As an international athlete living in New Zealand, Louise relies heavily on personal sponsorships to help cover her yearly sports-related expenses. Your financial support will help Louise represent New Zealand during her 2003-2004 world tour and her preparation for the 2006 Winter Olympic quest for Gold.

I have been very busy pursuing different grants, scholarships, sponsors, business arangements, loans, house sales and deals that will hopefully get me the support and money I need very soon to head away and begin the qualification races for the Olympics.

My very out of date www.nzskeletonracer.com website is currently being updated, it’s going to look awesome.

Next week is a testing week it will be interesting to see how I’ve improved over the last 5 weeks.

If anyone has any ideas or suggestions for me regarding sponsorship or funding for this season please email me lou@nzskeletonracer.com

Cheers

Lou

So here’s the update, I’m living in Auckland with my brother Matt, who has been a massive supporter of me over the last 9 sliding years. I’m up here to train and my training is based at the Millennium institute of Sport in the New Zealand Academy of Sport Gym (fantastic facility)under the guidance of Matt Kritz senior strength and conditioning specialist for the Academy of Sport, and Dan Lavipour assistant strength and conditioning specialist, these two have been fantastic and written a daily program specifically for me, that addresses my weaknesses, what I have found most beneficial is having them on hand in the gym to give me advice and direction, it is so important, but a luxury I was unable to have over the last few years, I have been setting personal records every week, they are not world record breaking but they are pretty damn good for me, currently I can bench 50kg, dead lift 90kg and squat 96kg. I also have a sprint program that Dan working with me on, and twice a week my brother and I melt a groove into the ice rink at Paradise Ice in Avondale. I push train there and use video and 4 timing eyes to analyse my improvements, I am setting new records every week so Matt’s program is obviously working, and am now confident and strong with the one hand push. Using timing eyes when push training has been very interesting, and has shown that what feels good is often slow and what I though felt like a bad push was actually much faster, such important feedback. Whats really cool is that my brother built the timing eyes himself.

I’ve started tweeting you can follow me @louisecorcoran on twitter.com

Over the last 2 years my brother Matt and I have been developing and building skeleton sleds, Taniwha Sled Company, which has been an exciting venture.

Last month, the New Zealand Olympic Committee held a series of events to honour all Kiwi Olympians and to issue us with our own official Olympian number, it was a great event, and I got to meet many great Kiwis and hear some great stories from Olympic medalists and who had been mad about sport . I am officially Olympian number 983, I made it into the first 1000. The best part of the evening was seeing the older Olympians honoured for their achievements, some of them were in their 70’s, I doubt there will ever be an event the same, where all the Olympians in the community are in one place together, I should have taken my camera.

I’m (as always) looking for sponsorship to help me train, qualify, compete and win in the Olympics this coming February, and as a back up plan I’m trying to sell my house to help cover some costs of this coming competition season.

Here’s an article that was in the local paper two weeks ago about my preparation for this Olympic season.

So that’s the latest on me, please come back and follow my preparation for this season, and if your on twitter then look for me @louisecorcoran

Thanks!

Anyway once sold I’ll be left with a cottage to call home, and a small bit of land and the sense of a bit of security, after traveling the world and living the unglamorous suitcase lifestyle of a kiwi athlete for nearly 9years, and after working part time jobs and begging sponsorship off sympathetic supporters for too long, I have found a way to feel a little more secure in the world with my own patch of grass (with lots of weeds).

After the last Olympics when I sat down and analysed my 6 years in the sport, it was an easy decision to continue – I haven’t yet achieved what I know I am capable of, so I looked at what I needed to do prior to the next Olympics to allow me to focus on performing to my absolute best and have a real crack at winning and not just surviving the experience. One of the points I highlighted as essential was removing the stress and doubt that I found building up towards and then following Olympic participation, that doubt can be summed up by saying ‘well was that it? what the hell do I do now?

I decided that I needed to have an occupation or qualification lined up ready to go so that when the time comes for me to retire from the sport (who knows when) I am not left with a CV full of low paying part time jobs and no qualifications. This has been ticked off with my Helicopter licence, I have not fully completed my commercial but with one month of focused training my commercial licence will be complete and ready for me to start chasing a career in aviation. Knowing I have this qualification sitting there ready to go gives me peace of mind, it lets me focus on my sliding with out stressing over the future and what it holds.

The same goes with my unfinished but full of potential house, while it has been hard work getting the renovations done this off season, just having the knowledge that I actually have a wee old home waiting for me back in NZ is a blessing- it removes that whole stress of ‘where am I going to stay this off season’ and lessens the nagging ‘I’m nearly 29 I have no income and nothing to show for the last 12 years of hard work’. I think these are two majors stresses that many Olympic athletes face, especially kiwis who spend far more time overseas, away from home and ‘off the radar’ than our northern hemisphere counterparts.

I am sure we have many kiwis now only days out from becoming Olympians in China wondering where their august credit card repayment is going to come from and which relative is going to let them stay for free when they get home, I just hope they can all stay focused on the job of doing their absolute best and that the kiwi media give them all the support that they deserve.

