WC 6 - St. Moritz
The journey to St Moritz was a short one in comparison to all the previous journeys, only about 4 hours. Nic, Jo, Kat and Gill left first and Jackie, Gomer and Pete followed on after watching the 4 man race.
Nic was excited to be going to St Moritz as she has always driven well there a good result at this track looked like it was on the cards based on past results!!
Our newfound love of early mornings was really put to the test with 8am training sessions. The early starts coupled with the fact that at that time in the morning it was absolutely freezing was the only down fall of training in St Moritz. We looked out with interest every morning as we passed the temperature gauge on the track which was usually somewhere between -13 and -16.
It wasn’t so bad for the brakemen as they could retreat into the start house but for the others, especially coaches and those on video, it was a pretty cold experience with all the standing around during training sessions. Plenty of layers and a flask of coffee were a must.
Kat was the most adept at scoring cups of coffee from the other nations on track, always seeming to find a kindly soul who would take pity on her. She tried to repay the favour in the café at the top of the track by treating several people to a hot drink only to discover that at inflated St. Moritz prices she didn’t have enough money. The Dutch gentleman she was supposedly treating was a little disgruntled to have to chip in to cover the bill!
We were joined this week by Mark, Nic’s coach from the EIS in Sheffield who is going to become the lead on bobsleigh and wanted to see first hand exactly what the sport entails. He seemed to have a good time and picked up a lot during his visit unfortunately including the stomach bug which was doing the rounds amongst the team! Those that succumbed to the sickness had the dubious consolation of being able to devote even more time to watching terrible TV than the rest of the team. With only three channels in English viewing choice was limited to say the least. On the plus side some of the shows were so bad they were almost good, one or two becoming regular viewing during physio sessions!
It was quite an intense week of sliding as we had two races to fit in due to the inclusion of the rescheduled Cesana race which had been cancelled before Christmas. Nic decided not to have a race off between Gill and Jackie but split the load, using Jackie for the make up race and Gill for the St Moritz race and European champs. Training had been going well with Nic getting to grips with the track really well and we just knew we were going to have some fantastic races!
The race on Thursday was not until 1pm so we got our first lay in!! We had been playing at being superstitious, noting the similarities between the preparation for the race in Konigssee, where we had done so well, and what had been happening this week. The only thing we thought we couldn’t recreate was the episode with the horse and cart blocking the way on race morning – how wrong we were! When we got to the garage to load the sled we found that we were again blocked in, not by a horse and cart but by three separate vehicles! A lorry delivering beer to the hotel blocked the main road out, another route was blocked by a street maintenance vehicle and, as the final straw, someone had parked their car across the only other road out while they made a delivery! Jackie and Nic finished loading the van while Gill ran to try and find the driver of the car to ask him to move. Growing impatient when the driver didn’t appear Nic looked inside the car and, finding the keys still in the ignition, jumped in and moved it herself to allow Jackie to drive the van through. Just as she was getting out of the car the driver reappeared. I don’t think he was too happy about having his car moved but we were out and ready to go and race!
We were drawn 3rd which is usually a good draw but there is an anomaly in St Moritz that means the track speeds up as the day goes on! Nic and Jackie had a good start and, after a near perfect first run, were in joint 1st position, tied with Germany 1. We were feeling very confident and raring to go for the second heat, having never been in this position before. Germany 2 pulled out the fastest run of the day to move ahead and Germany 1 had another good run meaning we finished in 3rd place. Another top 3 finish, giving us confidence for World Cup Number 6 and the European Championships the next day.
Friday was another early start with the race at 9am and this time there were no obstacles in the way of getting to the track. Gill was in the back for this race and after the first run we were in 3rd place behind Kiriasis of Germany 1 and Humphries of Canada 2. In a repeat of Thursday’s race, Martini of Germany 2 once again put in a good second heat to move ahead of Team Minichiello but the girls held their 3rd place position, Canada 2 crashing on their second run. Germany 1 took their second win in two days with an excellent second run finishing 0.96 seconds clear of their team mates in 2nd.
