First half of the season off to a flier!!

So the first 4 races of the Intercontinental cup kicked off in December and saw two double races in Lillehammer, Norway and Sigulda, Latvia. Going into these 4 races I was very keen to keep up the run of good form that had followed me through selections and, with a strong field this year that included a few World Cup sliders the challenge was always going to be hard!

Lillehammer - Race 1.
The track at Lillehammer is basically our home track and I felt confident going into these two races that decent results were very much within my grasp and indeed they were! The only problem was corner 13, the very corner that actually sent me to hospital in my very first year on ice! Whilst it hadn't been a problem in pre season the track had very subtley changed and as a consequence I took a very regular hit to the chin pretty much every run...imagine a swift uppercut whilst travelling at 70mph! Unfortunately it was a problem that I never managed to fix and after a couple of broken visors it actually gave me mild concussion. Fortunately enough this didnt set in until pretty much the second day of racing!
The first race itself went well amidst a sprinkling of snow, a final position of 4th, with the fastest pushtime of the field was to me a very good start to the competitive season!

Lillehammer - Race 2.
A much brighter day, however it ended with me being pretty much bedbound afterwards for the next few days to relieve the very mild concussion it was believed I had sustained!! Not pleasant, however my push at the top of the track set a new track record and for the 4th run in succession I was maintaining my lead until the dreaded corner 13, from there on in I was bleeding speed and only managed to pick up a 6th position. Still a pleasing result, but I was mainly just happy to be moving onto the next track!!

So we moved onwards across the Baltic sea to Riga, Latvia.

Race 3 - Sigulda, Latvia.
This track was completely new to pretty much every athlete on the circuit as it hadn't been used in a while! This suited me however, as I feel that I generally pick up new tracks very quickly. Although the speeds arn't too high here (around 115kph) the corners have almost no transitions and come at you thick and fast, however a challenge is always a good thing and come race day I felt prepared.
And it showed...3rd place in this race with again the fastest pushtimes (by a much bigger margin this time!) My first run was the cleanest I had had at this track and left me in second place just 1/10th of a second behind the first placed Michi Halilovic of Germany. However a slower 2nd run dropped me to third, however it was again a positive result and one which put me on the podium for the first time in a couple of years!

Race 4 - Sigulda, Latvia.
Basically a repeat of the first race here! I managed to push even faster, however a couple of poorer runs managed to bag me another 3rd position and podium finish!

My medal haul from the first half of the season!

The end result going into the Christmas break is that I was ranked in the Top 20 in the World when we take into account the World cup sliders, possibly my best ranking at this stage in my career so far, and joint 3rd in the Intercontinental Cup rankings! It also means that with 4 more races in February that a shot at making the World Championships team is very much on the cards...so here's hoping the good form continues into the North American leg!! :)

Starting the 2011/2012 season how we mean to go on!!

So after a long off season of hard graft, both with working as a barman and training full time the 2011/2012 season finally kicked off in mid October. This preseason was going to be key as the association looked to streamline their squads under our new Performance Director Nigel Laughton, and involved hopping around europe to 3 different tracks in the space of a few weeks!

Stop 1 - Lillehammer, Norway. Our usual stomping ground for pre season. It was the same as every year to be fair, nervousness with getting back onto our sleds, sore necks from the crazy g-forces that our bodies had been without for 6 months and the age old headache of setting up sleds. The sled side of things always takes time, fitting new runners, optimising setups etc etc, but everything seemed to run a bit smoother than usual with the help of sled tech Rachel Blackburn, i'm not alone in being very thankful for all her hard work getting us all sledded up and ready to roll! Lillehammer allowed us to get back into the grove so to speak, and everything went without a hitch.

Stop 2 - Selection race 1 - Winterberg, Germany. As the title says really, the scene for our first selection race, literally a whistlestop tour here, 3 days of training followed by a 2 run race. Within our mens team we had 7 athletes capable of winning spots. To cut a long story short I had a nightmare on my first run here, literally the first corner of the track screwed me over and from here all speed was lost. My push times were the fastest in the team by a considerable distance, but were unable to save me from 6th spot. Disappointing but not the end of the world considering the calibre of the sliders in the British setup. Anyway, onwards!

