Still in NZ but hopefully for not too much longer.

I am still in Wanaka, but I had some great news today:

Press Release: Legendary cross country running and ski coach, Bernie Gardner, coach to New York State's best young runners and skiers is helping me get to the Lake Placid World Cup.

THANK YOU Bernie!!

I have tickets booked and paid for that have me departing on the 31st of October, the cheapest round the world ticket $4600, it's not ideal, it only lets me stop in Montreal (two hours from Lake Placid) then onto Europe and back to NZ, so no flights to Park City or Calgary or Japan, I need to secure further sponsorship to be able to add those sections in. Even though I have the tickets, at this stage I cant afford to get on that plane, I still need the money for a rental car, accommodation food and training fees, and a coach would be nice too! The ticket can easily be changed right upto the departure date.

I have my heart set on securing a significant sponsor in the next 10 days, and it is looking positive, hopefully I wont have to make any changes. If I can do it, then I'll be there asap, and hopefully have the money to get to the Park City world cup and the Calgary world cup too. If I can get to at least two of the first 3 races, then there is a good chance that both myself and Tionette will qualify for the World Championships in St Moritz, if we don't then it comes down to the challenge cup race in Altenberg, where only one of us will qualify for the World Champs, which is the worst case senario, I hope we can avoid it.

It is a pretty crazy situation when New Zealands top female athlete, and NZ's highest performing female Winter Olympian from Torino (I came 12th), is struggling to get the money together to buy the airfares needed. If only the NZOC had kept their promise and refunded the cost of my airfare to the Olympics.

Let the good news I got today, spark a whole wave of sponsorship and funding sucess that'll take me closer to the podium finish with my name on it.


(ps when I havent been in the gym, persuing sponsors or rehabbing with the physio, this is what i've been upto over the last 4 months...full time student and pilot in command! 58 hours flying time logged, and all exams passed ;)

Just spoke to Peter (dutch athlete) in Lake Placid, they have found an apartment in town for only $US200 per month each, which is a bloody cheap, and wireless internet works there too. He said the ice is good and that I have to get over there. I Have re booked my tickets and am going to have to commit to paying for them, they need to be paid for on Monday, but committing $4000 to tickets with out having the money to actually go, live and compete yet is scary!!!!!!!

I'm on the wrong side of the world.

Ben and Peter are in Lake Placid. I need to be there too. I am still negotiating sponsorship with several companies, if they come to the party then I'll be away asap, if not, then i'll keep looking.

Getting to the Olympics last year took everything I owned and help from friends and family from all over the world, it was a HUGE $$$ effort. So $$$ wise me and my network of supporters have nothing left to put into this years campaign: I need to secure sponsorship to make it happen.

Despite the usual lack of money, and the rather concerning lack of a back up plan, there are some very positive and exciting aspects to this upcoming season:

• I have arms that work properly now (which is a nice bonus), I can lift them above my head, even better I can lift weights above my head, my surgeon did an amazing job.
• I am not popping pain killers evey four hours, and thankfully I wont be travelling with a supply of cortisone injections (which looked rather dodgy last season).
• I have been doing laps of the house carrying my sled (all by myself- by the end of last season and at the olympics my shoulders were so shagged that I couldnt carry it!)

I really am looking forward to sliding and racing, where as this time last year, I was saying that I was ready to slide and looking forward to it, but really I was was just being stuborn and unwilling to let a STUPID freak trampoline accident stop me from going to the Olympics, sliding with my injuries last year was a chore, it wasn't fun, infact it sucked, and you could see it in my performances, this year it's not going to be a chore, I am just going to have fun, and love it. With no pain, I will be able to relax, and when you can relax, you go FAST. I am itching to get back on my sled, try out my new runners, and slide freaking fast, and get my performances back to pre injury level and even better.

My 12th at the Olympics was not enough to qualifly for a PEG's grant from SPARC, I needed to finish at least 7th to get any help from them, but a top 16 (and top half of the field) at the World Championships this January will qualify me for a SPARC grant that'll make life a whole lot easier. I need to get to the world champs (St Moritz). Every day that passes with out securing a major sponsor makes qualifying for the world champs harder and harder, because while I am not over there training on ice, others are, so if you wanna help, cross your fingers, make a wish, or say a prayer (or even better, if you feel inclined- sponsor me!).

