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Check out memories from my Olympics in this months Fuse magazine.
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Exciting New Job!

This New Year I got an exciting new job, I became an Aunty for the first time. I was lucky enough to have been able to meet him the day after he was born back home in Bath, having come home early after a race, so was able to get in my first cuddle, a big congratulations to my brother and Sarah his wife and their beautiful little boy. Its great to have family so close around you, after my training session every morning I was able to pop along and get my cuddle fix and helping out however I could. Have to get well practiced for when my sister is expecting hers in April as my job will be doubled!

First snowman of the winter

Today I really wanted to build a snowman, we have had constant snow for three days here in La Plagne, so it felt only right to have a little fun, So Richard (team manager), Kay (physio) and I decided to make one...."Alan" was born!!

New World cup track La Plagne

La Plagne is an interesting track, new to most sliders as the last world cup race here was in 2002, before I even knew what skeleton was! Its good as everyone is on a even playing field, apart from a a few athletes that were in the ICC race here last year. So far all is going well. The track is hard, fast, lots of pressure and feels wild to go down, there is no "rest" ie straights to get your head around the corners, instead they go straight one into the next, to the next... easy to get lost!! The push at the top is a good 40m long, alot longer and flatter then all other tracks, should suit me well! I have one more day training tomorrow, need to sort out my corner 11-12 where today I literally flew through the air and lost contact with the ice! Race 9am on sat 10th, watch it on Eurosport.

"On the Road With..."

Back in October, in Lillehammer I spent the day with Matthew Stadlem, who came out to interview and follow me around for the day for one of his programs for BBC News Channel. It will be an insight into what my days are like whilst out on the skeleton circuit. It will be shown on the BBC News channel on sat 10th 04:30 and 22:30, then again on the 11th at 01:30, 10:30 ans 22:30.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00smr60/broadcasts/2011/12

WORLD CUP RACE #1

It’s the start of the skeleton world cup season. The first race was yesterday in Igls, Austria.I was really happy with my self and my performance especially with my push times which were both 3rd fastest. It was then a shame that I didn’t seem to be able to hold onto this position by the time I was 14 corners down the track and crossing over the finish line, I had to settle for 12th place. Always frustrating when you drop places down the track, my speed was low, and I was loosing out the whole way down. Not sure why at the moment, but technology is such a huge part of this sport, and something is not quite right with my sled/runners/ set up on sled. I will hopefully get it sorted soon and will be back further up the standings where I know I can be. Thanks Charlie Booker for the photos!

Live Leader board photo

Top Gear Live show

The week after selection races I went home for a few days, these were quickly filled up with packing/unpacking but also I was involved in the Top Gear live shows in Birmingham. What great fun, as always, I was in part of the show where a race track had been made up for all different makes and model of cars, old and new. I was the star in the reasonable priced car, and with a live leader board, raced my way around to try and beat who ever else was on their. I got a few practice laps with The Stig, but then the race was on, a bit like my skeleton races, not quite enough time to perfect every corner! Maybe The Stig can come and walk down the skeleton track with me one day and see what he thinks would be the fast line!!

WINTERBERG SELECTION RACE 1

This year the British selection races are both in Germany, on two different tracks, Winterberg and Altenberg. We will all race and our results will be given points, added up and then the teams selected for the season, deciding who will be on the World cup, Intercontinental and Europa cup teams.
Yesterday was the first runs down the Winterberg track, we have three days of official training with two runs a day, then race on the 1st Nov 9am.
So far its going well, I will test out a few different pairs of runners today, so see how they work on the ice conditions here, and then make a decision as to which ones to races on. I will keep you posted as to how the next’s few days go.

Start of the winter season 2011-12!

I am writing this blog to you from a little log cabin in Lillehammer, Norway, it sounds rather romantic, I am sure your all thinking along the lines of big sofas, log fires, hot chocolate and being all snuggled up warm… but disappointingly it is far from that! For starters I can hardly see the keyboard as the lights are so dim, and there is no light outside even though its only 10am! No fire exists or sofas, but some hard backed chairs instead! So why am I in this log cabin? No, its not any crazy challenge that I maybe on, but it is the start of the skeleton season. That time of year has come around again so soon. Last week the whole of the British Skeleton Team had a pre season review camp in Bath, going through the season ahead, setting goals for the team and each individual athlete, arranging travel and hotels, the list is endless in what we covered! So I found myself a few days ago packing up my bags, sorting out all my kit and equipment, buying up my favourite food goodies, such as tea bags, marmite, honey, yes honey a big necessity for me, I love the stuff! My comfort food!
All our kit went onto the vans that were getting driven out by support team, so luckily we didn’t have to transport it all up to London for our flights a few days later. Love travelling with just hand luggage, what bliss!
It will be my first full competition circuit since the Olympic year in 2009/10, so I am interested to see how I feel when I am back on ice and sliding again in competitions. To start with the whole British team are here in Lillehammer, we have our first day of sliding today, after having two days sorting out our sleds and getting them ready to be fit to slide! I am on the same sled, Arthur, that I was on at the Olympics, although like you would MOT a car, a lot has changed in him! Hope he behaves himself for me!
We have our first selection race on the 1st November in Winterberg a track in Germany, then a second race in Altenberg another German track on the 6th Nov. I will let you know how they go.

