A recent photo

Here I am exiting a corner in Lake Placid earlier this year.

I am told that there has been some very old photos of me sliding in the press lately, so here is a newer one.

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Check out my current world rankings and results, see the Eurosport or Speed Channel broadcast schedule.

On my way to the Nederlands

I had a great christmas in Coventry, ate loads of delicious food with wonderful company, and got some training in. I am now in Liverpool at my Grandmothers and tomorrow I fly to Amsterdam where Kelly and Peter will meet me. For new years we will be attending the dutch bobsled formal dinner, unfortunately I dont have a little black dress in my back pack...must find one.

Not sure where we will be sliding in the first week of January, but we will be in Torino Italy around the 7th. It was good having a break from the skeleton world, but I cant wait to get back on my sled and fly.

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Check out my current world rankings, see the Eurosport or Speed Channel broadcast schedule.

email update

I am now in Liverpool for a few days, and tomorrow i go to coventry for christmas....

This is my latest update email i sent out, with all my times in it..... if you want regular email updates like this one email me.



Hi Every one,

Well I have exciting news for Christmas. Two days ago on the 18th of
December in Sigulda Latvia the 4th World Cup of the season was held.
Sigulda is a demanding high G track with reputation for being dangerous,
but the ice was beautifully cut for a smooth safe ride. There were 26
women and 34 men racing, with 2 kiwis Kelly Moffat and my self. The day
was snowy, which always makes for a challenging and varied race. In the
first heat I drove my way to 11th equal, this was my best ever placing in
a world cup run, I had a fantastic second run finishing in 10th spot with
the combined time placing me 11th over all. My training this week was
good, but I think taking the last day of training off to allow myself
some recovery time, let me enter the race with a relaxed body and mind,
and I leave for a christmas break injury free. I expierienced a new
sensation during this race, I felt the sled accellerate out of bend 14, it
was an amazing feeling. This gave me the highest clocked speed out of
all the women in the final heat (103.88km/hr), my speed was also faster
than most of the mens, I have been told that I need to remember what it
felt like to boost out of the corner and try to replicate it in every
corner, then I will really fly. The winner of the womens event was Noell
Pikus-Pace with 5.55 push, 56.32 down in heat one and 5.44 push and 57.16
down for an overall time of 1:53.48.

My times in run one where 5.80 push, with a down time of 57.14, and in run
two 5.75 push with a down time of 57.74, giving me a combined time of
1:54.88.

Kelly finished 26th with a push of 6.07 and a down time of 59.52.

Full results can be found on www.fibt.com, if you go and calculate my
splits you'll be impressed!

I am now in Neston England, and will be spending Christmas in Coventry
with family.

Thanks for all your support, and thanks for believing in me, have a
wonderful Christmas and New Years, and enjoy the summer back home.

Louise Corcoran

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You can call or text me on my mobile, just make sure it is not in the middle of the night here! +49 (0)15202307440.
It is a local number so it doesn't cost me to answer it while in Germany.

I came 11th !!!!!!!

Wow, what a race, I am so stoked.

I decided to take the 4th day of training off, it was a last minute decision, that I was a bit unsure of, but I didnt want to wake up on race morning feeling worn out and tired. But I guess it was a good move.

I got a good draw, 12th, which is lucky because it was lightly snowing through out the whole race, so a lower draw might have meant a snowy track to deal with.

I woke up so nervous and excited, which is unusual for me, I am usually very calm and chilled on race morning, but not yesterday, I was buzzing, I couldnt sit still and there was no way any food was going to stay in my stomach! So I spent the morning pacing around trying to avoid waves of crazy excitement.

I mentioned the other day that I had been watching video of myself pushing and had been given a few tips on how to improve, well I decided not to change anything about my push for this race, I had very slow push's (25th)in the race as I as thinking too much about how my technique was wrong, but it could have been worse, at least I didnt stand on the sled, or pop out of the groove.

My runs were fantastic, I didn't hit any thing and I clocked up the fastest speed (not down time) out of all the women, and my speed was better than most the men!! My secret??? I was totally relaxed, it was just awesome.

In the first run I drove from a 25th place start to an 11th equal finish, and my split for the last few corners was amazing. I experienced a new sensation while coming out of corner 14, I actually felt the sled accelerate, it was like I boosted out of the corner. So cool. I finished 10th in the second run which put me 11th over all and now my world ranking in 16th.

I am in Riga airport heading to Manchester where I will spend Christmas with family.
I will add my splits once I am in the UK.

