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!

Farewell Whistler! Gold Noelle!

It is really late or really early right now (1 a.m.).  We had the 2nd ICC race tonight where Noelle had the 2 fastest runs and WON it!!!  Wahoo!!  A good way to end our 2 week stay here in Whistler, Canada.  We will hit the road tomorrow morning for Winterberg, Germany where Noelle will compete in her 2nd World Cup race next week.  Stay tuned to the blog and I will keep it updated with her schedule and race times.  Just a heads up though, these races in Europe will most likely be at the weee hours of the morning.  I know there might be a few die hards out there, so if you're one of them, the races might be broadcast live on youtube or the ipad app.
Thanks for all the prayers, thoughts and support we couldn't do this without you all!  Here are some highlights from the last couple of days.

Noelle made a top 25 list we just heard about today:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1420624-the-25-hottest-female-winter-sports-athletes

 He was a handful, so I had to stuff him in the stroller!

 Us in front of the Whistler start house.

 You can't ever run out of toys- just find a pillow bag and walah!  

 Tired, plus really cold, plus really wet, plus a delay on the track, plus really hungry =, this.

 Noelle pushing on her 2nd run on the 2nd ICC race.

 Awards on the first night where Noelle placed 2nd.

 Day 2, rain stopped and snow started!  Lacee found a natural elephant to ride.

 We made a mini snowman, and yes he has an apple for a mouth and a banana peel for a hat.

 Race 2, Noelle placed 1st and claimed the Gold in style!

Team USA on ICC in Whistler.

Either the kids found the podium or Noelle and I shrunk!

Can you see 4 people in the picture?  Once you find the 4th, go watch "The Nightmare Before Christmas  and tell me who it is.  (Not planned, somehow Traycen uncovered the beast!)

The night before the race!

We have 2 days left here in NY; tomorrow is the first race of team trials in Lake Placid and Noelle's training runs have gone really well.  I will attach a few photos from the track and from our backyard here in NY.

 This is an amazing train set in the basement of the Peters home where we are staying.  The kids love it!

 Just part of the backyard where we went on a 3 mi loop today, pushing our double stroller by the way, over this bridge and through rough trails.  Amazing!

This is a view from the top of the track

 This is Noelle's 2 handed push, since changed to a 1 handed approach

This is Noelle's new pod, she's coming back in style!

Tomorrow is the first race of team trials in Lake Placid and Noelle's training runs have gone really well.  I will attach a few photos from the track and from our backyard here in NY.