Team Trials 2008 - Part 1

SEMI-FINALS October 5 - October 11, 2008

(Disclaimer - things were crazy so we didn't get too many pictures. Our friends got some good ones and I'll put more up later when I get them.)

Semi-finals ended on Saturday, and it was a tense (but overall good) week!

Those of us not ranked in the top 8 nationally (I was 9th, Brad was 13th) and that qualified in Regionals in March had to race in the "semi-finals" in Lake Placid last week. The top 4 women and top 4 men from the semis would move on to the Team Trial finals, racing 2 races in Lake Placid and 2 races in Park City.

Originally, in the semi-final race were the 3 people from each region that qualified in Regionals, plus some additional sliders given waivers. A month or so before the race, additional sliders were added, including former World Cup and Olympic athletes, as well as the next 2 sliders from Regionals.

The top 8 athletes were also here, and so the volume of sliders made ice time difficult, so tensions were high over who would get priority for ice time. Frustration over the one-race format of the semis was expressed. Tension was also felt over the highly prized top 4 spots, especially considering that the men were essentially racing for only 2 spots; a former Olympian and former World Cup slider were shoe-ins for the first 2. For the women, we were in a similar situation; the World Champion 2 years ago and a former World Cup athlete were also shoe-ins. But, due to taking a year off from sliding, these top athletes had to jump through the hoops with the rest of us, so there was nothing to do but fight for one of the 2 remaining spots.

It was beautiful though, with full fall colors showing. Here is the track winding through the forest:

The first days of training were a wreck for me.

Day 1, I "pulled a Brad" and ran over my heel with the bunk of my sled when loading, causing the sled to rotate under me so that I landed with my ribs square on the saddle. Luckily, my heel and my ribs were just bruised, but sliding with bruised ribs is no picnic!

Day 2, my ribs hurt so badly I was in tears at the finish, and so the USOC doctor sent me to the hospital for x-rays just to be safe. Just bruised, but excruciating. Equally excruciating were my times - newer sliders were handily beating me!

Day 3, the docs taped my ribs and, oddly enough, my finish times improved dramatically! The newer sliders were still faster, but I was feeling more confident.

Day 4 practice was canceled due to rain and melting ice, but Day 5 (last day of practice) I felt almost back to my normal self, with my finish times placing me ahead of my competition, even with an almost-crash out of 17 and sliding through 18 on my shoulder. Phew!

Still, i was feeling super nervous, so my awesome roommate/teammate and another good friend slider/teammate surprised me with this the night before the race, with toys & chocolate & a really supportive note (I love those two chicas! Talk about good team spirit!):


Race day, Saturday, my first run was better than practice the day before, but my speeds were a hair too low, though I did end up in 4th place after a crash by another slider took her out. Second run, I decided to change a steer and push it a bit to try for better speeds, a silly thing to do on race day! As a result, I was too high and almost crashed out of Shady, almost identical to the crash I had LAST year in Trials! You would think I'd have learned....no? No matter, I was still solidly in 4th place, securing a spot in the Finals. Phew!

Unfortunately, Brad wasn't so lucky. During practice, he was smoking the competition, even one of the shoe-ins! I was so proud! His form was good, his speeds were great, his starts were fast, the training was paying off, and he was looking solidly safe for the top 4...

...but then he put his race runners on and, oh no, the cut was not the same as the practice runners! Well, they were supposed to be the same, but they were "re-cuts," meaning they had been a different cut, then modified into the cut Brad liked, and re-cut runners aren't always exactly the same. In Brad's case, he had way less control than the practice runners and felt like he was sliding on marbles! He came in 7th, though it's a sign of his skill that with such train wrecks of runs he was only 8 hundredths of a second out of 5th place, and only 4 tenths out of the magic fourth spot, but still, as he says it's a hollow victory and he isn't sliding in the Finals. Sigh.

Brad, getting ready for his first run on the new sled:


His new sled, on its virgin run:


More cowbell!