Skeleton, rugby and a night dancing

Well, at 2am Calgary time last Saturday morning the kiwis all got together at Dons house (retired NZ skeleton racer, FIBT official and Russ's dad) to watch the All Blacks get hammered by the Aussies, it was a sad game to watch (but it was entertaining listening to the Canadian commentators mess up all the kiwi names).

It was official training for the ASA club race #1 on Saturday night and as fore-runner I was first off, so at 7pm my name was called to the start line, once your on the start line you stand there with you sled standing in front of you, when you get a green light and a buzzer goes off you can put your sled down and go, your adrenalin gets pumping when your waiting for that green light to go, and you usually only have to wait about 30 seconds, after about 4 and a half minutes I was told to go inside because the back up generator was not going and they needed it for the back up lights, although no one had ever heard of the main lights failing, so I headed inside and 10 minutes later they announced that if they couldn't get it going so training was cancelled. We were all pretty gutted. A bunch of us decided to go to a local bar for a beer, then onto a club where Michelle Kelly (Top ranked slider from last year) was celebrating her birthday, it was a good night. Clubs in Calgary are not quite like the ones back in Dunedin, with half the bar staff looking like play boy pin ups and the prices of drinks reflecting the cost of their boob jobs!

Last night was the ASA Cup race, I only got one run, and the first half of it I was very skiddy, I haven’t skidded since last season, and it took me a while to get the sled back under control, but from half way I had a pretty decent run (6.22/62.10). Ben and Russ got to slide in the Race as they both live here, Ben finished 2nd and Russ finished 14th. Ben also won the Grudge cup (a huge bottle of wine), a prize for who ever had the fastest time and was out drinking the night before.


So I have had my 5 training runs and now I must wait for the World Cup on the 26th to slide again. I have sorted out a membership at a local gym which is walking distance up the road, with a huge indoor running track, weights, bikes, hot pool, hydro slide, wave pool, ice-skating rink and climbing wall, so for the next ten days I will be down there getting ready for the World Cup. There is a fantastic training facility here in Calgary, an indoor ice house, that simulates the start of the track, it lets us practice our sprint with out having to run the rest of the track, unfortunately it costs $200 Canadian an hour to hire out, once a few more international athletes arrive in town I hope to share the costs so we can get on it.

Well I will let you all know how the training is going later in the week.

Day two of sliding was even better.

Well last night sliding was even better, I pushed a little harder, and relaxed alot more. When you slide at night or when it is warmish (ie 0 to -5) the ice can get a layer of frost on it, this slows the track down and makes the ice a bit sticky. Last night it was frosty,and it slowed most people down by about 1-1.5 seconds, but rather than being slower my times were even faster. Which is fantastic. Liz Couch made her first run after taking a year out of sliding and was pretty pleased. This morning I decided to fight the jet lag and get up at 7.30am, and head over to the track to watch the Canadians and Japanese train at 9am, since I am really short of funds this year I haven't got a rental car so I headed off on foot. I stayed here at Peters two seasons ago, and the walk to the track was pretty straight forward, but since then hundreds of houses have been built between here and there and I took a wrong turn onto a new street and got lost. My half hour walk became a one hour adventure accross building sites, barbed wire fences and several padocks covered in a foot of snow, at least I know the neighbourhood now.

It was also Russ's first run of the season.

It is official training tomorrow for the ASA cup race, I will be fore-running.

My times push:6.15 (38.37kmph) finish 62.25 (113.89)
6.09 (38.72) 61.97 (114.22)

Ben:60.36 and 60.02
Liz: 65.51 and 62.53
Russ 67.85 and 62.62

think fast thoughts for us

Lou

Yeeeeehaaaa first run of the season was awesome!

God I love this sport. I was pretty nervous when I got to the track and decided to walk up from the bottom to refresh my memory as to which way the corners go here in Calgary, I have been on seven other track since I was here last and remembering all of the corners can be a challenge. Calgary track is on a mini ski field, with a snow board park and ski runs only about 5meters from the track, so with night time skiers and boarders taking air off jumps next to me, music playing, bobsledders getting their sleds ready, lugers finishing up their session and a start house full of skeleton racers, the atmosphere was just awesome.