Stop 3 - Altenberg, Germany, selection race 2. This was to be the tough one. One of the toughest tracks in the world to get down safely on let alone do it quickly! I was also the least experienced at this track in terms of runs down the track over my 5 previous years so an uphill struggle was on the cards from day 1. Same format as before, 3 training days with 6 training runs and straight into the race. Training didnt go well by all accounts, runner setups were a struggle and the final days training was a complete no show in terms of performance. Sometimes however we need days like these, maybe its a kick up the backside to focuse, maybe its teaching you what not to do! Either way I pulled the second race result literally out of thin air to come 4th. My push starts were incredible, smashing a massive .12second off my push personal best and from there, a lead of almost 2 tenths to the next fastest pusher, it was a case of catch me if you can. Admittedly 3 people did catch me, but thats besides the point, ide rather have it that way round, it means that when i finally do learn how to drive as well as some of our other guys il be a real force to be reckoned with! :)

Loading onto the sled at Altenberg. Picture by Phil Searle.

The results over the two races put me 5th overall and earned me a place on the Intercontinental cup team representing Great Britain over 8 races through Europe and N.America. 4 races before Christmas and 4 races after. Our first races are in Sigulda and Lillehammer, the latter is where I am right now...catching up on my blog...

Season Over - Post Season Ice Training Well Received

Following the conclusion of the season that saw me ranked 10th overall on the ICC and 33rd on the World stage the development squads were sent to Park City in Utah for 2 weeks of post season training. This was somewhat of a novelty as we very rarely get the chance to slide without the pressure of races or selection decisions and was an opportunity I very much relished and enjoyed.

With this being the debut season on my new sled, nicknamed Rita we had had very little oppportunity to discover optimum settings with runner selections, the amount of weight I could use within the sled etc therefore this opportunity of an extra 40 runs over these two weeks was vital to me learning a lot in how I could maximise my abilities on it. It also enabled me to get back to basics, to get back to the enjoyment slide of sliding and to work on my aerodynamic form on the sled as I had developed a tendency to be quite slack in this department.

The tweaking and getting back to basics worked well, of the 6 athletes we had out there I had the fastest top speed and best downtime. One of my downtimes was even a personal best which was only half a second off of the track record, even more positively this was off of a relatively slow pushstart, meaning there was plenty more to come! All in all a very successful spell of sliding and one that will hopefully see me come on leaps and bounds for selections next season in October.

Until then the season for me is now officially over. I will hopefully be moving back to Bath in the next few weeks to start training again, work outside of skeleton is starting up again to cover living expenses and I am looking at doing my Personal Training qualifications to start giving me employment opportunities both whilst I am competing and for when I eventually retire!

Many thanks to all those who have wished me well this season and to my friends, family and girlfriend who have been ever supporting and understanding through my continued hard work! Here's to an enjoyable and productive offseason! :)

Enjoying the gorgeous weather and quick track in Park City, Utah.

2011 Season Roundup

So the 2010/2011 season has wound to a close for me now. Apologies for the lack of frequent updates, I've been very slack on the blogging side of things! But we are back up and running now! Selections back in October sent me to the Intercontinental cup for the season, with 4 races in Europe and 4 in North America. The season actually ended up being very disappointing and full of ups and downs, my training times before just about all of the races suggested that I was on for great results (Top 5 at least) and the end product come raceday was always a bit of a letdown. There were however a lot of positives to take from it all. As Michael Johnson would say its the losses that you learn the most from and what you take from those losses that make you a stronger athlete and human being.

With the results not being as I had wanted and hoped for I was left to take what I could from the performances - Strong pushes throughout, a very decent understanding of the new sled setup and some very promising training times, all of which will help me immensely in the forthcoming seasons leading upto the Sochi 2014 Olympics. Additionally this season led me to slide three new tracks at which I had never slid before, La Plagne, Altenberg and Whistler are all very technical, difficult tracks and having now learnt these tracks it sets me in much better stead to be competitive at future races there as well as making me a better all round slider. 

In terms of looking to the future I've also now highlighted a number of key areas that I need to work on moving forward. First and foremost a mental state thats condusive to sliding, so that I take training form into the races. Secondly I've identified a few technical issues I need to address with my push which I believe will have massive benefits over this coming off season, and thirdly im now very close to identifying an optimum sled setup with regards to runner settings etc which is far more beneficial to my style of driving. Take all of these and make them better for next season is the goal, and a goal that will hopefully see me bring home the performances I know im capable of.

A full rundown of my results this season is below:
Winterberg 10th
Altenberg 10th
La Plagne 11th
La Plagne 14th
Whistler 11th
Whistler 16th
Lake Placid 9th
Lake Placid  9th

Raceday #1 in Whistler, loading onto the sled after pushing the 3rd fastest pushtime in history at this track.