Visit the Snow Farm, my major sponsor.

contact me

You can call or text me on my mobile, just make sure it is not in the middle of the night here! +49 (0)15202307440.
It is a local number so it doesn't cost me to answer it while in Germany.

training day 3

Training yesterday was productive, I really relaxed on my sled and I feel like I have bonded with this track, it isnt freaking me out any more, and i can watch corner 15 coming at me down the 105m straight at 102km/hr with out flinching and sending the sled into a skid, and calmly place my head on the ice just as I enter. I have walked all the way to the internet cafe and just realised that I do not have the correct time sheet with me so I cant tell you my splits, but they were good, the ice was slow so I did 58's but in the first run I was 17th out of all the women and in the second I was 14th. In my first run I pushed hard, and as I loaded onto my sled I popped out of the groove, at the top of the track the mens luge start feeds onto the same track so right where I popped out the track went from 2m wide to 5m wide and I cut wide across the track straight at the men luge start wall, with out thinking I threw the sled into a skid and avoided the right wall, but then I was heading directly at the left wall, so I put her into a skid the other way and headed straight into corner one with out hitting a wall!! Amazingly, that was a 5.74 push, only 3/100s slower than my pb push here!!!!

The coaching help we have been getting from Tim and Greg (US coach's) has been excellent, last night, Greg put video of my push up with video from the fastest Russian, I learnt alot about the mechanics of a good push, I just have to do it now, I havent been using the block to push off (I thought I was, but video does not lie), and I have been lifting my hips up too soon, and running too far away from the sled.

Kelly has got it together she has stopped skidding, and is starting to understand the sled, her one hand push looks good, and is faster than the two hand. We are both loving this track, and everything about Sigulda, our accomadation, food, the town, it is a good set up for us, and everything is so cheap. Our accomadation here is only $NZ18 per night! A full meal at the local Bistro is only $NZ4. A little different to St Moritz where a beer costs $NZ30.

Visit the Snow Farm, my major sponsor.

contact me

You can call or text me on my mobile, just make sure it is not in the middle of the night here! +49 (0)15202307440.
It is a local number so it doesn't cost me to answer it while in Germany.

day 2 of official training

Well, training yesterday was pretty good, my first run wasn't too sketchy, I took safe exits, but my time was slow, I was well behind other women who I have had simalar times to on other tracks. So I cranked up my rock a couple of mm, and had a pb by 4/10th! and hit 103km/hr, which is good. Most of the time I picked up was in the bottom of the track.

My times:

run 1 5.9 19.77 23.97 34.40 41.91 58.23
run 2 5.97 19.89 24.05 34.40 41.84 57.36

Training in a couple of hours time, it will be a long day as they we are doing all women run one, then all men, then all women run 2 then all men, alot of waiting around for 2 minutes of fun.

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Happy Birthday Jolene

first day of official training

Man I tell you there is nothing like scaring your self silly to make you feel alive. I was so nervous before training this morning, I had to pee like 4 or 5 times. Last night we watched the video footage we took here last year, there was this one crash we got on film where an italian man took about 20m of clean air off the exit 15, it probably wasnt the best training prep.

My runs were good and safe, my new sled is longer than my old one and my helmet is caught on the front of the sled in high G corners which means I wont be smaking my forehead on the ice in 15. Yay. The track is cut much nicer and more forgiving than it was during the race here last January.

We have been eating very well here in Latvia (every thing is so cheap). Surprisingly the supermarket has all the same brands as in kiwi supermarkets, and the meat looks edible (unlike Germany). Oh and the cake shops, amazing, luckily I have been loosing a little weight so I have can begin a weight maintanance plan...

Here are my splits for my personal best run here during the last world Cup...
5.71 19.52 23.62 33.89 41.60 57.74

and my runs today

6.08 20.11 24.31 34.81 42.43 58.54
5.94 19.91 24.12 34.66 42.29 58.62

And kellys runs today

6.54 21.13 25.45 36.03 43.69 1:00.61
6.57 21.23 25.60 36.38 44.23 1:01.25

Tomorrow I put on my big wheels.

Visit the Snow Farm, my major sponsor.

contact me

You can call or text me on my mobile, just make sure it is not in the middle of the night here! +49 (0)15202307440.
It is a local number so it doesn't cost me to answer it while in Germany.

sigulda

It is our 3rd day here in Sigulda and we still havent been able to slide, you would think we are all here for a holiday. We start training tomorrow, i am a little nervous, this is another track that deserves a bit of respect, it can kick hard if you get it wrong. Tim the US coach has done 2 track walks with us "small nation" athletes, there aren't many of us here since most atheltes who are likely to be competeing in the Challenge cup (a race for lower ranked nations to qualify for the world Champs) have gone to Konigssee to race in the Europa Cup there and get some ice time on the track. The Kiwi team has shrunk to just Kelly and I, Peter from Nederlands and Helge from Norway are also here. I came 17th here last year, but my times were still 3 seconds behind the leader.

