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Show HiSStop November 9, 2000 lH"'1 V" A af i 1 f - ' r Nt i ' t f ; i i i I , i.U'.-- t fre $ at 4 8 t & ! I Photos by Senior Airman Russ Martin Brady Canfield, skeleton athlete, left, keeps warm and his muscles loose between runs by jumping rope. Canfield watches as a course monitor clears sled-trac- grooves k before his run after seeing a competitor have a rough start. by Senior Airman Russ Martin Hilltop Times staff True dreams that seem nearly impossible to attain often need help before they can be accomplished. For a Hill AFB major and senior airman, their dreams came one step closer to reality with a little help from the World Class Athlete Program. Maj. Brady Canfield and Senior Airman Trevor Christie, World Class Athlete Program participants, qualified in Nationals, the First round of selection races for the U.S. skeleton 2000-0- 1 team, Oct. 15 at the Utah Winter Sports Park in Park City. Ten men and eight women, including Canfield and Christie, showed they were a little more skilled, or maybe crazier, than their opponents, being selected from a field of 41 hopefuls, to compete in round two, qualifying for the World Cup team which will be held in Calgary, Canada in November. Though this was just the beginning of the selection process for the 2002 Winter Games, its another step closer to being champions for Canfield and Christie in a sport they just decided to try one day. I was stationed at Griffis AFB, N.Y., when I heard about the sport so I tried it, said Canfield. I started going quite often on the weekends. Then I got stationed in Florida so I just burned up a lot of leave to come up for a week or two and slide and a little over a year ago they moved me up here so I could slide. Christie already had a bit of a background in luge and tried skeleton racing by chance. I started bobsledding back in 85 and tried skeleton as a dare. I did it for a couple weeks and have done it ever since, said Christie. I was never scared on the skeleton, but it did make the runs real excit- like trying to drive a NASCAR down a dirt road going NASCAR speed and it hurt a little bit. Despite1 racing for years, Canfields stomach still tends to sink in anticipation from time to time, but in the end he knows hell be fine down the track. Im scared a lot of times when Im going down the track, but never had any close calls, said Canfield. Not in this sport. This is the only one that looks bad but its really quite safe, because theres nothing really to hit you and theres bumpers on the sled.. So we try to let those take most of the hits. Trevor Christie, skeleton athlete, above, begins his run down there the event. Runners can drive the sled better than anyone competir below, begins to pick up speed down the track. Racers can expst Originally, sleds consisted of wooden frames affixed with metal runners. Racetracks were sloping Alpine village streets whose treacherous winding turns were fortified with snowbanks to accelerate and direct the sliders through the course. Now sleds have evolved with technology, and the tracks are refrigerated half pipes leaving racers literally no where to go but down. Racers use any edge they can to negotiate the course safely, but faster. The Air Force Advanced Composite Office, a tenant unit on Hill AFB has built three composite pods for the Air Force skeleton sled athletes. The ACO has used these pods as teaching tools to teach new ACO engineers as well as Ogden Air Logistics Center personnel the steps to manufacture a composite part, according to Larry Coulter, Air Force Research Lab Advanced Composite Office. The ACO had a hand-bui- lt prototype measured, Comused those measurements to develop a puter animated design model, downloaded that model to a computerized router that cut a wood master tool. Then a fiberglass bond form was made from the wood master, and a composite material was used to lay-u-p the sled pod. It was cured in an autoclave then hand trimmed before it was mounted ing. Skeleton racing is the oldest competitive sled rac-in- g on the skeleton frame. The pods were mainly a learning tool for the ACO sport in the world. In spite of its relatively unknown status its not hard to see why people but it appears that the use of advanced composare beginning to talk more about the sport. Its not ites has made a more effective pod, said Coulter. hard to be drawn to the thrill and excitement of Theres a detachment at Hill thats a research athletes hurl them- unit (Air Force Research Lab), said Canfield. The watching heJmeted, lycra-cla- d selves headfirst down refrigerated, icy downhill pod section (under carriage) of the sled was changed. chutes at speeds exceeding 80 miles per hour The rules changed so if cant be concave or have sliding in and out of hairpin turns. any aerodynamic edge. Its got to be flat. The lab Canfield recalls his first experience on the skelemade a couple prototypes for me to test. ton wasnt the most calming one. Canfield and Christie are currently in Calgary The speed scares you at first, said Canfield. The competing for the World Cup and Americas Cup track I learned in New York was designed for the teams. While theyre away, their team here con1932 Olympics. The sleds have gotten a little bit tinues to try and improve their equipment. faster since 1932 but the track didnt change. It was Weve helped with the new design of his current 3-- D 3-- D are working to improve that design while hes gonri ii We hope to have the improved second generation blade ready for him when he returns from World e a Cup races. In the sports you have to be part athlete, part P mechanic and part engineer, said Canfield. I spoke with some engineers to see if there was some mate- - h rial that would make it run a little faster or if the V t cut was slightly changed if it might pick up a few V hundredths of a second. Its not huge, but the sports a measured in hundredths of a second. I lost to Trevor o |