One of the features of living near Lake Tekapo that sealed the deal on moving here was the Alpine Springs Winter Park, a new hot pools and ice rink facility in Lake Tekapo, and I cant forget the cafe, they make the best coffee in Tekapo, it is a fantastic facility with a big open fire overlooking the lake and the mountains and just up the road from my house. I have been push training 3-4 mornings a week since getting home and my one hand push is looking great, the one hand push is faster than the two, but my injuries of the past prevented me from using the technique for a few years, now I have it working sweetly. I hope to have taken a significant amount of time off my push by using style, the times will tell with my first World Cup race in November.

My strength and conditioning has been going well, petrol prices made the commute to the gym in Timaru too expensive so I set up a great weights room at my place, I have a lifting platform and bench press, pulleys, med ball and plyo platform and a nice big garden for my hurdles.

I am still in the process of searching and securing all the funds and support I need to make this race season happen, it is endless but I am working on it and I am as determined as ever to be on ice early training with my coach ready for a new season back on the World Cup.

Germany has sent their top athletes including Olympian Anja Huber, she is the current World Champion and European Champion, she also achieved 10 podium finishes in the last 2 world cup season, her team mate Marrion Trott is also racing, Marrion has had 5 top 10 World Cup finishes this season.

The Swiss have sent their top world cup athletes, Jessica Killian is one of the fastest starters in the world and ranked 12th in the World Cup, Barbara Hosch is here to battle it out with Japan number two to see which nation will qualify two athletes for next seasons world cup.

Alexa Putnam, the world cup athlete from the Virgin Islands will be competing.

Italy has sent two athletes including their highest ranked world cup woman, Terestita Bramante.

Japan has sent their second ranked world cup athlete Nazomi, she must finish the season ranked ahead of Switzerlands Barbara Hosch in order to qualify for next years world cup, currently they are 12 points apart.

The reason these two world cup athletes have to defend their world cup spot from each other is that I did well enough in the Intercontinental series (world cup b) to be ranked ahead of both of them, securing a world cup position for me next year and knocking one of them out of World Cup, this is the last chance for both of them to try to gain enough points to stay in the top race series, but only one will succeed!

The Brits have sent 2006 Winter Olympic Silver medalist Shelly Rudman.

Host nation, USA have former two time world champion, and world cup points leader Noelle Pikus Pace, and world cup athlete Annie Oshea.

There are 26 women in total, with other athletes coming from Finland, Korea, Jamaica, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Spain, Slovakia, Iraq and …

New Zealand, I’m the only kiwi here, a kiwi on a mission to do what many kiwis recently failed to do… a mission of immense national importance…

I am currently sitting in 2nd place in the Americas Cup, we have two races left of a 6 race series, I won 2 of the previous 4 races. These next two races are the last races of the season and will be on the 2009 World Championship track, so winning here will set me up well for next years world championships.

The good news is I set a new personal here last week, only .95 of a second off the track record.

I have been rather poor at updating my blog this season, so to sum it up, I have had my best season ever as far as sliding goes, and probably my 2nd best as far as resutls go (to this point), my sliding has improved and my understanding of what it takes to go fast and a how to apply it has improved, thanks to my coach, Tim who has helped me make these important steps forward.

My results in the 9 races I have competed in so far were a mixed bag, at times rather inconsistent, but at other times fantastic and in Konigsee, I had the best half run of my life. I have be competing on the new Intercontinental Cup series, which had about 20 women who were supposed to be comparable to the athletes ranked 9th -25th on the World Cup.

This was the first year that they split the field into two major race series, to start with we were all unsure how the quality of the two fields compared. Athletes on IC have been breaking track records, showing that the best are certainly as good as the top WC athletes, and this week I have been forerunning for the World Cup Final (being the first athlete down the track to test the timing and the groove, but not competing) and was pleasantly surprised to see that the level of ability in WC field seems to be not far above that of the IC field, two other IC athletes are competing in the WC with their times down the track showing a much smaller gap between IC and WC than the official points table suggest.

I am one of only a few athletes going to the World Championships from the IC and can not wait to race the best in the world on the demanding track in Altenberg.

There is a ‘Snow Emergency’ in Park City, which means there is so much snow that they have no where to put it so they are restricting cars in the village, it is a real winter wonderland.

Training started yesterday, I did pretty well with a 52.58, and was the fastest women of the second run in our training session.

Ben and Tionette have been training in St Moritz and will shortly be headed to Cessana for the next world cup race.

Time to go to the track now.

The season so far been a very big learning curve, with Tim on board as my coach he has been putting me through my re-education, and has been successfully weeding out bad habits I had mastered over the last 8 years.

At the first race of the season, the EC in Igls, it seems like I made more progress in 2 weeks there than in 4 years on my sled, but a warm day, deteriorating ice and a draw that saw me head off 31^st out of 32, meant that the best I could do was a 6^th place.

Next stop was the IC in Cessana, I missed the last World Cup there last year and had not been since the Olympics in 2006, at first I found it to be quite an intimidating track, and did not manage to relax the way I could in Igls, but by the race day I understood the track again and was comfortable, I set two personal best down times on the race day and finished 10^th. But I think that one more week of ice time on that track will see me get it.

