 106.95kmph, it was a good run. The track in Igls is a very safe track, it is very unlikely that anyone will crash there... before the finish line that is.. however the out run is a different story, the track is not long enough for skeleton and the speeds we go, we do not have breaks and need uphill sections of track to help us slow down, but igls is an old track and does not have the breaking stretch we need, in an attempt to fix it, millions of euros was spent building a tunnel that goes under an adjacent ski run and then shoots up hill at a very steep angle. But they never put refridgeration on the up hill bit after the tunnell so there is black rubber on it and not ice... any way lots of people get hurt in that out run, especially when you hit the wall in the tunnell. To stop us before the end they put down foam mats that we hit head on, they can hurt too, and sometimes they stop your sled but not your body so you fly off the sled, makes great television coverage but really sucks for the athletes.

Any way, so the track was fast i was sliding well, and I had been there for 4 weeks and every fast day we had they had put down the foam matts to stop us. But this day for some reason they did not put the matts down. I flew up the end of the track off the iced track and up the steep shoot, I went higher up than i have ever gone, I put my feet down to stop myslelf and stand up, but slipped over and started sliding back down the track just as I heard them clear the track and another slider start their run, I was trying as hard as I could with my feet and hands to stop sliding back, and I hit the lip where the iced track becomes the rubber track, and I was flipped off the sled, I managed to hold onto the sled and get out of the track, but I knew that I have done something bad to my ankle when I was flipped off the sled. I made my way to the waiting truck and got back to the top, packed up and headed to hospital. I have broken one of the tendons in my left ankle, and have a plastic air cast for the next 5 weeks. It is painful.

So first day of official training I took two runs and did not push, second day i took two runs and pushed a little. I had two hours a day with a local physio who was doing all sorts of lymph drainage and what seems like meditaion over the ankle trying to free the blocked energy, not you normal physio treatment you'd find back home, but these guys were the physios for numerous olympic champions, so I trusted they knew what they were doing.

Race day I pushed as hard as I could but it was not good enough and I finished at the back of the field. Gutted.

But my results this year have qualified me for the World Championships (qualification is now based on individual points, so no team effort required anymore), so Ben and I headed off to St Moritz, my ankle was feeling stronger every day and st moritz is a long fast drivers track so i figured that if there is any track in the world where I might be able to overcome a seriously slow push it is here. I spent a month here before the Olympics last year so i also know this track well.

First day of official training I woke up with my stomach churing, I was surprised that I was so nervous, but didnt think anything of it. After an uneventful safe first run I did not understand why I still felt so nervous, then just before the second run I realised that it was not nerves and I thought I might be sick. On the start line I was seeing how easily I could pull my mouth guard out while still having my helmet on just incase I had to in a hurry, not exactly the best mental preparation to be going through at the world champs.

Two days ill with food poisoning. It was not fun. I had to miss the second day of training.

This morning I am feeling a bit better and have managed to eat a little breakfast but I am weak as, and am sucking down as many gummi bears and lollipops as possible, they dont seem to upset my stomach. I am training today, I need to get one more run to be elegible to race, I would like to take two but will have to see how strong I feel after the first run, I have not eaten much in the last two days and there is no point in exhausting myself today when I have to race tomorrow.

As I write this it has just started to snow big fat snow flakes, so the track will be slow again.

In order to get a PEG's grant from SPARC I have to come 11th here.

With all my injuries, crashes and food poisoning over the last two seasons it really feels like someone has a voodoo doll with my name on it. But I'll never give up while I know I have a fast run in me, it is still possible, the world champs has 4 runs so consistency is the game. And I sure as hell need that PEG's grant to get out of debt from this season.

Well I better go and dig the car out it is under a half meter of snow.

My Brother Guy is getting married today.

The story of Guy and Dani (read at the wedding by several cousins, in pantomime style)

Once upon a time, many years ago, Guy and his buddy were driving out to
Lincoln Univercity, probably late for a class, with music cranked and dreaming
of foreign women... They thought they were hallucinating when two
beautiful foreign girls laden with backpacks appeared on the opposite
side of the road trying to hitch a lift.  In record speed they spun the
car around and screeched to a halt, and asked in their most manly
voices: “G'day, where ya going?”

“Akaroa” replied the girls in wonderful exotic accents.

