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Week 2 Update
Written by Shane McKenzie   
Thursday, 26 November 2009

After our 1st week on ice, we were feeling pretty good about how the season would progress, so we jumped in the truck and headed off the Park City (in the mountains above Salt Lake City in Utah). We reached the USA border south of Vancouver without any dramas, easy 2 hours drive from Whistler. We thought that our cube van would be classified as a 'truck' so we went in the truck lane. The US Customs official was a very friendly and helpful lady, explained that we were inthe incorrect lane, but she'd let us through to the inspection station around the corner. So we drive around to meet a not quite so friendly customs official. He just didn't smile, wasn't rude or anything like that. So he asked us to step out of the van and sit behind a shed. He went back into his secret little room and then in the open air, x-rayed the van... Was pretty cool.

He gave us the all clear and off we went, this was about a 15 minute border crossing, so easy... So then we settled in for the long drive to Seattle where we planned to stay overnight. We left Whistler at 8:15pm, rolled into Seattle in the pouring rain at about 2:30am, checked in to a hotel and just crashed... Up about 9am the next morning, breakfast and hit the road again heading through Washington State, to Idaho and into Utah. Washington Sate looks like such a beautiful state, lots of mountains, dense forests and nice lakes along the way. Quite a lovely place to drive through.

We then checked into our hotel at the Landmark Inn in Park City. The best hotel I have stayed at on any Bob tour. Friendly staff, great rooms and facilities. All meals included in the price, pool, spa, games room, wireless internet everywhere and weather was just awesome every day.

We ten prepared for the push trials... We had to do 2 pushes on the dry push track and the lowest combined pushes gaves us our ranking. Duncan Pugh (Perth, WA) pushed a combined time of 10.76s to be ranked fastest overall. He was closely followed by Duncan Harvey (Sydney, NSW) with a time of 10.80s and myself Shane McKenzie (Melbourne, VIC) came in third with a time of 10.96s.

So our initial teams were posted for the 1st race of the season;

AUS 1
Pilot: Chris Spring
Crewman: Duncan Pugh


AUS 2
Pilot: Jeremy Rolleston
Crewman: Duncan Harvey


AUS 3
Pilot: Travis Sheehy
Crewman: Shane McKenzie

So now this was completed, we could get back on the ice and concentrate onperfecting our timimg and techniques... All up the ice time was pretty good. I pushed Jeremy and Chris to very respectible starts and it reflected in the down times.

Week 2 completed. Time to head to Calgary to pick up the 4 man sled being built by Rob Calleja, my first driver when I started way back in 2003.
Last Updated ( Thursday, 26 November 2009 )
 
Week 1 Update
Written by Shane McKenzie   
Wednesday, 14 October 2009

We have now had our fisrt week trainng under our belt in North America. All is going on track at the moment with only a few little hurdles placed before us.

Due to a few misunderstandings and miscommunications we missed our first day on ice, but got time the next day. We've now had 2 solid days on the ice and track is good and the feeling is coming back pretty quick. Got the usual nausia from the fisrt few times down the track, but that will go over the next few days.

The 1st day was from Ladies start (corner 3), this is usually done so the speeds at the lower section of the track are significantly lower than what they would if you ran it from the top. That was the theory anyway, we still managed to reach 136km/h! The best Canadian pilot that was sliding this week hit 142km/h, this is faster than most track top speeds from the top!

So the next day we ran it off the top... Sweet runs all week, progresing faster and faster each day. Until the last day, I thought I'd give the sled a fair nudge fom the top... Our 2 runs, 5.03 and 5.02 starts... All very encouraging. So we saw it all and did it all in the 1st week. This includes seeing 2 black bears hanging around corner 5 on a few days, but they were chased off pretty quick.

Brief wrap up of week 1...

 
Last Updated ( Thursday, 26 November 2009 )
 
Fundraiser Success
Written by Shane McKenzie   
Wednesday, 07 October 2009
Thankyou to everyone who attended my fundraiser. As you would agree it was a fun night with awesome music. To those who were unable to attend, but still made a donation to me, I thank you very much for your kind support.


With special thanks to the following people for the kindness of donating the fantastic prizes;

Sports Memorabilia Auction:
Items from Superstars and Legends (www.superstarsandlegends.net.au )
  • Ablett Dynasty 3 Photo Collage Framed
  • Edition Collingwood Legendary Leaders Print Framed
 

I am also planning to sell Special Edition Team Australia Bobsleigh, official team T-Shirts to be ready for order later this week (fingers crossed), stay tuned for more details or keep an eye on my website www.shanemckenzie.com


Thanks again everyone, I can’t express how much I appreciate your support, the night raised $3000 (still have more to raise yet!)
 
Remember, to everyone who makes a donation, you will also receive a signed team photo from the Olympic Team...
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 07 October 2009 )
 
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