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Olympic Season 2006.
This season is the biggest season of all our lives. We are all training hard hoping to achieve our dreams and go to the Winter Olympics.
The season started with athletes on the Europa and World Cup. The athletes competing on these Tours were the only ones eligible for the Olympic selection to take place in Koningsee, Germany.
I was on the Europa Cup for the first half of the season with the development driver Ian Crump. This was a big season for Ian as well to secure his funding for the rest of the season as well as next season.
The first race of the season was in Igls, Austria and we needed a good start to the season. The first run of training and we crashed out of bend 12 at 120 km/h. I asked my driver what happened, it appeared that he waited to long and ran out of bend.
The rest of the week went better and better as we got closer to the race. Ian had decided to use me for the race, so the night before we polished the sled and put heaters into the sled to keep it warm. We then began the task of cleaning the runners, this took about 2 hours for the Team to finish.
The race day and the push was good and so was the drive. Ian drove really well and we were in 17th place after the first run. We knew there were some places we could catch if we started well again and Ian had a good drive. The second run started and we dropped a few hundredths on the start, Ian was driving smoothly until we came out of bend 4. Then he unfortunately parked the sled into the wall and we lost all our speed. I could of got out and pushed the sled again. We got to the bottom and we had slipped from 17th place back to 23rd. Not a good start to the season but things like that can happen.
The second race of the season saw us at Koninsee, Germany a new track for Ian to Learn.
The first day of training, first run and I was on my head. We crashed out of Echo Van, not enough at the start of the bend then we rose at the end and crashed. We were ok though no problems.
The second run was better but a little dodgey at the end of Echo Van.
The next day of training was a complete nightmare for Ian. He crashed smudge on both runs and both times out of Echo Van. Not a good day for the driver or crewman.
Third day of training and we crashed on Echo Van yet again, this was becoming a problem bend for Ian. I asked Ian what he was doing, it seemed that at the entrance he wasn't doing enough and the sled had pressure at the end of the track and just fell off the bend.
Going into the race i didn't care i was going to push like a mad man. Ian on the other hand, I don't think his head was clear on what to do on Echo Van.
First run of the race and we got down on four runners although we dropped off Echo Van I didn't care.
This was good for morale.
The second run began and from S1 all the way to Echo Van wasn't enjoyable. We were late off bends and tapping all over the place. We got to Echo Van and tapped before the entrance.
This was not good as we had crashed here all week. If you tap at the entrance then you have to work harder to get the sled back to where it belongs. However as we had problems here Ian did the normal steer and I was already in the crash position. We got to the end of the bend, there was silence and then a roar as we lay on our heads.
Ian's confidence was dented but with characters like myself and smudge we did our best to lift him ready for perhaps one of the hardest tracks in the world Altenberg, Germany that was our next race.
We arrived at Altenberg, Germany perhaps one of the hardest tracks in the World. Another new track for Ian to deal with. The drivers walked the track that morning with the Coach. We were due to slide that afternoon. The drivers returned from there track walk glum faced. Whilst walking the track a German sled came down and crashed out of bend 9. The driver and crew held on as they slid down the track on there roof. However as the sled got to the end of bend 10 it freakily rose and fell off the bend from 10ft up. As the sled hit the ice the drivers helmet shattered and lay in the track, they still had 7 more bends to go. The German air ambulance was called in and the driver air lifted as he was in critical condition.
The track was closed for the rest of the day and also made drivers concentrate a lot harder about this track.
The first 9 runs that Ian took were from Damen start. You join the track at bend 4 and have a look slow time at the top bends but there is no difference at the bottom half of the track. Ian had 2 crashes out of 9 both of them taking place out of bend 10.
Ian's first run from the top and unfortunately we crashed into bend 5. I got out the back of the sled as I wasn't doing 12 more bends on my head.
We ended the morning session there and then as i wasn't impressed. I had 5 crashes to date and in 2 weeks had Olympic Selection.
That afternoon however, we went back to the top of the track and Ian had 2 good runs. I was happy for him.
The next day before the race he had another 2 good runs down the track and morale was high. Although it takes a lot to deplete mine and Smudge's morale.
The day of the race and we were wearing warm suits, this was the decision of the Coach.
Ian had 2 really good runs down the track and finished 17th. I was well happy for him as he had just driven this beast of a track.
Now we had a 10 day break before the Olympic Selections and the British Championships.
The second half of the season saw me on the World Cup. My driver was now Lee Johnston an experienced driver of 10 years.
The first race of the second half of the season saw us back at Koningsee, Germany. I was beginning to have flash backs.
I did the both runs on the first day of training and it was good to see the breaking straight. All of us had a laugh as everybody knew my experiences on the first half of the season.
The next two days saw us doing 4 man training, the first run was a bit hairy as we came out of Echo Van we travelled for 10-15 metres on two runners, but we dropped back to all four and we had a laugh about it at the finish.
The last day of training Dan did both runs and the Team was in good spirits.
The two man race took place on the Saturday and the Team finished 15th. The next day was the four man race. After the first run we were lying in 14th place, this was a good result for us going into the second run. On the second run we were flying down the track, we came out of Crysle and then there are two little kinks in the track. We almost tipped on the first one of these kinks. We finished the race in 17th place and knew we had a lot to do next week in St.Moritz Switzerland
We moved to St.Moritz, Switzerland for the next race of the season and the European Championships. We had to get a good result at this race as we needed to qualify the sled and the crew for the Winter Olympics.
St.Moritz is a beautiful track lovely and smooth but fast as you like. Sleds approach 150 km/h in the speed trap. The track is built every year from ice blocks taken from the lake and snow from the surrounding areas.
The first day of training was the two man and i did both runs. It was a fantastic experience in the back of the sled, smooth but fast. The next two days as usual were four man days. Four man is great fun, pushing the sled hard and then all the crew loading. All four runs over the two days were great and the crew was in great spirit. We actually set the fastest speed in a training run at 145.5 km/h.
The last day was two man training and Dan did both runs.
The two man race and the Team started well but the runs down although only minor errors just seemed to lose time all the way down the track.
The four man day and the pressure was on to qualify, although the crew went out with the attitude to enjoy ourselves. For the first time the crew was laughing and smiling on the block.
The first run started and we were in the sled like lightening and the run down the track was great. We had the second fastest speed through the speed trap that day. After the first run we were in 13th place. The second run and yet again the load was on the ball. If anything there was only one little tap on the run down. we had held 13th place, we knew that in the European Championships we had finished 10th.
We now had to wait over the next few days to see what decision came back from the BOA (British Olympic Association) to see if we were going to the Winter Olympics.
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