Park City Diary – World Cup 1 Having enjoyed a fantastic two weeks in Whistler it was time to move on for our first race of the 2009/10 season. We flew to Salt Lake City via San Francisco, unfortunately not having quite enough time to leave the airport and enjoy a slightly warmer climate for a few hours. Instead we roamed the airport, Fiona’s snack bag attached to the outside of her rucksack and threatening to split at any moment sending a mountain of beef jerky everywhere. Arriving in Salt Lake we headed to baggage reclaim, all of us passing through with no problems which is more than can be said for an American skeleton athlete on the same flight who got to a checkpoint where she was informed that she could only be carrying two pieces of hand luggage and would have to put the third inside one of the other bags. Given that the third piece of luggage was her helmet it understandably wouldn’t fit into a bag and so in desperation she simply put the helmet on her head and walked through! Once in baggage reclaim Nic discovered that she had left her book on the plane. Normally you might just cut your losses and leave it at that but the amount of time invested into that book (several months – which even so might be a record for Nic to complete a book) and the fact that she only had a couple of chapters to go led to her gong back to locate it, leaving Fiona just enough time to spill yoghurt all over the floor. While she cleaned it up, helped by Jo J, the rest of us patiently waited for the luggage to arrive. The time might have been better spent sending someone to start the process of collecting the hire cars as it took so long in the end. Finally all in order we drove up to Park City to check into our hotel. While Jo sorted the grown up chores of checking in, Gill and Fiona engaged themselves in the slightly less grown up pursuit of taking pictures of each other while holding the lavishly decorated Halloween pumpkins up in front of their faces. All checked in and relaxing in our rooms all that was left to do was to wait for our crate containing our sled and all equipment to arrive. The crates, all transported together for all nations by the international federation, arrived slightly behind schedule, although not as much behind as the skeleton crates which arrived after their training was due to start. Once word leaked out that crates had started arriving everyone headed to the track to unload them as the turnaround to unpack them before training that afternoon was tight. Athletes were arriving in vans while the organisers were still trying to unload sleds from the trucks, the teams that had got there first (including us) had started unloading sleds and equipment and most were trying to reverse vans up to their crates through non-existent gaps causing the man supposedly in charge of all this chaos to resort to some choice words! Not wanting to upset him still further we quickly and quietly wheeled our sled down the hill to our waiting truck, carried all the toolboxes (thank goodness they have wheels), runners and other equipment down to join it and set off before the situation escalated. Eventually all athletes were reunited with their sleds, all except the USA bobsleigh teams, another victim of delayed sleds which did not arrive in time for training and so they were forced to train at 9pm, after everyone else had finished for the day. You’d say it was sabotage but they were on their home track! Now we had the sled it was a quick turnaround to get it checked over and ready for sliding. The braking straight had only been iced for a short way past the finish dock and so there were dire warnings for brakemen to make sure they brought their sled to a stop in time. After the first few sleds had been down there was another warning over the loudspeaker instructing all brakemen to “brake hard and brake early”. Gill and Fiona had been down to have a look at the finish before training started so they were prepared for what they had to do. Gill was in the back for both runs on the first day and managed to stop the sled with no mishaps. The next day it was Fiona’s turn to ride and she took the warnings and advice a little too seriously as she pulled the brakes in the straight between corners 14 and 15. Thankfully she realised her mistake early as she put her head up to see a corner rushing towards her and ceased braking, at least until the sled was round the last corner! It was not Fiona’s only mishap of the day. Earlier, as we arrived for training, she pulled the van up behind a car at the barrier to get into the track. Normally the system was to pull up to the barrier, enter a code, wait for the barrier to raise and drive through. This time however the car in front went through and the barrier stayed up so Fiona just followed on behind, only for the barrier to crash back down on the side of the cab. Our van was fine, which is more than can be said for the barrier which was twisted the wrong way and drooping miserably. She did own up immediately at the top of the track and by the time we finished training that day it had been restored to its former glory. Away from the bob track we got in some physical training in the gym – a very packed gym as all the bobsleigh and skeleton athletes on the circuit seemed to have descended on it at once. There was a little time hanging around while waiting for equipment to become available which we filled with rehab exercises, a wonderful demonstration by Sarah in how to fall off a Swiss ball and showing off our not very extensive football skills. A midweek BBQ for all athletes and staff was organised at the track, which was a great way to relax and chat to athletes from other nations. The whole team enjoyed the evening with plates of meat, beans and potatoes followed by