Selection Race 2 - Lake Placid

After my 4th place finish in the first selection race for the Great Britain World Cup Squad, I was looking for improvement in the second race a week later. The 3 days of training leading into the race were far from ideal with deteriorating ice conditions making the track very slow. A combination of rising temperatures, wind and rain meant that the track changed very quickly, with certain sections melting whilst others become very frosty. However I made the best of the training I was given to correct certain sections of the track that I was losing speed in previously and I was confident of being in the mix in the race.

The British Skeleton Squad

Picture Courtesy of LIFE Magazine and Getty Images

So race day came about all too quickly and i was drawn with the first start number for the men, a position I wasnt all too keen on, as it means almost no information of how quick the track was likely to be, as fate would have it the track ended up being almost 3 seconds quicker on the race day, and this threw a few spanners into the mix, as the timings of our steers in the corners had to be that much quicker to account for the extra speed. Despite this I put down a very competitive first run that put me 3rd and again had me within 4 tenths of the leader Andy wood, it also meant that 2 tenths covered 2nd,3rd and 4th positions. The second run didn't go quite as smoothly and meant that I finished 3rd, this result also meant that I finished 3rd overall over the two selection races.

This result means that I shall be spending the first half of the season on the Intercontinental Cup Circuit which will see me racing in Winterberg, Konigssee and Cesana before Christmas. The selection races really opened up my eyes as to how much my driving ability has improved over the last couple of years. My pushstart at the beginning of a slide down the track has always been my strong point (consistantly being around 2 tenths quicker than anyone else on the team) and has meant that I could get away with not having such a clean run down the track. However for some reason the last two races has seen my pushstart being not quite such an effective weapon, with Andy Wood and Anthony Sawyer both having pushed within a few hundredths of a second of me. However I was still able to be competitive with my driving and this is very encouraging. As soon as I am able to combine a lethal start time with my improved driving abilities the results will be impressive. So this is the goal for the next 3 weeks. The first of these weeks is spent at home in Devon, we then have 2 more weeks of training on the ice in Germany before our race series starts. So I am now analysing video and working with my coaches to firstly improve my push back to what it should be and secondly to prepare for what will hopefully be a very successful season!!