Loaded up with prizes from four podium finishes in the space of a week we hit the road again, this time heading home to load our crate for shipping to Vancouver for the North American leg of the season.
Nic was excited to be going to St Moritz as she has always driven well there a good result at this track looked like it was on the cards based on past results!!
Our newfound love of early mornings was really put to the test with 8am training sessions. The early starts coupled with the fact that at that time in the morning it was absolutely freezing was the only down fall of training in St Moritz. We looked out with interest every morning as we passed the temperature gauge on the track which was usually somewhere between -13 and -16.
It wasn’t so bad for the brakemen as they could retreat into the start house but for the others, especially coaches and those on video, it was a pretty cold experience with all the standing around during training sessions. Plenty of layers and a flask of coffee were a must.
Kat was the most adept at scoring cups of coffee from the other nations on track, always seeming to find a kindly soul who would take pity on her. She tried to repay the favour in the café at the top of the track by treating several people to a hot drink only to discover that at inflated St. Moritz prices she didn’t have enough money. The Dutch gentleman she was supposedly treating was a little disgruntled to have to chip in to cover the bill!
We were joined this week by Mark, Nic’s coach from the EIS in Sheffield who is going to become the lead on bobsleigh and wanted to see first hand exactly what the sport entails. He seemed to have a good time and picked up a lot during his visit unfortunately including the stomach bug which was doing the rounds amongst the team! Those that succumbed to the sickness had the dubious consolation of being able to devote even more time to watching terrible TV than the rest of the team. With only three channels in English viewing choice was limited to say the least. On the plus side some of the shows were so bad they were almost good, one or two becoming regular viewing during physio sessions!
It was quite an intense week of sliding as we had two races to fit in due to the inclusion of the rescheduled Cesana race which had been cancelled before Christmas. Nic decided not to have a race off between Gill and Jackie but split the load, using Jackie for the make up race and Gill for the St Moritz race and European champs. Training had been going well with Nic getting to grips with the track really well and we just knew we were going to have some fantastic races!
The race on Thursday was not until 1pm so we got our first lay in!! We had been playing at being superstitious, noting the similarities between the preparation for the race in Konigssee, where we had done so well, and what had been happening this week. The only thing we thought we couldn’t recreate was the episode with the horse and cart blocking the way on race morning – how wrong we were! When we got to the garage to load the sled we found that we were again blocked in, not by a horse and cart but by three separate vehicles! A lorry delivering beer to the hotel blocked the main road out, another route was blocked by a street maintenance vehicle and, as the final straw, someone had parked their car across the only other road out while they made a delivery! Jackie and Nic finished loading the van while Gill ran to try and find the driver of the car to ask him to move. Growing impatient when the driver didn’t appear Nic looked inside the car and, finding the keys still in the ignition, jumped in and moved it herself to allow Jackie to drive the van through. Just as she was getting out of the car the driver reappeared. I don’t think he was too happy about having his car moved but we were out and ready to go and race!
We were drawn 3rd which is usually a good draw but there is an anomaly in St Moritz that means the track speeds up as the day goes on! Nic and Jackie had a good start and, after a near perfect first run, were in joint 1st position, tied with Germany 1. We were feeling very confident and raring to go for the second heat, having never been in this position before. Germany 2 pulled out the fastest run of the day to move ahead and Germany 1 had another good run meaning we finished in 3rd place. Another top 3 finish, giving us confidence for World Cup Number 6 and the European Championships the next day.
Friday was another early start with the race at 9am and this time there were no obstacles in the way of getting to the track. Gill was in the back for this race and after the first run we were in 3rd place behind Kiriasis of Germany 1 and Humphries of Canada 2. In a repeat of Thursday’s race, Martini of Germany 2 once again put in a good second heat to move ahead of Team Minichiello but the girls held their 3rd place position, Canada 2 crashing on their second run. Germany 1 took their second win in two days with an excellent second run finishing 0.96 seconds clear of their team mates in 2nd.
Loaded up with prizes from four podium finishes in the space of a week we hit the road again, this time heading home to load our crate for shipping to Vancouver for the North American leg of the season.