Yesterday Kelly, Peter and I went into Riga, the capital of Latvia. Every thing is sooooo cheap here, it is wonderful, it is even cheaper than New Zealand. They speak Russian and Latvian, some young people speak english, but most dont, the key boards and computers have russian text on them. While in Riga we were sitting in an Itallian restarant in the center of Riga watching Eurosport, the mens bobsledding was on, and a tv advert for Hyundi cars came on, the mountains on the advert looked a little familiar, and then the road did too, and then I realised it was the filmed on the snow farm, www.snowfarmnz.com (my sponsors and where I work)!!!! Kelly and I jumped up and down a little, and got all excited, it made us miss home.

Well I will let you all know how sliding goes here tomorrow.

Visit the Snow Farm, my major sponsor.

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Igls World Cup

Hi Every one

I am now in Sigulda, Latvia, but 2 days ago on the 9th of December I
competed in the 3rd World Cup of the season, held in Igls Austria. It was
successful race for me, I finished 15th over all, first run push of 5.73
and down time of 55.95 (both personal bests), leaving me in 14th place
after heat one, and a second run push of 5.76 with a down time of 56.96,
leaving me in 15th place over all with a combined time of 1:52.91. First
Place went to Noell Pikus Pace from USA, with 5.58, 55.13, and 5.49, 55.85
giving her an over all time of 1:50.98. Kelly finished 28th with a
push of 6.10 and a down time of 58.77. Gregor Staehli of Switzerland won
the mens event, with a combined time of 1:48.24,
Ben came 14th, (5.30, 54.59 and 5.26, 54.68) with a
combined time of 1:49.27, Iain came 41st (5.48, 55.90) with
a half second personal best. Full results can be found at www.fibt.com.

I am really impressed with my push, I keep surprising my self by getting faster and faster.
My first run was fantastic untill the exit of corner 12 where I dropped
onto my bumbers, but recovered with out flipping, my second run was again
very good untill corner 10 when I entered a little late and hit the roof, this lost me alot of time and left some good
bruises. It was was an excellent result for me, my second best World Cup
result, and has placed me back in the top 20, which moves me back into the
the second grouping for the race next week here in Latvia.

Tickets for the 2006 Olympic skeleton event are now on sale at
www.torino2006.org

Thanks for all your support.

Visit the Snow Farm, my major sponsor.

contact me

In Austria, Igls World Cup

We are now in Austria, training has been very good, figured out something and seem to be going faster, about time. We race tomorrow, and i have a good feeling about it, Kelly has done major surgery on her sled and is much happier with it, Ben has had fantastic training results. If your in Europe watch us live on Eurosport.

think fast thoughts for us

Visit the Snow Farm, my major sponsor.

contact me

You can call or text me on my mobile, just make sure it is not in the middle of the night here! +49 (0)15202307440.
It is a local number so it doesn't cost me to answer it while in Germany.

altenberg race

Hi Everyone

Sorry this one is a few days late, have been busy travelling and> recovering from the last race.>> The 2nd World Cup of the season was held on the 2nd of December in> Altenberg Germany, Altenberg is a very challenging track, where I have had> my two best World cup finishs, 16th last season and 14th the season> before. I crashed in training on the second day, flipping onto my back in> the second run while exiting corner 4, it turns out subtlty is not the> answer for corner 4, steering as hard as you can is a much safer plan. On> race day I drew 18th off. My first run was fantastic, a personal best> push by over 15/100s, and a personal best down time, push: 6.15 down> time:62.75, my best time in training had been a 64 and a 6.39, so i> surprised myself. On race day I finished the first run in 16th place with> 15th place not far away. For the first time ever I was distracted by the> eurosport camera at the start line, they get the camera right in your> face, my light went green and the buzzer went for me to start, but I wasnt> focused, I took a few second to try and clear my mind, but I had to go as> the time was running out. Apparently I stepped on my sled at the back> right bumper, I don't remeber what happened, as it was all so fast but I> spun around and my sled popped out of the groove, I crashed down on top of> my sled and slid down the ice on my back while holding onto my sled (which> was ahead of me) with one finger. I then crawled back on to the sled and> slid away at a snails pace. My push time for that run was 11,17 and a> down time of 72,86. I dropped to 20th place. My new world ranking is 21st> which has dropped me down a group for the race draw, meaning that there is> potential for me to draw last place at the next race. However it is not> all bad, I have had more tv coverage than any one else, and I am likely to> make the highlights every race for years to come, apparently it was> spectacular. Watch out for it, you can't miss the big silver fern on my> helmet.>> Kerstin Jurgens of Germany won the womens race and Chris Soul of USA won> the mens, Kelly Moffat came 27th and Iain Roberts came 38th.>> We are now in Innsbruck Austria and we race in the 3rd World Cup of the> season on the 9th of December, Ben Sandford will be competing here making> the 4th member of the kiwi team.

Visit the Snow Farm, my major sponsor.

contact me

You can call or text me on my mobile, just make sure it is not in the middle of the night here! +49 (0)15202307440.
It is a local number so it doesn't cost me to answer it while in Germany.