World Cup luge races in Whistler a go after prairie blizzard holds up gear

Luge racers are used to bombing down icy tracks on tiny, lightning-quick sleds — not worrying about weather patterns thousands of kilometres away.

But that’s what the sport’s World Cup athletes found themselves doing this week in the leadup to the tour’s third event of the season in Whistler, B.C. 

A massive prairie snowstorm held up a transport truck heading west to deliver their equipment after last weekend’s races in Lake Placid, N.Y. The blizzard forced the driver to turn around and had officials scrambling to book a charter flight out of Winnipeg so the gear could arrive in time.

And while the event will be pared down, competitors are thankful for the opportunity to race after some anxious and monotonous days waiting at the mountain for updates.

“It’s been, to be honest, a long week,” Canada’s Kimberly McRae said in a phone interview from Whistler. “We were in suspense whether or not we were going to race.

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“It’s odd having the truck completely stranded. Usually it’ll make it’s way around some of the weather, but it was just bad luck.”

Teams were supposed to begin training Wednesday, but the sleds aren’t expected to arrive until Friday, with practice sessions set for that afternoon and again the following morning.

“It’s been a matter of keeping as much of the routine as possible and not getting too carried away with having time off,” Canada’s Alex Gough said of how her team coped. “Being in a place like Whistler, there’s a lot of things that could be distracting. We’re doing what we need to do to be ready to go when the time comes.”

A racing schedule condensed down to one day instead of two is slated to begin Saturday at 5 p.m. local time. The men’s, women’s and doubles competitors will go down the track at the Whistler Sliding Centre on a single run as opposed to the usual two, while the relay has been cancelled.

Gough said while frustrating, the weather woes have benefited the Canadians on a couple levels.

“We’ve actually all gotten a cold, so it’s been kind of nice to have some down time and just be able to recover,” said the 29-year-old from Calgary. “We could be stuck in much worse places. This is pretty nice.”

Another factor working for the hosts is their experience on the track. The World Cup skipped Whistler the last two years, but Gough and her teammates have a wealth of experience on the course that hosted the luge, skeleton and bobsled events at the 2010 Olympics.

“I think for us it’s less stressful because Whistler’s home,” said Gough, Canada’s most decorated luger with 22 World Cup medals. “We’re not really worried.”

McRae added that reducing races to a single run won’t impact her approach.

“Even though a race is usually two runs, I act as if it’s one,” said the 24-year-old from Victoria. “That’s the way I mentally prepare. It kind of works out in my favour.”

After a tough start to the World Cup campaign in Germany two weeks ago, Canada bounced back in Lake Placid with a banner performance.

McRae grabbed silver in the women’s event, followed by Gough in third. McRae then joined Samuel Edney and fellow Calgary sliders Tristan Walker and Justin Snith, who race doubles, to win the relay for the country’s first three-medal day.

“All through the week Alex and I were pushing each other back and forth,” said McRae, who now owns two individual and two relay medals. “Everything seemed to work on the day of.”

McRae, who finished sixth the previous week, said the difference in Lake Placid was finding a balance between focus and letting the sled run down the track.

“Luge is funny that way — the more you focus, the more you try, the worse it gets,” she said. “It’s totally backwards because you have to rely on your instincts. Your body knows what to do going 120 km/h. It’s hard sometimes to just shut off the brain and let it work.”

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Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press