New Season, New Aspirations

So the last 7 months have been spent training hard at the University of Bath. There's not much more to be said about that to be honest, I've been working with my S&C coach Danny Holdcroft and an old sprints coach Rob Ellchuk to get myself into tip top condition for the coming season and preparations have been going well with personal bests on the pushtrack and feeling fighting fit for a good season!

So it is that we are now into our preseason training and along with the excitement of starting a new season I had a new sled to look forward to, I have now moved onto one of the Blackroc sleds that were designed for the last Olympic games and its a bit like Christmas coming early to be honest. I believe this sled will be much more competitive than my last and should put me in good stead for the next 4 years leading into the next Games!

We arrived in Lillehammer, Norway about a week ago now and have had 5 sliding days so far and i can report that the new sled is a bit of a handful but i feel like i'm getting to grips with it and how it handles in the corners and it feels fast! All in all a very good sign, consequently my times over the last week has steadily been dropping as i become acclimatised to being back on ice, crazily sliding downhill at breakneck speeds, and simultaneously getting used to how the new sled handles!

James Hoad and I in a very chilly icybath!!

We have another 2 days of training before 3 days of official training and then 2 selection races here in Norway, this will decide who will be on the World Cup and Intercontinental circuits for the coming months and is well within my grasps to do well here. I'm ultimately sliding against some of the best sliders in the world so it's a tough ask but as the relative newbie of the group il give it my best and see what happens! Here's hoping training continues to go well! :)

Vancouver 2010 - Amy Strikes GOLD!!!

February saw the arrival of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games, the highlight of every athletes career. After the last two Olympic games bringing bronze and Silver respectively, the trend was set to bring home Gold from this games and Amy made sure to not disappoint. British skeleton and Team GB ended up sending 4 athletes, Kristan Bromley, Adam Pengilly, Shelley Rudman and Amy Williams. With Amy producing quite simply an amazing example of how a race should be emphatically won, consequently bringing home the Olympic Gold medal, and rewritting history along the way. After training with Amy all of this previous summer it has been an amazing experience for me to see the culmination of all her hard work, time and dedication to have come to this amazing pinnacle, and quite simply it inspires me even more to emulate this acheivement in 4 years time. So on this point I just want to say Congratulations to Amy and bring on Sochi 2014... :)

ICC race 8, Park City - Proving a point...

After the massive disappointment of being dropped for a few races to accommodate 'priority' athletes I was relieved to find that my season wasnt quite over when I was sent out to compete at Park City for the final race of the season. I was flown out to meet the squad at Calgary and was one of the drivers on the car for the 18 hour drive down to Park City, which is just outside of Salt Lake City in Utah, USA. The drive was very much like you see in the movies, dead straight roads, nothing for miles either side, and some good banter down the radios between our two car convoy. After a couple of rest days (and some cheeky shopping trips) we started training at what to me is one of the most enjoyable tracks on the circuit! Speeds around the 130kph are acheived very early on with a challenging mix of single and double pressure corners. Training on the first day got me used to being back on the sled after a month away from the ice, and i put down some competitive times. The following training days and the race were to be undertaken in persistant snow, a major drawback for me as the top few corners are uncovered, hence slowing the effect of the initial push from the top as the snow clogs the track. Consequently the race became more about the drive lines from corner 4 onwards, and training indicated that I would do well despite this!

Race day came around and it was great to have the adrenaline rush of a raceday back in my veins. The warmup went as well as it could in the snow, and my push on both runs was still one of the best despite a month out from hard training. My first run wasn't entirely clean, i took a couple of hits on my way down the track in key areas, but despite this I was ranked 5th after the first run. My second run was cleaner but in a very close heat where around 9 sliders had runs separated by only 2/10ths of a second I fell back a place and finished 6th. A very pleasing result with all things considered this season, and I feel I very much proved the point that my deselection was unjustified with 3 medals in the 5 races I participated in. (The top 6 in each race acheive medals).

The Podium Finishers for ICC race 8, Park City.

This for me was the concluding race of the season. After all the highs and lows I failed to make the Olympic team, however my selection onto the British team was always with the vision of making the 2014 Olympic Games. To have acheived qualification for the 2010 Games was always a very big ask, however I feel I was well and truely in the mix, and in different circumstances I could have made it. For now though a summer of training awaits, I have acheived my World Cup Qualification Criteria this season which was my main goal, so I can potentially be racing on the highest stage of my sport next season, and with World Championships to be aiming for it is very much 'Game On'!!