Igls & The Hunt For $100k Euros!

Igls or Eagles?  We say it the same.  Noelle has always done well here on this track.  It was her 2nd Gold medal back in the 2004/2005 World Cup season and now with her newly found push we were pulling for a good finish.  She did very well and we were really pleased with her Silver Medal finish!

Triple Trophy

The FIBT initiated the Triple Trophy, starting this year, with a prize of $100k in Euros to the slider/sliders that win Gold in 3 tracks: Konigssee, Igls and Sochi.  Although money has never been the reason Noelle has competed, it somehow seemed to subconsciously add a little pressure.  $100k would have been nice, but with that pressure now gone, she will be able to compete in the next 2 races without the unnecessary pressure of having to win.

I will keep the blog up to date this week.  If you sign up for "Follow by email" on the blog you will be notified as soon as I update the blog with the changes and other important info.

Here is the update for the next 1-1/2 weeks for World Championships in St. Moritz.

Team Race
Sunday, January 27th at 5:35 a.m. MST
Noelle will race in the Team Event.  She has been named to team USA 1.  Here is the current link to watch this event live:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMZtVcyPKpw&feature=g-user-lss

World Championships Women's Skeleton
Thursday, January 31st and Friday, February 1st
I will update the blog with further info toward the end of this week with times and links.

Here are some pics of our week in Igls, Austria:

Noelle Pikus Pace doing a little celebration slide down the hill with her trophy!

The kids on World Cup race day at the track. 

Lacee was making snow angels just about anywhere there was snow; from parking lots to hillsides and here at the bottom of the track. 

 Noelle after her first run.  She finished run 1 in 2nd place behind russia.

 Noelle and the 2 Russians who placed 1st and 3rd.

Here is our little slider.  She loves putting on mommies suit and gear and racing down the hill.  She took first here as we were cheering her on! :) 

 Noelle Pikus Pace holding her 2nd place trophy at the awards ceremony which took place about 4 hours after the race.  They didn't give any medals here only the trophy.

 Here we are after awards.  The kids love playing in the snow.  It is extremely nice when it is cold enough for them to play in the snow without it melting all over them.  This is the 1st race where it has been cold enough for the snow not to melt everywhere.

 

Noelle and the kids getting ready to take their victory slide down the hill at the awards ceremony. 

Once again, our little champion all suited up ready to compete!

Konigssee Race Update

The next race is in Konigssee, Germany.  It will take place tomorrow evening for us, but 9:15 a.m. MST for all you back home in Utah.  Noelle has an injured hamstring right now, so we are hoping that she will be able to push her best.  She loves this track and knows it well.  We are hoping for a good race.

Konigssee Race Day

Friday January 11, 2013

9:15 a.m. MST

https://www.youtube.com/user/bobskeletv

Look for the live event and remember there is heat 1 & heat 2 about 1hr 30 min apart.

La Plagne & the French Alps

We're still alive!!  Sorry for the long delay in updating the blog, I will make sure to keep you all informed more frequently.  There was a slight change to our plans for the La Plagne race.  We were told that another athlete would be coming out to race to try and earn points for a 3rd spot in World Championships at the end of January.  It was definitely difficult for Noelle to go there and forerun knowing she would not be racing.  She was sliding very well there, but she at least got some experience there for the World Cup race next year.  I learned that there are some of you who woke up earlier in the morning to watch the race and did not know that Noelle had been replaced.  I am sorry for that, I didn't realize that there were more than a few "Die Hard Fans".  That was her first time down that track.  It was very bumpy and painful on the neck and head.

Enjoy the pics below of our journey from Winterberg, Germany through La Plagne, France.

 We found a Burger King along our drive just before leaving Germany.

We were able to stop in Bern, Switzerland and stop outside the temple.  It was really pretty with all of the snow.  It was a 30 min detour to stop by on our 10 hour drive to France.  Because of the long drive we were unable to find a church, so it worked out perfect that we were at least able to find the Temple.  (FYI, Switzerland charges about $50 just to drive your car in their country, it is good for 1 year though).

Bern, Switzerland Temple.

This was the amazing view from our room in La Plagne.

The kids found something to do.  They don't stop!  Traycen is on a mission to destroy everything.  He'll just walk around pulling things down and making sure he leaves his trail.

This is Noelle at the start of the La Plagne track, with her coach Tuffy filming her push.

 The kids found this little ramp right next to the track that kept them busy sliding, throwing snowballs and making mini snowmen.

 There are many hotels in La Plagne, probably one of the most insane villages I have seen.  It is all crowded up in the top of the alps, how they built everything up there, amazes me.  We had all of our meals covered in the hotel restaurant.  The kids definitely were dined on the best they will ever get.  This is a pic of a fancy desert after lunch.

 Another picture of us at dinner with some of the team in the background.  Lacee and Traycen entertained everyone.  Traycen would only eat the inside of the bread out.  The outside was a little tough so he hollowed about 15 pieces each meal.

 For some reason Lacee likes playing "jail and dungeons".  They were locked up temporarily.

We stopped into a neat old town "Moutiers" which was about 30 minutes away.

Noelle wins race #3

Noelle had another excellent race in team trials last night winning the 3rd of 4 races with a 2 second margin over 2nd place.  Way to go Noelle and thank you all for your support.

Here is the press release:

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/pikus-pace-daly-win-us-selection-races-again

Oh, by the way, it was Halloween!  As you can see by the picture; you can take the girl out of Halloween, but you can't take the Halloween out of the girl!