Igls Europa Cup - Races

Sorry I'm so late posting this! 6+ hours of racing at the track was followed by the awards ceremony, followed by packing, followed by a little sleeping and then driving and then flying and then jet-lag and then work...

Anyway, the postponed racing on Saturday went better than we expected. The weather was "cooperating" more...by dumping RAIN on us instead of SNOW. While miserable, rain would provide more equal racing conditions for each slider, instead of piling up snow that slowed the track with each minute that passed.

The snow from the day before quickly turned into slush, which made warming up almost a non-occurance. The slush:


Cassie and I both took a little snooze instead. (We did eventually warm up, we just had a lot of time on our hands before racing was to start.)


We were a little concerned that a machine (snowplow? snowblower?) was parked in the track, with ice melting around it, but the crew brought up a crane to lift it out, which made for entertaining viewing.


I don't have any pictures of us sliding or starting, since a) I didn't want to take the camera out in the rain (it started raining harder) and b) our start times were all so close together that there wasn't time to run upstairs and get it. Sorry!

It was really crazy though, since each run counted as an individual race, so I was feeling a lot of pressure. In between runs, I colored as a mindless stress reliever. My first picture was this flower, and the next was a princess's bedroom (since it was on the other side). I know, silly, but it helped!


As for the races themselves, I feel pretty good about them.

1. My first run was not nearly perfect, but I was able to keep relaxed and recover from the little blunders for an 8th place finish. Only a few hundredths of a second from 7th too!
2. Second run was, well, a lot less perfect! It was my fault too...for the first run the ice was really soft so I had set my runners for the softer ice. In between runs, I decided to leave the runners set that way, then it got colder and they cranked the refrigeration plant and the ice was quickly a lot harder. Runners set for soft ice don't work so well on hard ice, so I was skidding all over the place, for a 14th place finish. It really could have been worse, so I'm still happy with that time.
3. I reset my runners for the harder ice between runs 2 and 3, pushed off with a 5.64 push (the 3rd fastest push of the race by the way), and stayed relaxed and on my game for my personal best time of 57.00! Still not perfect but much better, but still only good enough for 8th. Shrug, personal bests occurring in a race isn't something to scoff at so I'm super stoked by it anyway!

The boys did really well too, splitting the races three ways due to a third US athlete coming over. While Cassie and I each had three races, the boys each had two:

• Luke pulled two top tens
• Ellis winning! one race and 7th in the other
• Daly winning! one race and 6th in the other

Podium shots of the boys. I'm starting to get a little jealous, especially considering the awesome hardware the boys got (vases and beer glasses anyone???)...the girls need some podiums!!! I'll work on that for second half....






With their backs showing as they listen to the anthem and watch the flag raising.






Daly being presented with his first place by Rolang, one of my favorite jury members.


Here's a shot that I thought was cool of the women for one of the podiums. They are watching the flag raising, and you can see either the county name or flag for each nation.


It was a good day, all in all, and good racing. Though I hope we never have the one-run format again! With that 14th place run, I could have climbed up several places if there was a second run, so there is no room for mistakes in this format! I mean, it was an interesting experience, but I like having the opportunity to improve (or get worse, it works both ways, but still).

Now, it's bye bye Europe until the end of January, when we go back for second half.

PS...Merry Christmas!