biscuits, marshmallows and chocolate to make S’mores by toasting the marshmallows on the fire and putting them on the biscuits with the chocolate to make a delicious but messy treat! Nic and Gill piled their plates less high than the others and unfortunately had to watch the S’more making enviously as they had spent the previous two weeks being very careful about what they ate. They were in danger of being over the weight limit for racing due to the sled being a few kilos heavier than last season and were not about to risk disqualification in one eating frenzy! The salad bar was (grudgingly) frequented often through the week while the rest of the team tried to be considerate and not mention how good the steak / sausage / cake etc was. In the end at the race weigh in, after removing anything that wasn’t essential from the sled (foot-bar, handles, padding), they weighed in 3kg underweight and Nic wasn’t sure whether to be pleased they had made it comfortably under the limit or to be annoyed that she could have had a couple of extra helpings along the way! The race was a solid start to the season, two places higher than the opening race of last season and, with the start times affected by Nic returning from injury, was promising for the rest of the season. After the first run the girls were in 7th place and with their second run the sixth fastest of the heat, they held their place to finish 7th overall in an incredibly close race where just seven hundredths separated 4th and 8th place. Race finished there was just time to load the crate, in slightly less chaos than unloading it and head off for a well deserved meal. Nic and Gill were especially looking forward to being able to eat as much as they wanted for the first time all week but were disappointed to find that, having had small portions for so long, they couldn’t cope with the huge portions and were left with quite a lot still on their plates when they had eaten as much as they could. Dinner had been slightly delayed in starting as Nic, Jo, Fiona and Sarah decided that they could fit a quick trip to the outlet shops in before they closed and before the starters arrived. Unfortunately they misjudged the speed of the service and had some irate waiting staff to deal with on their return! One more sleep in the hotel and it was time to pack all the bags in the cars and head for the airport – destination Lake Placid for World Cup Race number two.
Back to the track again on Friday – this time for a morning sliding session. Following a much calmer camion ride up to the top, Sarah obviously felt she needed to create some excitement by standing on a patch of ice, falling onto her knees and then toppling forward into a great impression of a starfish. She most definitely didn’t cry though! She felt slightly better when a few minutes later one of the Dutch boys was pulling his sled backwards, stood on another patch of ice and landed in his back with both legs in the air. Even the experienced get it wrong sometimes! Not content with that she went back into the camion to collect the stand and was abducted by the camion driver as he set off with her still inside. The rest of the team made a lot of noise trying to attract the attention of the driver but we think we might have lost Sarah and the stand if it hadn’t been for a camion coming the other way whose driver noticed all the commotion. The loss of Sarah we might have eventually got over but that stand is an essential piece of kit! Nic continued to get to grips with the track, the second run of the day being much smoother than the first, cleaning up the exits of corners 12 and 14 where there had been a couple of bumps on the first run. The next day Nic discovered she had actually managed to crack her helmet. Her new seating position is great aerodynamically but may take some time to adjust to in other respects! Following sliding we hit the gym with Fiona getting more than she bargained for – her hamstrings were hanging off by the end of her session. Converting from lbs to kgs made for some interesting weights lifted and Sarah retreated round a corner with her small dumbbells to do her session as she felt intimidated by all the muscley athletes crowding the gymSaturday morning was a rare chance to relax with an incredibly long breakfast that lasted from 9am to 11. The journey to the track was a first chance to hear DJ Jo’s new compilation CD with tunes for everyone. Jo John and Fiona strutted their stuff outside the garage – Fiona insisted it was the start of her warm up. As the camion driver seemed to have forgotten about us we played numerous A-Z games naming animals, car makes and models and then sweets and chocolates. When the camion still hadn’t turned up we went on a fungus foray – discovering some interesting brown mushrooms which Fiona declared very sturdy but couldn’t enlighten us as to their identity. Finally the camion turned up after Jo had driven up to the track to see what was going on – turns out they had forgotten us! After sliding and another training session at the running track with Gill and Jo tag teaming circuits in the absence of a countdown timer that anyone could figure out how to work, we headed back for the best meal of the year – salmon in honey, mustard and ginger sauce followed by Suzi’s amazing homemade Key Lime Pie – we’re going to have to be careful or there’s no way we’re making weight for racing! Sunday was a well deserved day off from sliding for Nic, Gil and Fiona but we were back up at the track, this time for Jo and Sarah, who wouldn’t normally jump in the back of a sled, to have their turn down the track in a taxi bob. The moment was captured on video and in many photos, both Jo and Sarah declaring it a ‘fantastic’ experience. From the track we drove to Plattsburg for some retail