Today was a day off for Freddi, Tara-Lee and me and we managed to get a couple of extra hours of sleep. However, there is no reason to sleep away such a wonderful time. We went to Wildwood for eggs benny and then drove to Whistler to go to the Ladies Luge run. We parked in town in Tara-Lee’s parking spot at the hotel and walked through the town to get to the Gondola to go to the Sliding Centre. This is Freddi venue of operation but she is not located in the main venue as she is responsible for making sure that people have the correct accreditation to access the venue. The attached photo is Freddi in her trailer which is on the “dirty” side of the venue. Freddi works with a few other people and has a Supervisor that she hardly ever sees. Her work-mates are less interested in their work and Freddi finds herself taking on a lot of the responsibility because she has been trained at T&L in Ottawa by Kevin. She enjoys the work but she would appreciate a little more action just because she is like that.
The venue itself is a large one and it runs well up the hill to get the vertical required for gravity to take its best grip on the luge sleds and drivers. When you look at the full course one wonders how a human body can hang onto the little sled for the duration. But they seem to have this under control as the challenges are being met by the competitors and great times are being recorded as they tear down the course. The ladies luge today was very good to watch and we stationed ourselves at the final loop that leads to the run-down section of the course. What we found out is that this point is a great viewing area and they travel at their fastest speed through this large loop. I tried to catch a photo of the luge riders against the Olympic Rings but failed many time before I got the timing down.

We met Paul and Mary Ellen at the luge event and had a visit. We have not seen them for quite some time. I see Mary Ellen at our venue form time to time but Paul is working at the Celebration Plaza in Whistler doing flags. He is really enjoying his team and his opportunities to learn more about the flags and the countries. In addition he is part of the welcoming group for incoming athletes and he is meeting some interesting folks doing this job. However he is working every night until the end of the Olympics for a couple of hours to ensure that the right flags are used at the celebrations and medal presentations. He has the most important and public job of the group of us. He loves this work and the association to the Olympics.

As it was a cooler day we stayed at the event to see all of the Canadians shot the gauntlet but did not stay for the final runs as our feet got pretty cold. We went down to the village and sought refuge in the Hilton where Tara-Lee works and we watched the first two periods of the Canada Norway hockey game. Freddi and I left after the second period and drove Tara-Lee’s car to Pemberton while Tara-Lee and Bree stayed in town for the Whistler celebration ceremony and the party that is associated with each evening’s event. They will have a great party tonight.
Once home Gray made some pizza for dinner while we watched the final half of the final period for the 8-0 sweep over Norway. It was good to see the team start to come together. I am anxious for them to do well in this wonderful forum.
Tomorrow is a long day at WOP and I must be up at 2 something again......