I have gotta get over there soon.

one month out till ice time (hopefully)

Well Hello!!!! It has been a while since I blogged, and a lot has happened in that time. My shoulders are healing very well, and I rarely find them limiting me in my day to day activities now. My athletic training and shoulder rehab is going well, but has been held back a bit with some 'shin spints' flaring up. My flying has been bloody awesome, today I flew to Queenstown, I have about 45 hours logged and should get my private licence in the next few weeks. I hope to head over to Lake Placid in the next month to start training for the world cup race season, but as usual, finding sponsors has been tough going, so as yet i havent paid for my ticket, infact i didnt pay for them in time and they were cancelled, so i need to re book, probably be more expensive now... I am working hard trying to secure a sponsor fast.

Kelly is taking a season off, we'll all miss her, we have been travelling together for four years, so it'll be sad not having Kel around during our international adventures. Peter is gearing up for a good season, and Ben, Russ, Iain and Tionette are also planning to be in North America for the start of the season and there is a new Kiwi racing; Michael will be joining the mens team and I am told he has a lightning fast push. So it will still be a big kiwi crew on tour.

Shoulders get a wake up call.

Wanaka turned on one of it's stunning perfect winter days today, clear clear blue skies, tall snowy mountains, lots of sunshine and a crisp bite to the air. I love this place. My shoulders are getting better, my physio here thinks I am not progressing as fast as I should, so she pushed me pretty hard in our last session, which wasn't fun, but with lots of rehab and time spent in the gym everyday I will regain my full range of motion and strength back, it is just frustrating how long it takes.

I had my second flight lesson today, it was amazing, I love it, I was in the air for an hour, we flew from the airport out to Hawea, then towards Wanaka and back to the airport and back around the loop again. I practiced climbing and decending and turning, learning to fly straight and level and of course, hovering, lots of landing and taking off, and an autorotation (which is when the engine fails and you decend rapidly with out any power, but in a controlled manner, sounds pretty scary but wasnt too bad, didnt have to land it though, I think the first time I land an autorotation might be a bit hairy... I guess I will find out soon).
I am very shaky with my hovering but aparently everyone is for the first several lessons.

Oh yeah, Midas South City, the mechanic shop that forgot to finish putting my mini's exhaust on properly, they agreed to pay for the repairs and a little extra, I had to remind the what customer service is but they ended up doing the right thing :)


Visit the Snow Farm, my major sponsor.

contact me

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

iceland

My brother and his wife are working in Iceland on a glacier, they are also waiting to hear if they got the jobs they went to Europe to be interviewed for... working for the Brittish Antarctic Survey, they have a blog too, www.thekarenandbenshow.blogspot.com check it out.



Visit the Snow Farm, my major sponsor.

contact me

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

Learning to hover

I arrived in Wanaka late Friday night, all was going well on the drive from Christchurch untill I was decending the last pass into Wanaka, and my exhaust fell off. I spent over $1000 on my car last week, including having a brand new exhaust system. It was just before dusk, I was in the middle of nowhere and there was no mobile phone coverage, I was feeling like a real damsel in distress, untill Robin Junkins came to my rescue and reattatched it with a wire coat hanger! What a ledgend. An hour later I got here safe and sound. A mechanic has since attatched it a little more securely and said that the all important nut that keeps the exhaust attatched to the car was NEVER PUT ON! Midas South City Christchurch will be paying for that mistake!

I back from the gym, it's good to be back in my old gym. My exciting news is that yesterday I started training for my Helicopter Pilots licence. I am now studying with SIT and Wanaka Helicopters, working towards my Commercial Pilots Licence, (with a student loan of course). I had my first lesson yesterday, and it went well, I managed to hover for 10 seconds (that is really good), but the rest of the 45 minutes was spent being out of control and over correcting every wrong movement, but I can see how it can be addictive. I found I could relate flying to sliding very easily, they both require very subtle movements when steering and being relaxed is very important, and if you take it one way you need to adjust something else to keep balance. Next lesson 9am monday :)

Visit the Snow Farm, my major sponsor.