BT Olympic Ball

I attend the BT BOA Olympic ball that took place this year at Kensington Olympia on the 7th October in London, it was the biggest event so far with over 2500 attending. The month before I had been part of a photo shoot to promote the ball up in the BT tower in London, what great views we all had from up there! Great photo guys…
The ball is a great event with the aim to raise money for the British Olympic Association who organise everything that the athletes need to go and compete at an Olympics, from hotels to kit to travel, the list goes on. The ball this year raised over £700,000 an amazing amount. Thank you to everyone that donated, or bought the auction items on the night to help raise this huge amount. I need to find out now who won the bid to have me teach them on the skeleton track in Austria this year!
I would like to say a thank you to Watling Goldsmiths who lent me some jewellery for the night, I was able to go into their shop in Lacock which is just outside Bath, and chose anything that I wanted to wear with my dress. I felt amazing wearing their beautiful hand crafted pieces, so thank you Jane.

Olympic Day Run Race

On the 24th June I helped out at Bath University with the Olympic day run.
The University of Bath hosted a sporting celebration on behalf of the British Olympic Foundation to celebrate International Olympic Day.
Building on the International Olympic Committee’s three pillars of Move, Learn and Discover, the day consisted of different secondary school students taking part in the run and a sports festival to discover new skills, a junior academy for students to learn and debate Olympic themes and an art display. More than 400 young people attended the event at the Sports Training Village. I started off the race with a few words to encourage and inspire the young athletes.

Top Gear

Are you a fan of Top Gear? (I am!) If you haven’t already seen it, you need to get onto i-player and see the first of the new series that started last week (26th June), in which I was featured. I went out to Lillehammer to race the new Mini rally car down the track on my sled. James May was in the rally car and I was on the skeleton track, it was great fun although hard work as we filmed for two nights solid 6pm -7am! I was shattered by the end! I was in the studio last week for the last bit of filming and for a little chat with Jeremy Clarkson! Well I didn’t get to say too much in the end, but great great fun, thanks guys! http://transmission.blogs.topgear.com/2011/06/27/behind-the-scenes-james-and-amy-williams/

Wimbledon 2011

I was lucky to be invited to Wimbledon on the middle Sports Saturday, I received an invitation last year and so was thrilled when I received another this year. It really is a grand day out, an early start to get dressed up (making sure my dress covered my dodgy knee!) and ready with my good friend Vicky, who had stayed over in Bath to join me for the occasion. We got to Wimbledon in good time and were met at the gates by lots of sports fans wanting autographs; they would have got a good number, as I was joining many sporting greats, such as Jonathon Edwards, Mark Foster, Sir Steve Redgrave and Martina Navratilova. It’s always lovely to be standing next to fellow athletes whom you admire so much.
Also invited to the Royal Box were many service men and women from the Armed Forces and it was particularly memorable how they received a long ovation from the crowd in honour of them all. The tennis was superb: I was lucky to have Roger Federer and Djokovic to watch - a first for me - and now today Djokovic has gone on to win Wimbledon 2011. Well done to him!
I did start thinking, throughout the matches that day, how tennis players move to that next level of competition. As an athlete who has now reached the highest level of my sport, I know the dedication and hard work that goes into reaching that level. One of which is through technology, research and development. I admit I know nothing about tennis as a sport, apart from simply the scoring! But my brain was whirring with how they must improve to the next step. When I saw Federer suddenly change his racket half-way through his match, I couldn’t help but think, “Does he know exactly how many times he can hit the ball before the tension in his racket changes and starts to have an effect on his power?” and “I wonder if tennis players work with cricketers; is there a cross-over with putting spin on the ball and how to hit it?” Maybe they already do all of this…but it made me think!

