Altenberg

Altenberg World Cup and European Championships.

After all having Christmas at home, we set of at 4am on New Years Day for the drive across Europe to Germany.

Gill has joined up with the team again after being on Europa Cup and Kelly has gone to St Moritz, Switzerland, to race with our GB2 Driver.

Altenberg nicknamed “Altensmash”, thankfully did not live up to it’s reputation for Great Britain.
We had a good weeks sliding on the track where Paula and Kelly Thomas qualified for the Vancouver Olympic Games.

There has been much amusement this week in the girls room with Bec’s Gok Won toiletries, which seemed to cheer Paula up! The maid finding stones in Gills bed (not sure about that one!) and Paula being extremely happy about the shoe horn she found!

We have also figured out areas of weakness, and so to survive Team Walker:

1. Don’t click the keys on your laptop after 9pm…
2. Don’t eat crisps next to Gill on a plane…
3. Don’t tell Bex her calves look big in striped socks!

As the weather deteriorated towards the end of the week, we prayed that it would not snow on race day. Luckily it did not and Paula and Bex had two good runs finishing in their best ever result of 8th place on World Cup and 7th in the European Championships.
Their starts were ranked 8th and 6th in the world.

We stayed to watch Team Jackson in the 2man event on Saturday, who finished with a solid result in 14th. A one lauf race, due to the weather.

Onto Konigssee now for round 5.

Hope you all had a good christmas and new year…

Love Team Walker

x

WC 2&3 La Plagne and Winterberg

World Cup 2, La Plagne

And the snow begins!!

After a treacherous drive through the mountains in blizzard conditions, Paula, Bex and Kel made it to La Plagne first ahead of pete who was in the car! Victory! We were joined by Team Jackson, the Great Britain mens 1st Team, who were competing on Europa Cup for the first few races of the season.

La Plagne was put onto to World Cup Circuit at the last minute, after Cesana could no longer hold the competition.

It was the first time Paula had driven this track after only being here as a brakeman, but thankfully our coach Peter Gunn was the British Champion here several years ago and therefore knew the track well.

Most mornings began with a shovel, de-icer and ice scrappers to get the van out.

After a tough week with only 6 runs to learn the track, the girls gained another top 10 result.

World Cup 3, Winterberg

Even though we do a winter sport, snow is extremely annoying!!

Trying to get up the hill to the track proved impossible as the wheels just spun round. Looking up the hill our boys were having the same problem 100mts ahead and two other nations behind us!
Needless to say training was postponed two hours because of the weather!

Trying again later, training got under way and the usual routine of moving sleds and polishing runners began again.
Winterberg isn’t a favoured track of Team Walker, but the little hut half way down the track, with hot chocolate and chocolate waffles keeps us going!!

Race day came, and brought with it terrible weather for competing. It was luck of the draw who hit a break in the poor conditions and got a good run and who felt the brunt of storm.
As a result, times varied massively, with the two major incidents including Canada’s Kaille Humphreys dropping from 2nd to 10th and the Australian sled going from a 6.08 start to a 6.60 in the second lauf.

Our team finished in 12th place, which the girls were a little disappointed with but all in all not a bad start to the first half of the season…

Home for Christmas.

World Cup, Igls

World Cup Race 1
Igls, Austria

The first half of the World Cup season in Europe began with a 12 hour drive from the Eurotunnel to Igls. A Big Thankyou to Hendy Hire for the Van, Maximus was tucked up in bed in the back with all of our kit to hit the road.

Bex and Kelly had fallen asleep in the van before we even left the UK!

Bex managed a minor panic at border control… Ahhh where is my passport! Deja Vu?
It was however next to her, but that didn’t stop the 5 minutes in the back of the van having a major panic!!

Paula drove the first 350 mile stint… 70miles left in the tank…. 16miles left in the tank, 4 miles left in the tank…. Ohhhhhh dear…. Pete saves the day with a tow rope to the next garage!

We got to the hotel at 23.00hrs and met Chris who had flown in from Winterberg where he had been with our Europa Cup Athletes.

