Season

Hi all!

 Well, it's that time of the year again...time to start pushing sleds and running fast behind them! Yup, the World CupBobsleigh Season 2008-2009 has commenced.

It's been a whirlwind beginning to the start of the season as, for the first time ever, the team selections were held inWhistler, the site of the 2010 Olympic Games. The individuals vying for a spot on the World Cup circuit travelled to Whistler and spent three long weeks training on the unofficially fastest track in the world.  And when I say fast, I mean FAST!  The women's sleds were seeing speeds of 142-143km/h!  If you got caught doing that on the highway, you would get a ticket AND lose points!

 We had two, two-heat races and when the dust settled, I am happy to say that my team made the World Cup Team. We won the first race and placed 2nd by a very small margin in the second contest. Kaillie and I were also able to set a new start record. We'll see if we can keep it and/or improve upon it at this year's world cup event.

With the World Cup team announced, we made a short pitstop in Calgary where I was able to do a couple of public speaking engagements for RBC, for whom I have recently been named as an ambassador and RBC Olympian. (I'll attach my RBC headshot)

  What does this mean? Well, for me it means next year I won't have to work three jobs during the off-season while trying to train!! (smile).  But seriously, it's a really great program that enables me to have the flexibility I need to train and compete while simultaneously allowing me to make a difference ( I hope!) in my community and gain valuable work experience. I'm also hoping to be able to help them develop an ESL curriculum for their "RBC After School" program.

The team then went on to spend a week of training in Lake Placid, New York before heading to Toronto (my home town) for an all-out media blitz!   It was fun and exhausting doing Breakfast Televesion, A media attended official Visa Team announcement, A featurette with TSN/Sportsnet, and several sit-down interviews with CTV, FAN 590, and others. To put it in perspective, my day began at 5:30am and I didn't stop moving until I sat down in the airport at about 5:00pm! 

We arrived in Frankfurt, Germany with no problems and then drove for about 6 hours to the town of Altenberg, Germany.  The Altenberg track is thought to be one of the most difficult tracks for pilots to navigate successfully and so the Canadian team is taking advantage of open international training to get some much needed practice runs on the track, especially seeing as we'll be back here in two weeks for the real deal! 

Sliding starts tomorrow and I'm a little bit nervous (crashing is ALWAYS a threat on this track!) but also confident that the nerves will die down and that I'll be ok. Thankfully, God has kept me safe this far crashing or not!

  I'm planning on keeping a blog this year...I think it will be a bit more fun and perhaps a bit easier than sending out update emails.  This way, I can upload all the pictures and send links and any other fun things I think up!  So, hopefully from now on I'll just be sending an email to let you know that I've updated the blog.  If you'd rather not receive these emails, just reply and let me know. Don't worry, I promise I will not be offended in the LEAST! 

'til next time!

God Bless,

Shelley-Ann