therapy – first stop not GAP or American Eagle as might be expected, oh no, business before pleasure, we headed to the home improvement depot. Having finally managed to drag Nic out of the shop before she got absorbed by yet another tool display we headed to the mall for a spot of lunch and proper shopping. We ended our ‘day off’ by putting workbenches together and aligning the sled – some people just don’t know how to relax! The new week began with a lot of crashes. Not for our team but for the other nations sliding with us. Training was held up as Jamaica crashed, Lichtenstein crashed, running over their brakeman in the process, and then Jamaica crashed again. Evening entertainment was provided by Fiona and Suzi giving us a fine demonstration of Turkish dancing complete with pink jangling skirt and then playing a slightly violent game of ‘catch’ across the restaurant. The week progressed with Fiona, armed with some motion sickness medication, managing three runs in one day without a hitch, Lichtenstein and Jamaica showed much improvement by reaching the finish line on all four runners every time for an entire training session and we made ourselves very popular with the family staying two doors up from Sarah and Jo by camping ourselves outside their room to do a pilates session. Opening their door they just about fell over Jo, they didn’t even seem to notice the almost perfect clam position she was demonstrating, maybe there was something about the four ladies sprawled on the floor outside their room that distracted them?! After a cancelled day of training due to a freak heat wave making the track un-slidable we headed up to the top of the ski jump. Nic decided that while she is quite happy to speed down a bobsleigh track at 95mph, ski jumping will never be for her. Jo J also found the height a little disturbing but not as disturbing as the man operating the lift to take us up and down. Something about sitting in a small lift all day, everyday, even eating lunch in there can do strange things to a person! And suddenly there was only one more day left with just time for one last session at the track, a quick bowl of chilli and a last helping of key lime pie before packing up and driving back to Montreal for our flight to Vancouver.
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The Season Begins…. Packed and ready to go, weighed down by masses of new kit from Adidas, but this time with the luxury of a 46kg baggage allowance, Team Minichiello were on the move once again – destination Lake Placid for some pre-season training. The journey out went smoothly – everyone at the airport on time, under the weight limit with baggage, onto the flight with no hassles, we were even all sitting together on the plane – well almost everyone. Sarah was ‘Billy no mates’ in row 21 while the rest of us were together in rows 46 and 47. Not only that but she was sandwiched between two people with hacking coughs so she was extremely grateful when Jo rescued her by asking the air hostess if she could move back to join us! Gill, Fiona and Jo John were sitting together and had a slightly embarrassing incident when lunch arrived. Everyone else had folded their tray tables down and were happily eating away while they, unable to get their tables down as someone had unhelpfully put screws either side of the catch, making it impossible to lower them, had their lunch trays balanced precariously on their knees. Jo, fearing a major spillage stopped an air hostess and asked why we had no tables. It seems had we looked a little closer that we did indeed have tables handily stored in the arms of our seats – ingenious!This small incident aside the journey continued smoothly – too smoothly for a team who have become accustomed to drama and upheaval! We picked up our baggage -which had all arrived, picked up a van and a car – with only minor fuss and Jo John showing her diplomatic side as she charmed the airport security men as they got slightly pushy about the U-Haul van parked outside the terminal as the others went to pick up the car. Leaving the airport we hit our first minor snag as Sean and Fiona sitting in the van at the side of the road out of the airport, waiting for everyone else in the car to drive past so they could follow to the cargo area to pick up our sled were so deep in conversation that they failed to notice the car, even with lights flashing, windscreen wipers going, windscreen wash shooting everywhere and indicators going as Jo tried desperately to find the horn. In the end those of us in the car had to admit defeat and pull into the side of the road and send Jo John on an early training session as she ran the few hundred metres back to the van to interrupt Sean and Fiona’s cosy chat. Arriving at the cargo area we went to pick up our crate and, after some dispute as to whether it had cleared customs or not, we went to load it into the U-Haul van. Unfortunately our bags were in the way so Fiona went to move one up on to the ledge at the back of the van. She picked it up and swung it towards the shelf, went past the shelf and turned a complete pirouette that would have made any ballet dancer envious. Crate loaded we set off on the road and, after only 2 hours in US customs with Fiona and Sean to-ing and fro-ing sorting the paperwork we made it to McDonalds for a quick drive through. Jo had some problems with the order, having to repeat that she wanted 2 large lattes about 5 times before the message got across – must be the accent! Wednesday brought our first visit to the track, sorting out the kit before doing a track walk and then watching some of the other nations sliding. It was Fiona and Sarah’s first time seeing sleds come past and Fiona had obviously been paying close attention on the track walk as as