"Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Until your good is better, and your better is best"
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| The four-man push in the World Cup |
After arriving in Salt Lake City late in the evening, the Australian four-man team for the race, Heath, Duncan, Lucas and I had a race at 9am the following
morning. After such a long and hard pre-season, it was a strange way to begin competition.
My recollection is so hazy due to the jetlag, but neither of our first four man races went to plan. The first
race saw us disqualified after a miscommunication at the startline left one
of our push athletes out of the sled, and our second race saw us relegated to
9th place after a crash in the first heat.
If I needed a wake up, I got it as we rolled out of corner
13 on one of the faster bobsled tracks.
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But crashes happen to the best and if you are serious about the
sport you can't let it affect you. We all pulled up fine. Sometimes normal bobsled runs hurt more
depending on how well you are positioned in the sled.
The disappointing effort from behind the sled and the
unfortunate crash are all things that come down to experience. We are still a
young team, and need more time on ice, and behind a sled to ensure we are able
to put absolutely everything into it. With no facilities back home, we are
forced to utilise every moment in training overseas, and often we are still
learning as we race.
After the America's Cup, it was time to briefly celebrate my 24th birthday, and a visit from an old Uni friend was an awesome present
- thanks Nikki for dinner!
For a second year in a row, the entire team was treated to
the luxuries of the Olympic Gold Medallist Jim Shea's mansion. A hot tub after
a long day of sliding, or in the gym goes down well.
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| Not a bad spot for a spa |
The team worked hard in training to ensure we had things set
for the second crack at the course... at a much higher level. Our first world
cup race of the season.
Lucas struggled with a stomach bug during the week.... mainly
due to some undercooked meat that he served to everyone, he'll need to step up
his game. He was forced to to pull out of the running for a spot in the
four-man.
Duncan was given the nod for the two-man race after his
strong efforts in the America's Cup the week before. The boys didn't get the
times they were looking for, the pressure of a world cup is a whole other
level... but it's great experience for our team to get a year out from the
Olympic Games.
In the four-man, I pushed from two, Duncan sat in three, and
Anthony (Tony) jumped in as the brakeman. In only our third push together, we
equalled Australia's record push at the track. It wasn't as fast as we were
hoping for, but it's encouraging that we know there is a lot more to come.
Our downtime was hurt by a bit of contact with the shortwall
high up on the track that limited our highest speed. It just goes to show that
at the elite level, margins are very small, and the tiniest mistakes make big
differences. We didn't get a second run after finishing outside the top 20, but
there are promising signs for the squad.
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| The boys |
Duncan (snores like a wild pig) has now gone home, and we can
all finally get some sleep at Whistler's Athletes village. Our pushes should improve drastically! ;)
The challenges of travelling, training, and competing
fade away when you realise the amazing places you get to see, and the
brilliant athletes and people you get to meet. It's always worth so much more
knowing how hard we've worked to get where we are.
We're excited to see what we can do here as
Lucas (Stig) Mata, Anthony and I fight for the two-man brake spot behind Heath
for the first race at the track.
It's the fastest course in the world and we're going to get
to some serious speeds... Bring it on!
As always a big thank you to everyone at home and here at
the tracks helping us out and supporting us!
Hope you can all watch along as we push for glory, I'll post
links to the live-feed on my Facebook page.
Till next time... Feel the rhythm and feel the rhyme!
