Saturday, December 15, 2007

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

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

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 31st out of 32, meant that the best I could do was a 6th 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 10th. 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 6th 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 3rd 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 3rd 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 20th 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 11th 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 10th, which is very good, Ben came in 10th in the Park City World Cup, and Tionette came in 22nd 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.