“What a coincidence! That’s where we're going! Jump in.”

These two young university punks couldn't believe their luck, two hot
travelling Swiss chicks! but even better, they were career women, they
were OLDER WOMEN and they were single.

The lectures, tests and assignments due that day were rapidly forgotten
and a life-changing road trip to Akaroa began.

Guy and his buddy somehow became tour guides and the one-hour drive to
Akaroa became a weekend long adventure.

Soon enough the girls had to move on and Guy and his buddy had to get
back to uni and find excuses for late assignments.. “two hot Swiss
chicks abducted us and held us captive in Akaroa” did not go down so
well with their professors!

Our romantic goofy brother Guy had managed to part with an email address
and an awkward 'shared moment' with Dani.

Guy, in an attempt to pull, had briefly held Dani’s hand. Dani’s
surprised and quizzical look in return scared Guy off!

Time passed.

Dani continued her world travels, and Guy’s “Swiss Miss kidnappers”
story gained him huge street cred in the computer rooms at uni.

But Dani’s curiosity got the better of her... “Why did this cute kiwi
boy hold my hand?? What did he mean by it?” …and so the emails began.

Dear Guy: What did you mean when you held my hand?

Dear Dani: What did you think I meant when I held your hand?

Dear Guy: I think I know what you meant when you  held my hand but I'm
not sure…please explain.

Dear Dani: I think maybe I did mean what you think I meant when I held
your hand but I'm not sure as I don’t know what you think I
meant...please explain...

…and so the emails continued until one of them figured out what the
other one thought, and a long distance internet romance blossomed.
Eventually Dani returned New Zealand to figure out exactly what this
Kiwi boy actually thought and meant.

But sadly, Dani’s world-wide holiday had to end and she returned to
Switzerland... It did not take long, though, for lovesick Guy to follow.
His American passport unfortunately would not allow him to work so Guy
became a kept man, a toy boy, the homemaker while Dani went out to work.
It was a tough life ;). Dani returned every day to find her young Kiwi
lover had baked bread and cleaned house and prepared dinner. Eventually
Guy’s visitor’s visa expired and he was forced to return to NZ. Once
again they were separated.

Eventually — and to our surprise — Guy’s years of Dungeons and Dragons,
computer obsession and time spent building weird and wonderful levels on
his favourite computer games led him toward a bloody good job, and the
family collectively sighed with relief.

Overnight Guy became an EMPLOYED ELIGIBLE BACHELOR! and Dani quickly
returned to NZ... and finally the romance continued.

Hurrah!

Guy and Dani, you've had a fairytale romance that has spanned the globe,
and I wish I could be there to share this day with you, instead I send
my very best wishes, love and prayers that today is the beautiful
beginning of your future together and your soon-to-arrive family.

All my love

Lou
Igls, Austria

In the end I could not justify the amount of money it was going to cost for me to go to Japan. Instead I stayed in Igls Austria and trained. Which was definately the right decision. I have had over 30 runs here on this track and I have regained the fast feeling on my sled that I had a few years ago. My high speeds are very good and my down times, while not as fast as I was before I busted the shoulders they are getting close, getting back there. The official training for the Igls world cup starts of Tuesday, we have two days of training, three runs each day, then a day off and then we race on the Friday. The training and race results will be on fibt.com.

Following this race I am off to St Moritz for the World Championships, St Moritz is a fast exciting track, I had many training runs there last year, and managed to reach 129.9kmph, I am looking forward to breaking that and hitting higher than 130kmph.

Happy New Year and Merry Christmas

I am still in Igls training, and all is going very very well. with three days training on the track, I then fore-ran the Austrian championships and went faster than I did in last years world cup race here where I finished 17th. So it looks like I am getting back to where I used to be. My shoulders are not too bad, they get stronger every day, and I now have no trouble caryying my sled around, I still have a half second to find on the track to be able to equal the times I was getting prior to dislocating my shoulders and surgery, but I hope that my time here will help me get comfortable on the sled so I can find my pre injury race form. I had about 30 runs before christmas, which is not enough to have any serious hopes of getting anywhere but the back of the pack so here I am getting in as many runs as possible so that I can be on a more balance playing field by the next race. I train today at 2pm and 6pm, better go and get to the track.

Ciao
Lou