Blog - The Gossip

Hot Lips Slides to Silver!!

Category: Blog

Published on Sunday, 08 February 2009 13:00

Written by Super User

No, Hot Lips is NOT my new nickname! But we did slide to a silver medal Friday at the first World Cup race on the new Olympic track in Whistler. Hot Lips is the name of Kaillie Humphries’ new sled. It’s a different sled than that which she has used for the past couple of years and the first two thirds of this season. But it’s the sled that she’s hoping will bring her an Olympic medal next year and thought that this would be the best time to take it for a ride. It turned out to be a good decision so far!

It felt so good to be back competing on North American soil, and it was SO exciting to be racing in front of so many friends and family! Apparently tickets were sold out at 2500 – which was limited based on the number of porta-potties that the track had rented!!! I’ve gotta say, the energy in the air was electric with pride and excitement, and it was awesome to be part of it!

It was at the start of the week when I found out that I would be racing with Kaillie again, and I was pretty eager. After our crash in St. Moritz, Switzerland a couple of weeks ago when we were sliding to a silver, it feels pretty good to have redeemed ourselves a bit with this race on home soil! As we just starting sliding together a couple of weeks ago, we’re still working on our timing at the start, but we were really pleased with how this race went. We had the fastest start in the first heat (5.20 seconds) and the second fastest start in the second heat (5.18 seconds, with the fastest being 5.17 seconds). We literally had family cheering for us from coast to coast! We were both pretty happy to be standing in front of our family, friends and supporters to accept our trophies. Hopefully, these results continue for the rest of this season and into the next (although nothing can be taken for granted)!

Oh, and if you’ve seen any pictures from the race with me holding a 2 ½ year old little boy, he is NOT mine! He is my nephew, Charlie. My teammate had to correct someone who was telling someone else that that must have been the reason why I took the year off after the last Olympics!! LOL Wow, how quickly rumours can start! I took the year off after the Olympics to finish my master’s degree in occupational therapy! (I just thought I’d set the record straight!) 

Now, I was originally supposed to be sliding with Helen Upperton in the Park City race next weekend, but she is taking the week off to get some rehab on her ribs. Therefore, as I have not been scheduled to slide with anyone else, I am flying home to PEI for the week – a little rest and training before the World Championships in Lake Placid in a couple of weeks. There’s no place I’d rather be than with my family on ‘my’ island. You never know how much time you may have with those you love!!

So, if you were cheering for us during the race and sending us ‘fast thoughts’, I thank you. And, hopefully, I’ll be able to continue on contributing to the maple leaf being on the podium!!

Smiles…….
Heather