Altenberg, Germany… I will probably never ever see again as long as I live!!! As soon as we drove into the town I started puking! At least this year I got to race, well barely I was sick again prior to my 1^st heat and was seriously worried to put my race bib on, because then I’d be locked into my suit and I could possibly have an accident if you know what I mean… Yes this humanizes me, but I’m sure anyone who is reading this knows the sheer terror and panic you go through when you’ve lost control of your body. This is not what I wanted to be experiencing as I’m about to slide down the most dangerous track in the world. Anyhow, I was able to get my 1^st under my belt and to mine and my coaches’ disappointment I was sitting in 8^th place. The conditions were extreme, the humid air was -17C and the ice was -11C and colder closer to the bottom of the track. Extremely hard ice which would create the big potential to skid. And I proved the theory correct as the only place I would be going straight down the track was out of the groove. From corner 1 until the outrun I was skidding sideways down every straight a way and in the high-pressure corners. Imagine doing a hockey stop… yep that was my style and to all of our surprise I was still in 8^th spot.

I readjusted my equipment for the cold weather and readjusted my attitude to become oblivious to my sickness and to remember that there are 2 runs and this race isn’t over yet. Talking with my coach, I knew I had to not skid through the 1^st 2 corners to get the right feeling on my sled. After that point, my confidence would grow and I would be more relaxed ready for the rest of the deadly track. I accomplished that and I felt myself relax as I entered corner 3 a quick right hand corner that spits you out in the most difficult corner in the world… corner 4, it likes to take you really high on the entry and dip low in the middle and then naturally you are high on the end. Not a big deal, but the problem is the entry of corner 5 it is really long and if you are too high on the exit of corner 4 it looks like you are going to hit a big white wall with your head as you enter at a the bad angle and it instantly flips you over. There is no saving it at this point you just have to hang on for you life so you don’t lose your sled. All this comes from the entry of corner 4 so you have some time to think over your mistake as you loop through the corner, you know you will end up on your back. I fortunate only did the scorpion maneuver once this week, which was the last run before the race, thankfully it wasn’t in the race and I came away without any back injuries. I continued down the track and exited corner 9. My timing was off and came out on the wrong angle and power skidded down the straight in the 360-degree kriesel. This corner is insane to watch because you come so close to hitting the roof at 3 different points, but when you are sliding your ultimate goal is to not panic and skid your sled, hitting the roof is the least of your worries when you are trying to be fast. I had a clean exit of kriesel and nice 11, 12 & 13. Entered corner 14 and I missed my 1^st steer, I knew I would have 2 hits in the next straight so my goal was not to skid. I sort of got through there with minimal skidding. Went through corners 15, 16 & 17 and it feels like you are doing continuous left hand circles. You know you are done when you smash the left wall at the finish line. I came up the outrun and I saw my time 60.05, I knew that was a decent time because it would have been 2^nd fastest in the 1^st heat. It turned out to be the 4^th fastest run of the heat, behind all 3 Germans, not bad considering I hate the track, and I was under the weather so I ended up in 6^th spot. I held onto the lead in the World Cup standings, which was my main goal heading into the deadly track.

I arrived home to Airdrie Saturday night without my bags, for the 3^rd time this year! Frustrating!!! I’m looking forward to seeing my family and getting some well deserved rest over the next 10 days before for I fly back to Germany for the final 3 World Cup races of the season.

I wish everyone happy holidays and look for my next update after Konigssee, Germany World cup the 2^nd week of January 2010.

Silver in Winterberg! The last couple of years I’ve had decent results in Winterberg, but I’m sort of ashamed to say it will never be my favorite track. It is a bit of a crap shoot when it comes to the weather and your race draw. It is really hard to feel any of the pressures on the track until its too late and you are smashing a wall. Lots of times we will slide down this track with a clean run and slow times and then have an out of control run and have fast times. I sometimes wonder if a little gnome busted out from the trees and is triggering the finish eye!

The 1^st day we arrived in Winterberg aka “Rainyberg” turnout out to be a bit of a tease. The sun was shining and the valley where the track lies looked spectacular! Of course the next day couldn’t be the same and the rain started. It was so bad one day that our training was cancelled and we headed into to the World Cup race 1 run short.

You can never compare training times at this track, you just have to figure out what works best for you and not let anything frustrate you. So heading into race day I didn’t really know who the one to beat would be. Of course it is a German track and you always have to watch the Germans, but other than that it was going to be an entertaining race. I woke up to not rain at 6am, but snow… great… I drew #7 in the draw, and Marion Trott from Germany drew #1. So we all assumed the German track crew would stop sweeping after Marion went down and let it turn into a battle in the snow. To my surprise and many others, the World Cup leader, Shelley Rudman GBR, quickly overtook Marion. The snow was really wet when I put my sled down in the groove, but I wasn’t going to let it mess with my game plan. I knew I had to push as far as I could and then take 2 more steps with all the snow in the groove. I came off the block and got a bit away from my sled but not too bad, just thinking push farther, push farther. Then I’m not exactly sure what happened, if I got off balanced or if I ran too far but all of a sudden I fell on my sled. My load killed my velocity, so I knew I had to quickly get over it so I could focus on each of the 15 corners ahead of me. I luckily got through curve 0, yes a corner 0, it was an addition to the track a couple of years ago. It can sometimes throw a curve ball at you and you will skid and ping pong all the way to 1. My trouble spot this week was corner 4. I had my plan and watched many sliders on video through there and felt confident I would put it together on race day. Wrong… as I was exiting I smashed the left wall so hard then it sent me to the right. Big hits on a flat track like this can’t happen; you might as well get off right there. I chose to stay on and tackle the rest of the course. The remainder of my run wasn’t too bad and I crossed the finish line in 1^st. I was surprised! With the trouble I had on my load and corner 4 I thought I would be 7^th out of 7.

