Well I have settled back into the normal life now after returning from a 12 week hectic campaign. All in all the results were pretty good, but on adjusted placing in the end we ranked 31st. We needed to be ranked 30th to be selected by the AOC. Duncan injured his knee during warmup and wasn’t able to compete, so our main powerhouse was on the sidelines. I was originally scheduled to sit in the for the 2nd race, not the 1st, so I had to get myself ready so Dunc could get his knee right for the 2nd race later in the day. It was Stu at 2, me at 3 and Ant at 4. We had a pretty good start, but were seeking more. Off w went. These were to be our last 2 races of the year. They didn’t quite go to plan. Our last 2 races saw 2 crashes, one in the 1st heat of race 1 and the other in the only heat of race2. Our splits were looking pretty good in the end, we were heading for a top 5 or 6 place in the 1st race, then on the 2nd last corner, and we went over, washing off all our speed and momentum. We all crossed the line still in the sled, so the run counted towards the 2nd heat. We sat in 16th spot out of 16 sleds. Having said that, a few other teams crashed too and didn’t cross the line, so our placing was elevated to 13th spot. Brazil was disqualified after the 1st heart run, they weighed in overweight, we now sat in 11th out of 12 sleds with only Jamaica behind us. We still crossed the line faster than them and we were on our heads! Unfortunately Stu sustained a suspected broken collarbone in the crash. He was persistent to continue the 2nd heat run. So we composed ourselves and got ready for the 2nd run. Stu was in obvious pain and did all to hide it, but we could tell by his face and also the push time that he was hurt pretty bad. We took off and finished the run in a pretty respectable time, but it wasn’t fast enough to elevate our placing of the combined time above 11th place.
Later that day saw the 2nd race, this time as only a single heat race. My cold was still bad enough to inhibit my performance, so I opted to sit out the race and allow someone to take my place that was fitter and could contribute more to the team. Stu sat out in the 2nd race as did I, Dunc’s knee was feeling better and was able to push again. Ant was riding brakes, Dunc at 3 and Heath from the Aust II sled sat at 2 seat, he was the most experienced 2 seat in the squad. Jeremy did ask me to ride 2 seat, but as I had never trained at that spot or ridden 2 seat, I thought it would be a better result if the team had Heath sit there instead. I was still very low on energy from my cold, so that also contributed to the decision to not race in the 2nd heat.
Unfortunately Jeremy didn’t have luck ion his side in this race either, his helmet was slipping around a bit and obscured his view, to the point he wasn’t able to see corner 18 at all, and over he went again. Another result we weren’t looking for. The splits were pretty good on this run too, but it only counts when you cross the line.
A call from the Association confirmed that our 4 man team wasn’t in, we were 1st reserve if another team was to pull out. Ant was the selected brakeman if the team did get in and I was placed as 1st reserve on the reserve team. So our Olympic dream of competing in the 4 Man was over. Almost... only in the last week or so, Austria decided to NOT send a 2nd 4 Man team, Guess what? The Aussie 4 Man sled is now included in the XXI Winter Olympic Games. A great result in the end, but not so great for me personally, I was still on the bench. Fortunately, I am back in really good form, so if I do get the call up for whatever reason, I will be 100% fit and ready to go. I’m very happy for the guys in the team, we all worked so hard and we got the team over the line in the end. It was a really good team effort. Fingers are crossed that the guys are 100% and can do a great job going up against the best in the world. My only was in is at someone else’s expense, not quite the way I want to make an Olympics, but I’d certainly not refuse the offer it were to be made.
Thanks to everyone who helped out by coming to my fund raiser, thanks to everyone who made a financial donation to help me and the team on the path. You support is greatly appreciated, not only by myself, but my family and also my Aussie Bobsleigh Team mates. We all had our part to play in getting the team to the Games.
Cheers
Shane
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 09 February 2010 )
Back into the Athletics Season
Written by Shane McKenzie
Friday, 22 January 2010
I have taken loads of photos of the aths in the month I have been home. Check the links below to see the photos;
I ended up doing the first race today, Dunc banged his knee during the warm up, si I stepped in, pushed well, but not from my usual position (i went from 3 not 4) and we were having a fast run, a seriously fast run... But our load wasn't the greatest and I wasn't in correctly and was on Ant's ankle, I had no handles inside the sled to hold as I just couldn't reach them, then I was thinking to myself, not a good position if we crash... Then on corner 18 (of 20) we went over. Stu mashed his left shoulder. There is a bit of damage, we then went round 19 on our right side, up the straight slowing down, then round 20 and over the line with us all inside, so the run counted and we were in last place. During the crash, I managed to have a look around and saw that Stu was out of the sled a bit so it gave me room to get my hand inside to grab my left strap. This pulled me back in the sled. I had my hands loose during the carsh and I remember thinking, better get them back inside the sled or they will get mashed under the weight of the sled and burned to the bone if they do. So I used my helmet to prop myself back inside as well as grab the strap. When the sled stopped up the braking straight I pushed up to brace the sled against the wall and pushed hard with my shoulders against the wall and my feet against th ebottom of the sled. I was able to brace it long enough for the track workers to catch the sled too. It was only a few seconds I had to hold it, then out the left side of my helmet, I saw Ant on his back sliding back down the braking straight with a medic holding his head. I went down to see him and was OK, just in loads of pain from his ankle. We got the sled off the track and headed back to the start and went again. We were in 12th spot at this stage, Slovakia crashed and was DQ'd, Trav crashed and DQ'd, Brasil was 10Kg over weight and was DQ'd and Mike Bradley (USA II) was 0.8Kg under minimum sled weight so was DQ'd. Then on our next run, we went first and got a pretty good time, Jamaica was next and they were slower than us and we moved ahead of them, so from a potential disasterous crash from a point perspective, we ended up with 11th in a race of 16... Then there was the 2nd race of the day! This was changed to a single heat race, we not sure why, but it was. There were 16 sleds again. Heath sat in for Stu on this race, Dunc went back in and Ant stayed on the brakes. Push was really fast and they started off positively, but unknown to us at the top, Heath's helmet was too close to Rollo's during the run and was headbutting him and forcing Rollo's helmet up preventing him from seeing many of the corners... Then in corner 18 again, the sled came unstuck as Rollo couldn't see a thing. Again they crossed the finish line but finished down the order this time. And that was our day on the ice... Really dissapointed we finishd off on a bad note. Rollo looks a slim chance to qualify the 2 man for the Games, and a slim chance of qualifying the 4 man too, so it looks like my bobsleigh career is now over.
