Speeding headfirst down the track

By Maggie Quinlan '06

While many students call their favorite winter pastimes skating and skiing. Katie Kelleher '08 recently participated in Olympic development programs for her unique winter activity, the sledding sport known as the skeleton.

The skeleton is a unique one-person sled competition similar to the luge, except that in the skeleton, the rider heads down the icy track in a vulnerable, headfirst position.

Interestingly, skeleton is the oldest sledding sport, originated in Switzerland during the late 1800s. It made its first Olympic appearance when Switzerland played host to the games in 1928. The 2006 Olympics in Torino, Italy, will mark skeleton's fourth Olympic appearance.

Kelleher became interested in the skeleton after watching it in the 2002 Winter Games. Last year, she tried out for a spot in a competitive skeleton school. While she was offered a position, she did riot have time to attend.

However, earlier this year, she was able to make the time to commit to the skeleton school. Since then, she has engaged in additional training, learned more about the sport, competed in races, and even recently qualified for Eastern Regionals.

When asked what her favorite aspect of the sport was, she immediately responded. "The subtle technicalities of it, like knowing when to drop a toe to prevent crashing or learning to steer with your shoulders.

Although admitting that it was at first frightening to steer a small sheet of metal headfirst down a track of ice, she enthused, "I love the speed that you get in your run, especially in some of the big turns and in a section of the track at Lake Placid called The Devil's Highway, which is really steep and has a series of four really tight turns."

Kelleher did cite frustration with the variation in track conditions, as ice can become soft or hard depending upon weather conditions at the time. This November she had the unique but frustrating experience of watching a track get washed out during a rainstorm, while simultaneously losing power.

In terms of Olympic aspirations, Kelleher hopes she might reach the big stage someday. "It would he amazing to he in the Olympics someday, but there are a lot of steps in between. For now, I just love sliding and am having tons of fun."

As published in the February 22, 2006 issue of the Deerfield Scroll, the monthly newspaper of Deerfield Academy.