Next we drove to Konigssee in Germany, again I had not been to this track since before the Olympics, and I had been sent to hospital after crashing there many years ago. Training was going very well though, I loved the rhythm of the track and the exit of Kriesel (360 degree corner) was problem free. I finished up the last training day with a 6^th place, a personal best down time and a massive power skid up the last uphill straight (meaning that if I could repeat the run and tidy up a few wee mistakes and not do the power skid, I would have been in the mix for a top result).

Race day arrived and from the moment I left the block, my run was beautiful, I was able to give the sled up and let it run before corner 1, the 4 S curves were beautiful and I felt the rhythm of them and I got down the straight with out hitting any corners, I barreled into Kriesel faster than I have ever gone before, I got the first two steers right on the money for the first time, which meant the sled did not drop down where I usually do my 3^rd steer, and the higher speed meant I was under more pressure and the timing for my steers needed to change, anyway the memory is fleeting, but obviously I missed the timing on my 3^rd steer, and next thing I am up at the wooden roof looking down at where I should be, I saw the hit coming, my memory is very clear and definite about that moment. I hit the short-wall hard, and was bucked off my sled. Next thing my body is on the ice and my hands are out stretched clutching onto the back of the sled, I did not want to loose it, but my grasp was not good enough and it peeled away from me in slow motion, my poor sled took off on its own. I hated the sound of it crashing and bashing its way down the track, but then I started to hurt and had to get moving, rolling and wriggling to get an even coverage of small bruises, burns and wounds rather than one big raw one, I was not wearing any padding or layers under my speed suit, ouch.

I stopped in the bend before Ziel curve, jumped up and started chasing after my sled, I caught it in Ziel, and began pushing it up the hill towards the final corner, my helmet triggered the final timing eye, with both myself and my sled attached, setting a new track record time of 3 minutes and 31.54 seconds. I finished 20^th out of 21, with a new scar to add to the collection. Despite this, I am still leading NZ athlete on the points table.

A few years ago a crash like that would have probably scared and shaken me enough to make me cry, but instead I was on a high from how wicked the run felt before the crash, I just wanted to get back to the top and put my sled back in the park ferme and wait to see if anyone else crashed to let me have a second run at it, no one else crashed in the first run, so I did not get a second run, which is good, my legs were probably too swollen to fit in the sled anyway.

I am now in Winterberg, nursing a sore, swollen bruised body, it’s not pretty but I heal fast. I hope we can get on the track today, even though I crashed, the first half of that run was one of the most beautiful runs I had ever had and I want to get back on and do it again.

Iain had a fantastic race in Konigsee, even though he was sick for the training and only managed to get 2 runs in before the race, he finished 11^th setting a new personal best down time.

Katharine Eustace a new slider from Wanaka was sliding well in the Konigssee European Cup few weeks ago finishing 10^th, which is very good, Ben came in 10^th in the Park City World Cup, and Tionette came in 22^nd there also. Ben and Tionette are in Lake Placid; they race there on Thursday, their results will be up live on fibt.com,

We race here on Saturday, then Tim flys home for Christmas with his kids, I will stay sliding for another week then head for Christmas with my Grandmother and family in Liverpool, following that… who knows, I will be waiting to hear from the NZBSA selection committee after the race here to see if my world ranking and Tionettes pulled hamstring means we switch circuits, if not and I’m on the Intercontinental Cup for the second half, I’ll fly to the US, where I will race in 3 IC’s and 3 AC’s before returning to Europe, where I will compete in/forerun/watch the last two World Cups before racing in the World Championships in Altenberg Germany.

Race one was very close in Lake Placid, Tionette was .2 of a second faster in run one, but in run two I beat her, but with the times totaled she was .07 of a second ahead and won.

Here in Calgary I was ahead in training but Tionette was very fast on race day and was again .2 of a second ahead after run one, in run two the intermediates show I was picking it up and going for a better time, but then I hit hard at the exit of corner 9 and lost too much time there. I had dropped half a second by the finish line.

So now I head to Igls as soon as possible for the Igls Europa Cup race. Then onto Cessana for the Intercontinental cup race, the new system this year means that the points from every race will contribute to your overall world ranking, so although Tionette and I will not compete together this year until the world championships in February we will still be ranked together.

I am headed back to Igls where I spent a whole month in over christmas and January, the training was going very very well until I crashed the day before the world cup in the out run and went off the end of the track and tore ligaments in my ankle, I ended up competing in the race with an plastic air cast on and all my expensive training seemed wasted. So I am looking forward to getting back there injury free and going as fast as I was last January.

It will be interesting to see who ends up competing in IC and how this new world ranking and points table works, a win on IC is worth 150 points where as a 10th in the World Cup is worth 144. A win in European Cup is worth 75 , 18th in World Cup will get you 80. I think that this first EC will have a lot of IC athletes there, as we have two less races than WC and need to pick up two EC or AC races to reach the 8 races that will be counted for World Championship qualification.

Selection races have been good in the way it has made me go through the whole race day process prior to my first international event, but it has meant that there has been no time for equipment testing, so today before we leave we are doing a bit of equipment testing.