At the end of the day, it is whatever is best for Canada’s bobsleigh program.
That is how Barrhead native Melissa Lotholz characterizes the decision of having to share the brakeman duties as part of Kaillie Humphrie’s top women bobsleigh with fellow national team member, Cynthia Appiah.
Humphries, two-time Olympic gold medalist in 2010 and 2014, is considered Canada’s top women’s bobsleigh pilot.
When the Leader last talked to Lotholz at the end of August, she was in the process of preparing for the upcoming World Cup Bobsleigh circuit.
At the time, many people, Lotholz included, pegged her to be the odds-on favourite for the brakeman position after being paired with Humphries in whole or in part for the last two seasons. In the 2014/15, season Lotholz shared brakeman duties with Kate O’Brien and the trio placed second in World Cup standings.
Last year, with Lotholz serving as the lone brakeman, they captured the World Cup title and the duo medaled at every event.
She said the coaching staff, in large part, made their decision based on the times prospective brakeman post during a selection camp at the end September.
“We both (Appiah) did really well and both were named to team Humphries,” Lotholz said, adding the coaching staff have not said how many races out of the nine World Cup races each would participate in, but both have been assured they will get time with Humphries.
When asked if she was disappointed in the result, Lotholz said she had mixed feelings.
“It is a pre-Olympic season, so it is one of those years where you want to build up the program as much as you can,” she said, adding the national team hopes to qualify three womens’ two person sleds for next year’s Olympic Games in Pyeonchang, South Korea. “Not just three sleds, but three sleds that perform well. Of course as an athlete you always want to be the one on the sled and pushing for that gold medal finish.”
However, that being the case, Lotholz said there are definite advantages of splitting the brakeman duties, the first being additional training and conditioning time.
“Because if you are constantly performing weekend after weekend you don’t get to put in that same amount of work in behind the scenes, in the gym and stuff, to get better,” she said. “At the end of the day 100 per cent we want to produce results this year, but the ultimate goal is to be able stand on that Olympic podium 13 months from now and it doesn’t matter which one of us it is because we are all doing it for our country.”
So far this season, most of the national team’s time has been in Calgary at Canada Olympic Park and the Ice House — an indoor facility that allows bobsleigh, luge and Skeleton athletes to practice their push skills all year round. Which is important, especially for those on team Humphries, because in addition to preparing their bodies and techniques for the upcoming season, the athletes have to get used to a new sled.
Last year, in order to keep pace with technological improvements in the sport, the national team purchased a new sled for Humphries, which she christened, O Holy Night.
In 2015, the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) announced new sled and weight rules.
“At that point, we had already ordered our sled for last season and we had to go with what we had coming,” Lotholz said, noting although the sled conformed to IBSF rules, compromises had to be made. “Basically (due to the sled’s weight) it restricted how heavy we could be and sometimes who Kaillie could slide with.”
The latest sled, Jezebel, is lighter than last year’s version, weighing in at the minimum allowed. Humphries, Lotholz and Appiah, are able to compete without having to worry about what they individually weigh in at.
As for why Humphries decided to call the sled Jezebel, she said it had nothing to do with bobsled.
“Basically her boyfriend’s grandma named her tractor Jezebel,” Lotholz laughed, adding their old sled was given to one of the men’s teams.
Unfortunately, because of the national team’s budget, the purchase of Jezebel did mean the program had to make cuts, mostly in athlete therapy in the summer and the travel budget.
“It was one of those investments we had to make ahead of the Olympic Games, so we just bit the bullet and made some sacrifices,” she said, adding one of the more painful sacrifices could be the four person women’s team, which might only compete in select North American races on the World Cup tour.
At about the mid-season mark last year, Lotholz and Humphries, along with 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.
“Actually I will be this Sunday (Dec. 18) in the four person men’s event,” she said, from a hotel room in Lake Placid, New York, adding she feels well prepared for the event. “While we were at the Ice House, we spent a fair amount of reps behind the sled practicing loading into a four person sled and it has helped a lot. It is a totally different skill this year because our transition moves from the back to the side.”
It will be Lotholz’s only race of the weekend, as Appiah will be paired with Humphries in the two-person event, one of the reasons possibly being that Lotholz is getting over a cold.
However, that doesn’t mean she will not be busy. When it is Appaih’s turn as brakeman, during races or during push practices, she becomes part of the bobsled’s pit crew.
“Basically, if you aren’t sliding you are doing whatever is needed. That can mean anything from help moving the sleds, sometimes you are on video filming runs, or comparing and polishing runners,” she said. “Sometimes we spend up to 10 hours a week just polishing our runners, in an effort to reduce friction. It’s one of the not-so-glamorous parts of bobsled.”
Lotholz said that when she isn’t paired with Humphries there is a chance she will be paired with another pilot in an effort to give Canada another opportunity to make the podium something she did during the first World Cup race in Whistler, when she was paired with pilot Alysia Rissling.
“It was Alysia’s first World Cup race and we ended up getting fourth place,” she said, adding the two trained together when they both attended the University of Alberta. “I’m so proud of her and I was so happy to be able to return the favour.”
It was Rissling who gave Lotholz her bobsled introductory ride three years ago.
“That’s what I love about bobsled, it is so unpredictable,” Lotholz said, adding growing up in a farming community has helped her in her athletic career. “Farming is a lot like bobsled. A year from now I don’t know what team I will be on, whether it be team Humphries or otherwise. Somebody who’s stronger and faster could come in or I could get hurt. All you can do, like farming, is put in the work and do everything you can that’s in your control and the rest you just put your trust in God and see what happens.”