The next morning Track Walks began for Paula; Bex and Kel got the bob ready for sliding, checking bolts, axels, runners…
The week soon passed by with training, sliding and in the garage doing work on Maximus. Most evening ended with a read of a magazine supplied by Paula’s Grandma!

Race Day

The first run Paula and Bex pushed their best start time of 5.68 and came down in 54.38. Placing them 11th. The girls managed to gain a place after the 2nd Run, starting a 5.68 and coming down in 54.12. Final Result 10th.

Paula’s trip in the braking straight proceeded by her infamous victory
dance made the race highlights, as did her hiding bex face in the winners box!

The Union Jack Lip Tattoos were a big success with pictures wanted at the finish dock and all in all Race 1 was complete with a good result for the start of the season.

Next stop La Plagne, France…

Live Coverage on Eurosport, Friday 9th December.

Americas Cup

Our competitive season has now begun with two Americas Cup races in Park City, Utah.
Two separate races spread over two days, Team Walker were victorious and came away with two Gold medals, beating the track record holder and Olympic Silver Medallist of the 2006 games, as well as the silver medal winner of the 2010 Olympic Games.

Paula and Brakeman Rebekah Wilson, whom won the World Juniors on this track in February, took the 1st place finish on day one with the fastest start time. Day two saw Paula with Kelly Denyer on the brakes, her debut race with GB’s number 1 driver.

As the competitive season is now underway, the weeks begin to get extremely busy on and off the ice.
Alot of time is spent in the garage with music on and a brew, preparing race runners with varying grades of sand paper and ensuring all alignment and mechanics are correct.
Jemma has us all booked in for Physio to ensure we are all in the best shape possible and now has Union Jack Tape! BOOM!!
We have qualification runs to ensure we are eligible to race and of course our hair, make up and nails must be done for race day!!
You can see the attitudes of everyone change as they get themselves focussed for competing, bags packed and early nights!

Peter Gunn, head ice coach, is the main man on race day. He likes to think he’s the main man every other day but sharing a house with 5 girls he doesn’t have a chance!! Pete ensures race runners are on and all work on the bob is complete in the correct time and puts the bob on the ice so that we can concentrate on getting ready.
Our Performance Director, Gary Anderson flew out to support us, as did Performance Manager Chris Woolley. They treated the team to a gorgeous meal to celebrate the wins. Steak all round!

We now move onto Lake Placid for another week on ice and will be staying in the Olympic Training Centre.

Not long now before World Cup begins…

Bring it on!

Park City

Now in Park City, we love it here, 
Plenty of shopping and designer gear!

Out on the track sliding’s going brill,
Paula in the driving seat with Bex, Kel and Gill. 

KBC helmets with union jack, 
Matching Beck’s seat she’s made in the back.

Gill’s finished her puzzle didn’t take her long 
And Kelly seems to know the name of every song! 

Paula of course is in her pink socks,
And has well and truly pimped out our tool box!

We are all in good spirits and having fun, 
Even with the jokes from Mr Peter Gunn! 

Sad Times

The rest of the Womens Great Britain Bobsleigh Team are in Team Walkers thoughts right now…

We hope that both our team mates make a speedy recovery.

Times like these make you remember how dangerous our sport can sometimes be! However like in all sports these things unfortunately do happen, but we are all aware of them from the offset.

Good luck to all those that will be competing in the British Championships!

Team Walker Season Underway in Calgary

Lunchbox, check. Passport, check. Phew!

Team Walker’s season is officially underway with training in Calgary, although not without some drama before we even got on the plane. We all travelled into Heathrow from around the country, the majority (Paula, Bex, Kelly and Pete) getting a taxi from Paula’s house. Bex jumped in the taxi at 4am proudly brandishing her new lunchbox packed with snacks for the journey and off they set for the airport. Arriving at Heathrow it quickly became apparent that there was a major problem. While Bex had successfully brought her lunchbox she had forgotten her rucksac. Anything important in that rucksac? Only her passport!