Freshford village fete

On Saturday I went along as a guest to Freshford village, a beautiful little quaint English village just outside Bath. They asked if I would open up the summer fete for them, which I was delighted to do. It had been ages since I had been to one, so I took some girlfriends along to join me, and we enjoyed a sunny, yes sunny! summers day out, playing on the tombola, eating cakes with cups of tea and watching the locals brownies on the maypole.

Bath Night Walk for Macmillan Cancer Support

Tonight, the 11th June, I will be starting the Bath Night walk in aid of Macmillan cancer support. It starts at 9pm at the Bath Rec, in the centre of the town. The walk will be about 4 miles long, so you can take a steady pace and enjoy the beautiful scenery around the City.
Macmillan Cancer Support improves the lives of people affected by cancer, providing practical, medical, emotional and financial support. Working alongside people affected by cancer, Macmillan works to improve cancer care. One in three of us will get cancer. Two million of us are living with it. If you are affected by cancer Macmillan can help so please come along and take part, It is open to women only, but men should in no way feel left out! Dozens of volunteers are needed to cheer the walkers on and man the route. Registration is £10, and no minimum sponsorship is required (though an objective of £100 is gently encouraged). To sign up for the Bath Night Walk or find out more information, simply visit www.bathnightwalk.org where you can register online or download a hard copy form to complete. Walkers will then be sent a Bath Night Walk pack with everything they need to help raise their sponsorship target and prepare for the walk. see you there!

Decathlon Store Relaunch

Last week I drove up and down to Nottingham twice, a 320 mile round trip! I was at the Ikea retail park just outside Nottingham. I was asked to do a talk, to meet and greet people in the store, and give any advise on training. I also took part in many activities that had been set up in the big car park, so I scaled up climbing walls, kicked footballs as fast as possible, attempted to kick a rugby ball into different sized holes, I had a go on their archery set, table tennis and of course….space hoppers, having races against many children!! I almost lost my Olympic medal to one of them who was determined to take it home with him! Highly recommend heading to a Decathlon store for any sports equipment you need for any activity.

Hayesfield School New Sports Centre

Hayesfield school in Bath used to be my old secondary school, so when I was asked whether I would mind having the new performing arts and sports centre named after me, I felt very honoured. They have built a fantastic new building which includes a sports hall, gymnasium, multi gym, netball courts and all weather pitch as well as performing arts facilities for music and dance and Art teaching. There is also a new refectory and auditorium as well as a new reception area and open learning centre at the core of the building. I officially opened the building and said some encouraging words to the girls, I hope they will be inspired to take part in sport and that this building will be a place where the community and local area can all use.

Sports Industry Awards

On the 11th May I went up to London to attend the Sports Industry Awards at Battersea Evolution. I was there the year before, but this defiantly seemed to be the type of event that seems to get bigger and bigger as over 1,700 guests attended the spectacular 10th Anniversary celebration. Sports stars and celebrities were invited along with all the top business and companies in the sports industry. I was asked to present the award for Best Integrated Sport Marketing Campaign, along with Geoff Shreeves. I still find it nerve raking standing in front of that many people! However I enjoyed the night, was on a great table, mostly because it was made up of other MTC athletes such as the lovely Sally Gunnell who i was sat next to.

Kinect for Xbox 360

I have never been a computer games kind of a girl but when I was asked if I wanted to represent and promote the Kinect Sports interactive game for the Xbox 360 in London last week I had the urge to say yes and give it a go. I was keen to practice before hand so I got my first ever Xbox sent to my house and got some of the skeleton girls around to play with me. We had all just been to the gym and had had a full days training so to be honest we were all ready just to sit down with a cup of tea, but oh no, within no more then 5 Min's I had set up the Xbox having never set up anything like this before, I was a bit apprehensive but it was so easy, few plugs here and there and "ta da" we were ready to play. I had moved the furniture around to create a good space in my small living room and then the fun began! We laughed so much watching each other and seeing ourselves on screen, the Xbox copies what you are doing as your character on the screen moves around following your movements, amazing, so clever. All this practice of athletics, football, table tennis and volleyball was so that when I became a team captain on the 14th April in London I would know what I was doing! I was with other team captain, Graeme Swann, fresh from the cricket World Cup who also had Darius Knight our London 2012 table tennis hopeful and I was paired with Louis Smith, our first British gymnast to win an Olympic medal (pommel horse) since the 1920s, and London medal hopeful. We all spent the day playing against each other having an amazing time chatting to journalists and school children who had come along to play with us.