Last night was the Alberta Skeleton Association club session, I have been given special permission to slide with them, I was 28th off the top, so had a bit of a wait before my first run, in fact I was talking to Tim Cassin, Irish athlete (and all round good-guy/coach from last season) when he told me that they had called my name and I had only a few seconds to get my helmet on and out to the start line. AAAHHHH. It really was the best way to have my first run, if I had been paying attention I would have gone out to the start line far too early, and spent several minutes stressing out, instead I just ran out there grabbed my sled and went, no time to think about it.

The run was brilliant, you forget how fast it actually feels, and how you can feel yourself accelerating, corner 8 (which was my enemy for my first two seasons - it flipped me onto my back 6 times in the past) was real good, no issues there. I am really impressed that in my first day of training, I managed to feel the pressures, I could tell when I was high and low in the corners, it usually takes me a while to be able to sense them.

In my second run I was a little more prepared and I ran off a little faster, and had a pretty decent down time, the extra speed really increased the G's and my head was forced on to the ice a few time, hence a rather sore neck this morning, but that is standard for the first week of sliding.

Ben Sandford, a Kiwi World Cup athlete, who lives here and is a member of the ASA club, was flying he had the fastest down times of both runs last night, faster than a Canadian world cup athlete! The Kiwis are going to have an awesome season.

My times: (first 50m) (finish time) (speed @50m) (speed on straight away kmph)
Run one 6.40 63.67 37.76 110.73
Run two 6.16 62.16 38.57 111.90

Bens down time both runs 58.63

I am sliding again tonight at 7pm, I can’t wait.

A beautiful crisp, cold winters day in Calgary!

I am here at last. Yesterday I flew from Dunedin to Wellington to Auckland (where I got to catch up with my mum - love you mum), i was delayed in Auckland for a few hours, then on to LA and after about a 7 hour wait I headed off to Calgary, I had no worries getting my 3 pieces of luggage on the planes,( a huge thanks to Grant and Andrew). Russ, one of the NZ world cup team members who lives here in Calgary picked me up and droped me off at Peters. If any family or friends want to get in touch with me here the number is +1 403 249 1313 (please try not to call in the middle of the night!). I am about to put my sled together and see how it survived the trip, I should be sliding tonight about 7pm, I am real excited and a bit nervous, the first run of the season is alway very exciting, but i am sure it will be a good one.
I'll tell you how it goes later.

Thanks to every one who has helped me get here, there is a huge supportive team behind me, who believe in me, with out all of your help I couldn't have done it.

lou
PS I have added a few new links to my website, go and check them out.
www.nzskeletonracer.com

I leave tomorrow! At last!!

Wow, what a crazy few weeks, and it is all about to get even more full on (Yehaa). I leave tomorrow at 11am from Dunedin and head to Calgary via Auckland (where I'll get to see my Mum!) and LA. I have found a wonderful family who are willing to let me and Kelly stay with them in Calgary, so thanks a lot Peter that is a huge help.

I am still about $7000 short of funds, but I can’t let that stop me. Armed with my credit card I am heading off to race. I have got one day to acclimatise to Canadian weather and time zone, and will be sliding on Wednesday and Thursday night, and I may even get to fore-run a race on the weekend. I was really starting to get worried about showing up at my first World Cup race having not been on my sled since last February in Nagano (and I don't remember much about that because I was concussed), but thankfully it has worked out and I will get a few runs and get in with the flow of it all again.

I have got a new product sponsor on board, Nevada Sports is providing me with a fine pair of Merrell boots to keep my feet warm while I am hanging around the track in the snow everyday, and a funky pair of slip on every day shoes, they will be nice and comfy for the long plane journeys.

I have several speaking engagements booked up for next year when I return, no doubt I will have exciting and inspirational stories to tell.

If any one is interested in sponsoring my participation in a race then please email me lou@nzskeletonracer.com .

Well, keep checking in to see how I am doing, because it is all about to get pretty exciting.

Sliding soon
Lou

Head Back to my website here

It has been a busy month.

So a month has gone buy since I wrote here last, and a recent email has reminded me that there are actually people reading this with interest in what I am doing.