Cue Jacko turning into knight in shining armour (or something like that), jumping into the car and racing the passport from Bath to Heathrow with just 2 hours to get there before check in closed. With up to the minute progress reports appearing on facebook and twitter there was quite an audience tuned in to the unfolding drama (she is not going to live this down for a loooong time!) As the minutes ticked by everyone else checked in and left to go through security, leaving Bex all alone to wait on the passport (hopefully) arriving.

With just 5 minutes to spare, Jacko pulled up at the airport, handed over the passport and Bex ran to check in. Panic over, we all got on the plane and hopefully that’s the biggest drama of this season out of the way!

Now all present, correct and arrived in Calgary it was time to get down to some training. First on the agenda was picking up our sled and heading to the track for the first runs of the 2011/12 season. Because of the passport fiasco Bex had been nominated for the ‘suicide’ run and on this occasion it was exactly that as Paula crashed at corner 8. Both girls were fine and back it was to the start for another run which went much better. Since the slight hiccough on that first run the runs have been getting better and better as Paula adjusts to the different steering in this sled. The only difficulties now are resurrecting the runners after each sliding session and keeping our pristine white sled white. The sled seems to attract dirt, grease and dust and the runners look as if they’ve been scraped across rocks after every run the scratches are so deep. Gill, Bex and Kelly are really loving the daily runner polishing while Paula is on her track walk with Pete!

The evenings are a chance to unwind and have time together as a team over a meal with plenty of choice near to the hotel. After a particularly good meal at the local Red Lobster we decided to go back the following night only to find there had been a fire during the night and it was closed. Sadly, despite our repeated visits to see if it has reopened, it has remained closed but the Thai restaurant just down the road has more than made up for it. The food is amazing and the staff are incredibly helpful – even providing free ice cream one night and giving us a sample of a fish dish on another – great service. Kelly and Paula did discover on our first visit however that if the menu says spicy noodles, it means spicy noodles, especially if you ask for them extra hot. A lot of water was consumed on that occasion!

So now it’s down to the routine of sliding, physical training and physio with Jemma (a great spectator sport for those with sadistic tendencies!) Nightly games of Rummikub and cards also feature and Bex is filling any spare moment making Scoobie bracelets for everyone – keeps her out of trouble anyway (mostly!)

A change in routine did catch Jemma out when, for the first time since we have been out here, we had a slightly early start. When we hadn’t seen her at breakfast and she still hadn’t appeared two minutes before we were supposed to be leaving, Paula was dispatched to find out where she was. Paula knocked and slowly the door opened to reveal a hand shielding the light followed by what looked like a zombie. No, Halloween had not come early, Jemma had just overslept! A quick change later and she managed to meet us just in time to go to training. She’s used up her one punctuality lifeline now so we expect her to be bang on time from now on – or Pete will get grumpy!

A few more days here and then it’s on to Park City where we’ll be joined by staff from British Bobsleigh and some of the men’s team. We’ve heard the shopping’s pretty good too……..

British bobsleigh train with world elite in Dallas

Members of the British Bobsleigh team will travel to the Michael Johnson Performance Centre in Mckinney, Dallas Texas to begin pre season training later this week for 10 days.
The centre owned by 4-time Olympic Gold medallist Michael Johnson, boasts state of the art facilities and world class coaches that will enable the team to ensure that they are physically prepared for the new 2011- 12 season.

World Junior Bobsleigh Champion, Paula Walker is looking forward to going to the centre. She says: “I’m very excited to go to the Michael Johnson Performance Centre. It will give us an opportunity to focus on power force development under the supervision of top quality coaches, in an environment where we are totally focused as a team”

Facilities at the Michael Johnson centre include a 6,000 sq foot indoor synthetic turf training field, a four lane indoor track, Nike SST sport vision training lab and full medical support.

