Page 49 - QARANC Vol 14 No 10 2015

2013/14 Luge Season
The 2013/14 Luge season started in October on a 10 day training camp with the Federation of International Luge (FIL) held in Winterberg, Germany and Igls, Austria. The FIL team consists of sliders from the minor luge nations who come together to train and compete; these nations included GB, Holland, France, Bosnia, Australia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Japan, Taiwan and Hungary. The training camp gave the sliders time to get back into sliding after having the summer off and to iron out any creases prior to the race calendar starting.
Due to work constraints and funding the Great Britain Luge Association decided that the GB Development Team would compete in 4 World Cup (WC) races rather than competing in the whole World Cup circuit, enabling valuable racing experience but also time to train at new tracks prior to racing. However this meant that we would not have the chance to qualify for the Olympics, as the minimum qualification standard was 5 International races and a set amount of WC points.
Following the FIL training weeks, the team headed to Igls, Austria, followed by Winterberg, Germany for the first races of the season. Competitors are broken down into 4 qualifying groups and have 2-3 training runs per day (Tues- Thurs) it is in these training runs that competitors must achieve the qualifying time (107% of the fastest slider) in which to compete on the Friday (Nations Cup), the top 16 females in the Nations Cup then go onto race in the World Cup on Saturday. I managed to achieve the qualifying time for both the above races and raced in the Nations Cups.
After Winterberg the WC circuit headed to North America and Canada to continue racing, the GB team opted to stay in Europe and train in Oberhof and Konigssee, Germany. Oberhof is an old luge track in East Germany and is renown for being a hard technical track with lots of narrow turns in quick succession and sharp corners generating a lot of G force, it was the first time I had slid on this track and it was an invaluable training week as I was planning on racing there after Christmas. Training in Konigssee followed Oberhof and it was a packed week with two track sessions per day and start training squeezed in too.
Christmas soon came and went and it was time to head back out to the snow and ice. The team flew out to Konigssee on 29 Dec and qualification training commenced on 30 Dec, leaving no time to party for the new year, we were in the shed working hard doing sled work! I had a
good week in training and managed to knock 5 seconds of my previous years PB to qualify for the Nations Cup.
Our last race of the international season was held in Oberhof, the training prior to Christmas proved invaluable and I qualified for the Nations Cup on the first day of training and got my best result of the season a 26th place finish.
After a few weeks back in work, I headed out to Igls, Austria for the final two weeks of the luge season. This was for the Army, Interservices and British Championships. I had been looking forward to these championships all season, as the atmosphere is fantastic and you are among friends, the camaraderie is great between all three services. However the pressure was still on, a different kind of pressure though, the pressure to retain all three championship titles.
After a week of training the Army Championships were held on 28 Feb, I was crowned ladies champion and was ranked 3rd overall. The Army team was selected following the Army Championships and I was named in the four strong team. Another week of training followed, with the Navy and RAF joining us. The RAF had won the title in 2013 so the pressure was on to get it back. On race day, the standings were close after the first run, with the RAF team leading the Army by 0.036s, however the Army team kept their heads down, slid consistently and managed to come back to over take the RAF and take the title back. I managed to retain my Interservices ladies title for the 4th consecutive year running, in a very close race with Cpl Amy Smith (RAF).
The last day of the season saw the GB Luge Championships; there were 19 competitors (male & female), which is the best attendance we have had for a number of years. I was drawn to start in 16th, which is not ideal but I could see the competition slide before me! With two solid runs I lead the ladies by 5.169secs to be crowned the GB Ladies Luge Champion 2014.
On reflection I have had a great season, competing on the WC circuit, achieving a world ranking of 49th and retaining the Army, Interservices and GB Luge titles. Thanks to all for the support, it would not have been possible with out it. My next aim is to continue improving year on year and qualify for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Cpl Dani Scott
THE GAZETTE QARANC
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