I was originally meant to leave yesterday to head for Norway for some training, but that didn't happen because I still haven’t got any funds for accommodation, but things are looking good, I have managed to get help from the Business Marketing professor at Otago University, John Guthrie, we sent out a pretty impressive flyer to 25 professionals around Dunedin offering my services as a guest speaker for company functions for next year, and I got this email reply from John yesterday evening:
yippeeeeeeeeeeee

I think we've pulled our first couple of people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

one of whom will blow you awayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

I can’t wait to find out what that means!

So it looks like I might just be able to make it to Calgary on time.
I have received special passes on all my university papers because I wont be here for exams, so no exam stress while I have sliding stress.

I can’t wait to get sliding.

My helmet has arrived!

I received my Orb helmet from Uvex the other day, and I must say it is very nice; it makes my old helmet look rather battered, beaten, scratched and unsafe. It is a significant sponsorship as it is my first overseas sponsor, and hopefully the first of many. I have also managed to pick up a motorcycle visor for $5 that will fit perfectly. Still no good news as far as funding goes, I have lots of replies from people who wish me luck but unfortunately none of them can sponsor me. I approached 5 more companies today, so hopefully I will hear back from them soon.

If any one has any suggestions please email me lou@nzskeletonracer.com or call +64 21 158 0728.

The day I didnt pay for my air tickets...

Well, today is the 18th, I am supposed to pay for my air tickets today, but I wont be, I will need to re schedule and hopefully fly out at a latter date. Even though I have got the funds for my air fares, I havent raised the funds to cover my accomadation, food, training fees or transport so I dont want to purchase tickets that might go to waste...

Is it possible to find sponsors out there?

I got an email the other day from an aussie guy who is a huge Dion Nash fan, he gets sportzah taped and posted to him in Australia, and he was really impressed with the interview and with what Kelly and I are trying to achieve, it was good to get his email. Sadly though it was the only response I had from the sportzah interview and the 4XO radio show.

On a more positive note I have got a sponsored helmet from UVEX (yay!), I am getting the Orb, which any one who watched the Winter Olympics would have seen 100's of athletes wearing, it is a fantastic skeleton helmet because it is smooth and airodynamic.

The "mad butcher" called me this morning! We had a good chat, he can't sponsor me but gave me some advice, most of which I have already tried, but I was impressed that he called back, he does sponsor childrens charity groups but finds that athlete sponsorships are not value for money. Oh well, I'll keep looking.

I still havent heard from the Academy of Sport, but I am keeping my fingers crossed they might still card me and give me a personal grant because of my perfomance last year at the world champs (I finsished 16th).

Well I have got 3 assignments to do for uni, one on iron deficeincy in todlers, another on nutricional needs of university students and the 3rd on coahcing methods, so must get on with them.

If any one has any sugestions please email me lou@nzskeletonracer.com or go through my website www.nzskeletonracer.com.

Television and radio interviews...will they lead to sponsorship?

Did you see it? Skeleton racing on prime time tv in New Zealand, what a great interview, the guys from sportzah did a fantastic job of showcasing our crazy sport, they had awesome race footage from Eurosport, with a great crash scene and footage of Kel and me racing side by side, I hope to get a copy of it and put it up on my web site www.nzskeletonracer.com. This morning I got a call from 4XO a local Otago radio station and I am going to be on air with Brefney, Damian and Ron on Tuesday morning at 9am, make sure your listening.

Well, if any one watched Sportzah last thursday, you wouldnt have seen anything about skeleton. Very frustrating, between Kelly and I we had probably over 100 people watching. I spoke to the producer and apparantly they had to pull it at the last minute because the Eurosport footage did not arrive in time. But they have assured me that it will be aired this thurday night at 9:30 on TV3. So make sure your watching, it sounds like there will be some good race footage, and a point of view run taken from a helmet camera.

Tickets are all booked, at $7000 plus taxes, they are a bit cheeper than last year because there is no flight to Japan, I am starting to get excited, I really hope the funds come through and we have enough to go to Norway to train before the first world cup.

Kelly has her own website now, and mine is www.nzskeletonracer.com
Lou