contact me

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

It has been a long time since I blogged, before the Olympics even! Things got pretty hectic before the games and blogging fell off my list of priorities. But I did write email updates that I sent out to friends and family during the Olympics, so i will put them up in the next few weeks.
Since the Olympics I have been living in Blenheim at my Mothers place, and I have had six trips up to Tauranga to see my surgeon with two shoulder operations, ACC has been brilliant and helped me get my ops done in the quickest time possible and have been shuttling me around to the gym and physio while I cant drive, you usually hear nothing but complaints about ACC but I really cant complain. It turned out that I had two very serious injuries and that the right one ( the one that gave me less grief) was the most serious. Left shoulder is healing nicely, and we expect a full recovery, and right one we hope for a full recovery but there is a chance I will be left with some instability in that one. I had the surgeries only 5 weeks apart, which meant there were some pretty horrible weeks there when I had very very little movement in both arms, thank god I had my mum there to help me. Now though, life is a lot better, finally I can drive my car (HURRAH) and I am strong enough to complete all the neccesarry tasks of living ( cook, drive, use a knife and fork, get dressed, lift light things...), and life is no longer on pause. I have driven 5 hours south to Christchurch and tomorrow I am headed 6 hours south to Wanaka, it might take me 8 hours as my arm will get very sore driving for that long and i'll need a break, probably somewhere near Tekapo where I can see Mt Cook. I am really looking forward to getting back to Wanaka

I have been working with a physio to regain my range of motion in the shoulders and rebuild my strength, which is going good, but I have a long way to go and I am looking forward to working with my wanaka physio Gin Bush, who was the Olympic team physio. The months ahead will see me training, getting strong and healing in Wanaka. And of course I need to secure sponsors for the up coming race season... it is an endless mission.

Visit the Snow Farm, my major sponsor.

contact me

-22 and sun shine in St Moritz

Well official training was full of the highs and lows that seem to be a theme this season for me. I did a track walk with a bobsled coach at the start of the week, and because bobsledders and skeleton sliders drive very differently the language used in the track walk could not be the same, instead we talked about where the pressure needs to be in the corner (rather than where to steer and how to steer). We also did the walk from the bottom of the track up, rather than the top down, again a different perspective. It was good to think about the track differently. My first run of official training was excellent and nearly everything I learnt from the track walk worked, but then the second run did not go as well. Second day of official training, I completely oversteered everything, it was terrible and I had one of the slowest speeds on the track possible (I am used to having a very high speed not the lowest). So I was quite dishartened by it all after day two, I was going so slow, I hit a few walls hard, and the walls here in St Moritz are not smooth like other tracks, here the ice on the walls is sharp, pointy, and great for ripping speed suits. So yesterday before training I spent a lot of time watching all the video that has been taken of us sliding, and going over the track notes I wrote last time I was here, I realised that I was just doing way way too much, and needed to be still and relax more. So I did, and I had two much better runs. With the 10th fastest speed in the second run (20 kmph faster than I went the day before). Today is a day off for the women, a day to prepare our sleds, sew our race bibs so they fit, and to go and watch the mens race. Ben and Iain race today, and Peter (dutch) will be making another attempt to meet his countries qualification rules, he has met the FIBT standards and the IOC standards, we are all hoping this will be the race he qualifies at. He was allocated a spot at the last Olympics but his country wouldnt send him. It would be tragic if it happened again, as Peter has earned his spot, and really deserves to qualify.

Visit the Snow Farm, my major sponsor.

contact me

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

back blogging again.

Well it is time I started blogging again, there have been many different reasons why I havent been keeping this diary upto date over the last few months, sorry if you missed it.

Kelly and I are now in Switzerland staying at Hotel laudinella where the US team and Peter from holland are as well, Peter did not get his top 15 he needed int he last race, he is half way there to qualifying, hopefully this week he will get there.

Ben and Iain are here in St Moritz as well, Tionette is staying in Konigssee where her partner Angus is sliding with the kiwi bobsled team.

I am so stoked to have qualified. Still waiting for the official announcement from the NZOC, they are waiting for a form I need to fax them, and I am waiting for hotel reception to print it for me so I can fill it in, has taken them over an hour so far...

I will back date some of blogs and put up the emails I was sending out to friends and family. But right now it is dinner time, having spent about 4 hours at the track today in -10 degrees I am ready for hot meal. Training for the women starts tomorrow, they expect lots of snow this week so it will be interesting to see how that effects us.

I promise to keep you all posted on it all goes.

Lou

Visit the Snow Farm, my major sponsor.

contact me