St. Moritz, Switzerland, if you have ever been it is one of the most beautiful locations in the world to slide in. If you haven’t been look it up, and trust me here the pictures does not do it justice! What a setting for the first Europa cup race of the season. I have been to this track many times as a breakwoman and always loved its natural track smoothness, quietness and fastness. I have previously stayed on at the end of season to help with the taxi bob’s which is always fun. Watching everyone’s reactions from the back seat around the corners and how they handle the g-forces can be quite a laugh.
This week presented it's first opportunity for me to compete with the monobob sled. It’s a discipline that is fairly new to women’s bobsleigh and is now standard for all World Cup and Europa Cup pilots to compete in both. Getting your hands on a monobob sled however, was proving very difficult until now, so I leapt at the chance to use it and start the journey into understanding how these sleds drive and handle. Watching from the side lines over the last couple of seasons, I know they can have a mind of their own and sometimes be a little wild. So, it was time to sit in and see what I could do.
Well after 2 training runs, and yes that is only 2 runs in the sled ever, I had qualified for the race. It may have been a race, but for me at this moment in time was a chance to use it as another 2 training runs. The more training runs you have, the more experience you gain and ultimately the better you will be. In a field of 20 I came 15th, and with 2 tidier runs I was happy. As the experience grows of course I’ll be looking to push for a podium finish!
The day after the monbob it was the 2 woman race. It was another beautiful cold day in St.Moritz, training has gone well in the new sled – recently named ‘Stingray’ by everyone – and it sure did put the sting in the speed!
After the first run of the race and with the second highest speed I sat in 3rd position in a good field. I was thrilled with my first run, but it's about consistency in a race. Could I repeat it on the second? We managed a faster start on the second run, but was beat to 4th by only 0.04secs! It was so close! I was pleased with
my run, I knew there were a couple of places that cost me that third position so naturally I was gutted when I crossed the finish line. Ironic, when it's your best finish ever, but that’s the competitor in me. In a few days I’ll be proud of that achievement. I mean I did get the fastest speed out of the horseshoe corner on the second run so I will take that!
And with that, and a wider podium medal around my neck, Yuki and my team head on up to Norway to join the World Cup in Lillehammer! Let’s take the speedy stingray momentum and carry it into next week!
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