British Selection Race 2 - Cesana 2007

2nd place! So overall joint first with Kristan Bromley in the British Rankings for the selection of this seasons World Cup team. Goal achieved...although.....I had a great first run and was in first place until some minor problems driving my second run left me 2nd! I think that's healthy for an athlete - to always want to do better! There was drama in the selection of 3rd place, as Andy Wood and Adam Pengilly had a one run race off! Adam got it by a few tenths of a seond! But we're starting to show real strength in depth in the British mens team! So back in the UK for 5 days before the American World Cup Races before Christmas!

British Selection Race 1 - Winterberg 2007

I won! Great start to this seasons campaign in a very close race. All through training the top 5 World Cup qualified athletes had been battling it out, in the knowledge that first across the line win the 3 spots available on the World Tour! Anyone could have taken first place, and next weeks race in Cesana, Italy looks to be another hotly contested affair, where the results will be added to todays results to decide the overall British rankings for the 2007/8 season!
On another note: as I'm holistically trying to assess the ecological impact of my participation in Skeleton throughout my sporting career, I'd like to nominate a word to our team kit sponsors Adidas, who's link to their Environment and Sustainability policies I have provided in the links on the right. I feel they take consideration of environmental issues seriously and are at least thinking about it and looking for solutions. I think they will respond to what I feel is a growing market for sustainably produced 'greener' products! As I progress towards podium finishes on a World level, I may, as a professional athlete, be able in some capacity to influence these policies in an even more positive direction?!

2007/8 SEASON

The season is underway!! I'm printed on the side of our team bus! And looking forward to selection races over the next couple of weeks! We're in Norway at the moment, and move to Germany and Italy soon for races on the 1st and 10th Nov respectively! The top 3 ranked British guys and top 2 girls go onto World Cup - I hope to be one of them (the guys that is!!)

Carbon Offsetting

Is carbon offsetting worthwhile? First up, watch An Inconvenient Truth....
Climate Change is happening due to human actions - and that includes Skeleton!! The debate on the value of Carbon Offsetting is whether you actually contribute to something that wouldn't happen without your help, and whether your contribution actually 'cancels out' the pollution your actions created. I've decided that making a financial contribution to a 'genuine' CO2 offsetting programme will have more environmental benefit than if I did nothing - although admittedly not as much as not flying at all! The competition season has us travelling a lot (9 seperate locations around the world in 2006/7). Using www.climatecare.org my flights were calculated to have emitted 5.97 tonnes of CO2 - equivalent to the annual emissions of an average UK house (although at altitude this has a worse effect on global warming!) In the UK I use the train and cycle a lot, my business is also orientated around improving the energy efficiency of the UK housing stock - it is an issue I'm very aware of. I believe success in Skeleton will give me a platform from which to have a positive influence on these issues, until then I'll continue to look for more inovative ways to reduce my own personal carbon footprint.

Konigsee World Cup 2007

The season finale was the best event yet – with a local crowd and great group of supporters from home. I finished 20th after having problems skidding out of the spur! The encouraging thing is that I’m able to get a second run, even on a bad day! Overall, with all the points added up I’m 10th in the world. I’m looking forward to next season already, and to doing well! But for now it’s time to go home back to Bristol and get some quality training done! After some extra time in Igls coaching the Navy and testing some new runners. I’ll give a spring and summer report on progress, so keep checking and linking to my business website, which should be transforming in early summer too :)

Winterberg World Cup 2007

Top 10's are always good and I squeezed in with 10th place - my overall world ranking is now bumped up to 9th (just 1 point behind 8th with one race left to go next week!) And considering how traing had gone (you get 6 training runs in the days preceding the race at each track) it was actually one of my best performances to date! On the last day of training my runs felt ok but I was well off the pace with a 20th place!! No panic - there's always a reason when things don't go well, and on further investigation a support bar had come loose in my sled. I'm learning to put these difficulties, technical or otherwise, to the back of my mind and perform well - which I did! The picture is of me and Alexander Tretiakov with the BIG beer he got for winning the race! Thanks to Peter Wood for the photo, and supporting the rest of the team out here (his son Andy Wood was also competing for Great Britain - see his Skeleton blog in my links!).

Cesana World Cup 2007

7th place! My second top ten of the season, which bumps me up to 10th in the overall world rankings. I had an extra week in Italy while the rest of the team went home, which helped my result, as Cesana is probably the most technically difficult track in the world! A word to the weather (again!): it’s been so warm here that all the athletes were outside changing in the sun! There has been very little snow, I’m sure February in the Alps should be colder than this! The picture was taken on a day off at the beach, two hours away from the track, and it’s an ode to The Endless Summer surf film! It’s a great place here with warm seas and sun so close to mountains and snow – as long as they keep getting snow! Skeleton is a winter sport after all!