From what my coaches have told me the snow started to lighten in the next couple of sliders and the track was getting quicker. The 2^nd German Kerstin Szymkowiak came down the track about 4/10ths ahead of me. Other sliders took advantage of the clean ice and by the time the 1^st heat was done I was sitting in 5^th. Now that is nothing to complain about, trust me, but I was the 1^st one to agree with fellow sliders that the 1^st heat should be thrown out. It just wasn’t fair. Great competitors like Katie Uhleander that have won on this track, was in 16^th and Shelley Rudman GBR world cup leader was in 8^th, not what you are expecting. But the jury ruled that the race would go on and I had a lot of catching up to do.

2^nd heat started and I had 2 things on my mind. Push NORMAL!! And fix corner 4. My start felt pretty good 5.53 a personal best in the conditions, not bad and I think it was 4^th ranked. I got through corner 0 again, always satisfying. Entry of corner 4… tried a new line, nope didn’t work, but I had a slight hit on the left side instead of trying to expand the track. The rest of the run was pretty smooth and I crossed the finish line with Mama K signaling 1^st. I would finish no worse than 5^th. But I planned on making my way onto the podium. Svetlana Trenova from Russia, one of the best pushers in the world pushed a 5.43 1/10^th better than me, and we were separated by 7/100ths. She had a pretty good run, but she fell behind me. Donna Creighton GBR was sitting in Bronze and another amazing push athlete pushed a 5.41. She definitely took advantage of her ice the 1^st run, but it was the same case on her 2^nd run with an 11^th ranked run, she fell behind me, to 6^th spot. Michelle Kelly CAN, pushed a 5.66 and same situation as Donna she had a 12^th ranked run and I moved into the Silver medal position. Kerstin Szymkowiak GER on her home track pushed a 5.47, great push and she had over 1/2second lead. I didn’t expect to gain any ground on her. She had clean ice her 1^st and 2^nd run on her home track, something really bad would have to happen for her not to win Gold and I’d never wish that be the case. I watched Kerstin make her way down the Winterberg track flawlessly and cross the finish line in 1^st place. But hey to me, my Silver medal was just as good as gold.

So off to Altenberg in a couple of days, last World cup stop before Christmas. Keep cheering loud for the Canadians we need all the energy you can give us being on the road for 6 weeks already is tiring!

Bronze!! I just can’t seem to step it up here on the 2006 Olympic track in Cesana, Italy. Honestly I have nothing to complain about, but as athletes we are always striving for perfection and when we don’t accomplish it, we are critical of our performances. First and foremost I have a wicked team!! Jon Montgomery winning Gold, Jeff Pain winning Bronze and Michael Douglas finishing in his best World Cup result 4^th!! Amy Gough having a solid performance with 7^th Place and securing her 3^rd place Overall World Ranking. It was a great day for Canada.

We were fortunate to get to Italy early and have 3 extra days of training on the track, which obviously paid off. I had some great training, that didn’t transfer to race day. My problem spot all week was corner 2! Yes, corner 2! I would come off the corner and skid all the way into 3, then my sled would catch on the entry of corner 3 and get whipped into a downward skid and if it were a big disaster then I’d get whipped into an upward skid! Nightmare!! I got through there towards the end of our training week and didn’t think it was going to be an issue on race day… Wrong… My 1^st run on race day… after a mediocre push I was focusing on corner 2, matching my steers with the pressures and it wasn’t enough… as I came off the corner I did a hockey stop all the way to the entry of corner 3. All of my speed gained on my start had been bled out. The rest of my run was pretty decent, including corner 14, where I swore I would get redemption this time around from the Olympics. I saw Kerstin when I was coming up the outrun and after 7 sleds she signaled I was sitting in 3^rd. Not where I wanted to be, but I after my mistake in corner 2 I would take it. On the truck ride up Amy shared her advice to help me out in corner 2 and gave me her best wishes to get it on the next run.

2^nd run, I didn’t run far enough and had a slower push than my 1^st one when the majority of the field was speeding up. I took Amy’s line through corner 2 and I was super smooth to corner 3!! I was so excited I slightly missed my steer in corner 5 and I had to work really hard but subtly in the “Torro” section of the track, a series of right-hand corners that gives you speed if you can get through there clean. My run was going well and I got too picky into corner 14…again… I hit the right wall just before the entry and it sent me late into the dreaded loopy corner. I kept my cool, trying to not have a repeat of skidding my sled in the corner like I did 4 years ago at the Olympics. No skidding, I felt confident that I could fix this mess on the exit. But as I was looking for the exit I realized I was much higher than I expected and there was no fixing it. I got launched out of the corner and I held on tightly expecting the feeling to be ice burning my back. But… as Jeff told me after the race, I got lucky… I got launched straight, not at an upward angle that would automatically flip me on my back. I tried to keep form the rest of the run and hope I didn’t loose any spots. I crossed the finish line and unlike my Olympic experience, there was a #1 on the clock. I held my spot, thankfully and I would make my 3^rd consecutive podium appearance this season.

I stood in the leaders box and watched Marion Trott, the German make a spotless run and keep her 2^nd place spot. I stepped out of the winners circle and watched Shelly Rudman, reigning Olympic Silver Medallist come down the track and earn the new Cesana track record, claim the Gold medal and over take me in the World Cup standings by a mere 2 points! That was my biggest disappointment of the day. But there are still 5 races to battle out for the leaders’ jersey and I know it will be a good fight!

We spent 14 hours in a van yesterday to make our way to Winterberg, Germany. A track that is unpredictable due to the rainy weather. So I hope I make the most of my training so race day is in automatic mode. Cheer us on as we do our best to represent Canada with integrity and pride!