During the Christmas break when the Barrhead Leader last spoke to Melissa Lotholz, Barrhead native and national team women’s bobsledder, she had no idea a few weeks later she would be making history.
On Saturday, Jan. 9, in Lake Placid, NY, Lotholz along with her three teammates, Kaillie Humphries, Cynthia Appiah and Genevieve Thibault became the first all-women four person bobsleigh team to compete in a World Cup event against teams composed completely of men.
Last season Lotholz joined pilot Humphries, who is the reigning two time Olympic gold medalist in the women’s two-person bobsleigh event, winning both in Vancouver in 2010 and Sochi, Russia in 2014. Before that she was a short distance and relay runner for the University of Alberta.
In her rookie season as brakeman on Humphries team, the pair finished second in the World Cup standings in the two-person event. This year the duo are also in the hunt and sit on top of the World Cup points standings, winning four out of six events and finishing in second and third in two more.
“It was a total surprise,” Lotholz said, from her hotel room in Park City, Utah, a day before her next world cup race on Jan. 15, an event in which they won, adding the group found out they would be adding the four person event to their repertoire on New Year’s Eve.
After the Christmas break the entire Canadian National bobsleigh team, both mens and womens, travelled to Calgary and Canada Olympic Park for a week to train and prepare for the next half of the World Cup circuit.
It was near the end of this training camp, when Humphries and the other women who now comprise the women’s four person bobsleigh team, decided to try their hand at pushing the four person sled.
“It went pretty good,” she said, adding the group decided to do some more push starts using the larger sled.
Later the same day, in the evening, Humphries gathered the group together saying she had some exciting news.
“Kaillie talked with coaches, and although it hadn’t been confirmed, we would have the opportunity to do four-man bobsled on the World Cup as the first ever women’s team,” Lotholz said, adding it was the last thing they expected. “Actually Cynthia was going to go over to Europe the next morning, but she found out not only was she going to be staying in North America, but would get a chance to compete in the World Cup circuit. It was a crazy night.”
By doing so the quartet will beat the rest of the world’s womens bobsledders by a number of months. At the end of the World Cup season the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation will be holding a four person women’s bobsleigh event in Igls, Austria.
When Lotholz was asked about how difficult the transition has been for the group to go from the two person, in which she and Humphries still compete in, to the four-person event, she said although for the most part, the skill set is the same it has still been a challenge.
Originally the coaches put her in the third slot, because of her strength and speed and one of her teammates who is much quicker, but not as powerful, was going to be the breakman.
However, after a few push starts the coaching staff decided to keep Lotholz in her traditional breakman position.
“They decided since I have been to all the tracks and some of the breaking stretches are harder than others and having that strength aspect as well I would be suited for the number four position,” she said.
Perhaps the biggest difference between the two and four person events, Lotholz said, isn’t the pushing, but the actual process of getting into the sled.
“The loading is a lot more difficult. In our two-person sled Kaillie is very much at the front of the sled and I am very much at the back. It is actually tough for me to touch her,” she said. “In the four, space is at such a premium and you are sitting so close so the loading has to be very synchronized.”
To help the team improve their loading skills the coaches divided the drills into two types, the first is dry loads where the bobsled is on ‘land’ and stationary and the team mimics pushing and just tries to time their movements properly when getting into the sled.
The next step is to put the sled on the ice track where the team puts everything together, pushing and loading. Before heading out back to the World Cup circuit, the team only had two days of practice, but in the two weeks since, Lotholz said the group has completed more than 100 dry land sessions, “because that is what’s going to get us to be where we need to be.”
She said, it also has meant a fair bit of extra work in terms of preparation every week and less two-person training time.
“Actually the scheduling is a lot like we had last season,” Lotholz said, adding for a good portion of the year Humphries piloted a four-person mixed sled along with the her normal two-person sled. “In the terms of scheduling the first day will be two-man, the next four and on the third, if we need to we go back to the two person.”
On the fourth day Humphries and Lotholz usually try to in order to give their bodies time to recoup before their races, which usually take place over two days.
In between, the group works on preparing their individual sleds for both the two and four person events, which is now a little bit more involved at least for the four-person sled.
“Because we aren’t as big as the men, we have to position the foot pegs and handles a little bit differently,” she said, adding because they are smaller they also pad the inside of the sled as well.
So far it doesn’t seem like the extra has affected Lotholz and Humphries in the two-person event. In the Lake Placid event, after the duo competed in the four-person race, they ended up placing second behind the American team. In Park City, Utah, the duo captured their third gold medal of the season.
In the team’s first four person race Lotholz said for their first run they just wanted to concentrate on having a clean start, and just get to the bottom, adding they did have a clean run.
On the second run, they decided to be a little more aggressive, but she said that might have cost them a little bit. In their effort to speed up their push start one of the women missed placing the bunk (foot stool on side of the sled), which helps them get into the sled.
“It is something that can happen to the best of the best, but props to her because she still was able to get into the sled where a lot of the guys, when they do that can’t necessarily get themselves into the sled,” she said, adding overall the group is happy with their performance.
The team placed 17th out of 17 teams, a little over four seconds behind the first place team and more than two seconds behind the 16th place sled and although the team will improve as they get more experience, Lotholz is realistic.
“Bobsled is a power, mass and gravity sport and we are giving up 100 kilograms to the majority of our competitors, but winning isn’t what it is all about. Respect and the growth of women’s bobsleigh is,” she said, adding the group hopes the four person event is included in both the World Cup women’s events and the Olympic Games.
In the meanwhile, Lotholz, said she will continue to compete.
“It is really cool to be part of history and sometimes you don’t realize the gravity of the moment until later, but I think everyone on the team is starting to realize what we are doing is something special,” she said. “And I’m excited to be able to see where this will go, not only for myself and a team, but for women’s sports.”