she settled into position to watch sleds coming off corner 18 she turned expectantly to her left, ready for her first glimpse of a bobsleigh at full speed, only to be scared out of her wits by a sled racing past her from her right – an easy mistake to make! Wednesday also brought our first encounter with Suzi who was in charge of our meals at the hotel and who promptly adopted us and became our ‘Team Mum’ – she spoils us way too much! Back at the hotel we unloaded the last of the kit from the crate, putting the runners and workbenches in Gill and Fiona’s room. As we hadn’t had time to come back to the hotel in between unloading the crate and heading up to the track they were a little nervous about the state they had left their room in. I won’t say it passed with flying colours but I think the vivid descriptions of the mess helped their cause as everyone decided it wasn’t as bad as they thought it would be – it is of course now spotless at all times now they’ve had a chance to unpack! Thursday morning was spent working on the sled, getting it ready for the weeks ahead. It was a very useful and informative exercise, interrupted only by Fiona rushing out for an urgent toilet break in the bushes. A little later Nic also decided she could do with a toilet stop however the bushes were not deemed a suitable location for Lady Minichiello to relieve herself and she drove to the nearest toilet. Unfortunately there were no servants in attendance to warm the seat but sometimes you’ve just got to put up with what you’ve got! After another delicious lunch courtesy of Suzi; Fiona, Gill and Jo squeezed the fastest training session in the world in before heading back out to the track for some more sliding. With a quick jog to the running track, legs buckling from cutting recovery times between runs and bounds and a jog / walk back to the hotel to give us enough time to grab our bags and rush back out the door again to the track we didn’t know if we were coming or going. Maybe the rush scrambled our brains as, having loaded the sled and all the equipment into the camion we were rather startled by the unexpected speed at which the driver set off. Jo dived to grab the stand, Sarah grabbed Jo and Gill grabbed the toolbox, all ending up in slightly unorthodox positions sprawled across the floor of the camion – at least the sled was securely held! Meanwhile Nic and Sean headed off on a track walk and those on the camion weren’t the only ones having mishaps that day as Sean misjudged the height of a light on corner nine and managed to cut the top of his head- even through his cap. He styled it out well though! Nerves were jangling for the first run back for several months – Gill was in behind Nic for the jokingly termed ‘suicide run’ but all went without a hitch – what else do you expect from the best driver in the World?! Run one safely down and Season 2009 / 2010 truly underway it was time for Fiona’s first experience of a real bobsleigh run. Her first run left her a little disorientated and queasy but she was keen to go again and so took the third run of the day. Climbing out of the sled at the bottom of the track she seemed in rather a rush for some reason. The reason soon became clear as as soon as the sled was out of the track she pulled her helmet off and ran to the nearest patch of snow to be sick. We’re sure she’ll get used to it though!
Arriving in Vancouver after an uneventful journey for once, we met up with Fiona’s friend Michelle who had flown out for a holiday and, while she was there we had somehow persuaded her to take charge of our meals during our two weeks of International training on the Olympic track in Whistler. I don’t think she realised what she was getting into feeding three hungry athletes and four even hungrier support staff! Leaving the airport we were picked up by two charming gentlemen; Merv and John who (once we had collected our car and van) whisked us off to central Vancouver for a welcome party in an apartment overlooking the venue for the opening and closing ceremonies for the Olympics. The views were spectacular and a good time was had by all, especially as to end the party they decided to make us true citizens of Vancouver by lining us up in front of a big mirror, getting us to close our eyes and then getting us to open them again to find a strange assortment of hats on our heads. Sean’s bonnet was particularly fetching! Full of good food we hit the road to Whistler and, on arrival at our home for the next two weeks, it seemed Jo had struck the jackpot again. Two adjoining houses with open fires, hot tub and more than enough sleeping space meant eight very happy people. The caretakers welcomed us with warnings about the bears in the area, not to leave rubbish outside etc, advice that was repeated often throughout our stay. Sean attended a bear awareness lecture at the track – what to do if you came across one, known bears in the area including the big boss of the bears Jeanie and the fact that training would be stopped if there was a bear sighting while we were sliding. Throughout the next two weeks various athletes and coaches reported seeing bears about, walking down the street, in the trees etc. with all this talk of bears we were disappointed that the closest we got in wildlife sighting was a couple of coyotes and a pair of racoons! Had we left Fiona to her own devices we might have had more luck in our bear search although it might have been a bit close to home. Nic swiftly removed the marshmallow that Fiona had left outside the door in the hope of enticing the racoons back, to prevent it attracting larger, less welcome guests – namely Jeanie and friends! Our first day was spent organising everything and getting better acquainted with the training facilities and the track. We all