Team Walker wins world junior bobsleigh title

British No.1 bobsleigh driver Paula Walker won the Junior World Championships at the Park City track in Utah, USA yesterday.
Paula Walker aided by Rebekah Wilson piloted her sled to the finish with a combined time of 1:39.78. US Olympic bronze medallist Elana Meyers came 2nd while Stefanie Szczurke from Germany finished 3rd.
Corporal Paula Walker who nearly pulled out of the competition because her dad was in hospital said:

“I’m ecstatic with this result. We have been aiming for this competition since the summer and to finally see the union flag rise as No.1 is brilliant. This has always been a dream of mine and I couldn’t have done it without my coach Pete Gunn, Gary Anderson the performance director and the rest of British Bobsleigh who made this all possible. I also wouldn’t have achieved this without the support of my family and my partner John Jackson. This result also means a lot to me personally as it was a difficult decision to make to leave my family with my father being so ill back at home.”

British Bobsleigh performance director Gary Anderson praised the team he said: “This was our target event for the women’s squad. It was an emphatic victory and shows the potential we have. We have exceeded our performance targets in year 1 of this Olympic cycle. That means we now re-evaluate and set our targets even higher. I am delighted for Paula and Rebekah, they know now that these standards must continue and have proved they are capable, this was a very strong championships with a number of crews achieving top 6 places in the senior World Cup.“
The men’s junior team, driver Will Golder and brakeman Kevan Crowell finished 12th in their race at the Park City track on Saturday 5th February.
The Britannia Rescue British Bobsleigh teams will now move to Konigssee, Germany for the World Championships taking place on 18th February 2011.
Paula Walker’s team for this event will be brakewomen Rebekah Wilson and Kelly Thomas.
Looking ahead to the event, Paula Walker said: “Konigssee is a difficult track for me but I am confident in my ability to learn and I know my team Rebekah Wilson and Kelly Thomas are on top form. Along with the advice of my coach Pete Gunn I’m sure we can get another credible result.”
The women’s GBR 2 team that will also compete at the World Championships includes driver Fiona Harrison with brakewomen Gillian Cooke and Victoria Olaoye.

Athletes that have been selected for the men’s team are driver John Jackson with brakemen Dan Money and Bruce Taker. John Jackson and Dan Money were the 1st British men ever to win Gold in the Europa Cup competition last month. The GBR 2 team will be Lamin Deen and brakeman Rich Sharman.
Dave Smith and Chris Woolley will join John Jackson, Dan Money and Bruce Tasker for the 4 man event.

British no.1 driver now ranked 8th in world

Following 4 top 10 finishes in the World Cup this season, British No.1 Bobsleigh Driver Paula Walker is now ranked joint 8th in the world.

Paula Walker aided by brakewomen Kelly Thomas and Rebekah Wilson completed the 1st half of the season with 10th place in both the 3rd and 4th races of the World Cup in Lake Placid at the weekend. Both races in the World Cup took place in Lake Placid after the scheduled one in Park City was cancelled the previous week due to poor weather conditions. They were both won by German duo Sandra Kiriasis and Stephanie Schneider.
Paula Walker who was ranked 15th at the beginning of the season is now feeling very confident going in the next half of the season although she admits there is no added pressure on her to perform.
She says: “I’m very much a person who expects a lot from myself, so in terms of goals and pressure nothing has changed. We have demonstrated a great trend with our results going from 35th, 21st, 15th to 11th in the Olympics and now consistent top 10s. So the future is looking very bright!”

British Bobsleigh Performance Director Gary Anderson is also very pleased with Paula’s consistent top 10 finishes so far. He said: “As our performance target for the whole season was a Top 12 FIBT ranking and two top 10 finishes, now that we have achieved a 8th place ranking in the world and 4 top 10 finishes in World Cup half way through the season, it is very satisfying.”
Looking ahead to the next half of the season he says: “We are constantly reviewing our targets and we know exactly where we need to be on our performance plan to reach our ultimate goal of an Olympic gold medal in Sochi 2014. We are constantly seeking the performance edge. Our next milestone event is the World Junior Championships in February where we are targeted for a top 4 finish, if we targeted for a top 4 we might as well say that’s a podium place needed so that’s the target.”
Corporal Paula Walker who was also recently awarded the British Army’s Sportswoman of the year 2010 will next race in the New Year as the World Cup moves to Igls, Austria on 10th – 16th January 2011.