set off on a track walk together so that everyone, whether they were sliding or filming on the track would know the corners and layout of the track. The walk up was educational and serious, the walk back down however quickly turned into a snowball fight. Fiona was slated for being too rough by Sarah, whose retaliation to Fiona’s snowball was pathetic – with video evidence to prove it – she claims she threw much better ones when the camera wasn’t running! Jo M also complained that Fiona was throwing overly hard but the video again came in handy as it caught Fiona hurling a snowball at Jo only for Jo to take a run up and launch one back at Fiona – pot calling kettle black? Jo practised her footballing skills with snowballs while Fiona tried a different sport altogether. Jumping into the luge start she rocked herself backwards and forwards and lay down just as if she was a professional. The only slight problem was the absence of a luge and that her attempted imitation of steering with her feet gave away that she didn’t have a clue what she was doing! Back in the house to warm up we relaxed in the hot tub, got cosy infront of the fire that Sean had lit (it’s a man job!) and ate the excellent meal that Michelle had prepared. The food was fantastic all week and thanks go to our highly capable chefs Michelle and Jo J (with assistance from Sarah) for keeping us well fed. The first day of training featured one run from Damen start to get back into the feel of the track before we headed up to the top. Day one was a learning curve, only our second time on the track, getting to grips again with the speed and combinations of corners. A small amount of time was spent runner polishing on the evening after the first day’s training after Nic decided to take an unconventional line around curve 11, exploring the upper reaches of ice and concrete! In fact a lot of time was spent runner polishing while we were in Whistler as they were getting scratched, not by Nic’s driving, but by the fact it was so warm that the track workers were struggling to hold the ice on the track. We arrived early one morning, unloaded the sled at the top of the track, sent our runner guards down to the finish dock, checked the sled over, put the runners on and got ready for training only to find out that the braking straight was pretty much concrete and that training was cancelled. What ensued as around 100 athletes and staff simultaneously tried to locate their runner guards, which were coming back up from the finish dock on trucks, turn and load their sled and equipment onto a camion with no regard to etiquette or queuing, can only be described as chaos. Runner guards were hauled out of trucks and scraped across the front of the sleds waiting to load, sleds ran into each other as teams raced to be the first onto any available camion while we decided to leave them to it, staying in the background, waiting for the general melee to die down before we moved our sled anywhere. For the remainder of our time in Whistler the track workers managed to hold the ice together and training continued as normal. Nic and Gill got to know the track intimately as they crashed twice off corner 13, thankfully with no more than bumps and bruises, following which things just got better and better, everything coming together on the last day with our best two runs of the week. There was even some time to relax during our stay in Whistler. The team celebrated Halloween in their own ways with Sarah, Jo J, Fiona and Michelle getting into fancy dress and heading out for a party while Sean, Nic, Jo M and Gill passed on the dressing up and headed out for a quiet drink. Sean was however spotted sporting a witch earring and a witch’s hat during dinner, we have photographic evidence but it might ruin his street cred somewhat! The following day we were all treated to another party, this time a more sedate affair courtesy of Pandora jewellery, with drinks, nibbles and the company of several bobsleigh teams. We chatted to the Japanese about the difference in size of Japanese women and the rest of the athletes on the bobsleigh circuit. Manami, the Japanese driver, insisted that in Japan she is considered to be very big but at about 5 foot 3 most of the other athletes tower over her! We also got talking to the Jamaicans who were certainly enjoying the party, all the more so since they seemed to have acquired a limitless supply of free drink coupons! We left Whistler with a mystery unsolved. Things just kept disappearing, only to turn up a few days later somewhere unexpected. The missing plug adaptors were easily explained away. Since we were living in a house they had a habit of finding their way into someone else’s room when they couldn’t find their own and so the problem was then compounded by the owner of that adaptor taking someone else’s to replace it. Nic’s flip flops were less easily explained away as they vanished for several days despite an extensive search of both houses and then one day they just turned up again – we were beginning to suspect a poltergeist! Things came to a head when, after Jo J had made us some delicious jerk chicken and then put the leftovers on a plate in the fridge, she then came back the next day to find that two of the drumsticks had been nibbled and put back on the plate. Everyone denied any knowledge and dental inspections proved inconclusive so it must have been our invisible friend! The identity of our mystery guest was never solved but the problem of missing belongings has been relieved by a move back into hotel rooms – it makes it easier for everyone to stop their belongings from getting mixed up. The identity of the phantom chicken eater though……. now that one may never be resolved!
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