I am delighted to announce a sponsorship arrangement with Jennings Capital Inc., a national full-service Canadian investment dealer. This sponsorship will ease the financial stress and worries that I have had to struggle with as a full-time amateur athlete, allowing me to focus on my sport and my goals leading to 2010. A great big thank-you to the entire team at Jennings for their support of me, and for stepping up and participating in amateur sport.

Helen Upperton captured the two-women national title at the 2007 Visa Canadian Bobsleigh Championships at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary on Saturday
evening.

Upperton teamed up with brakeman Jenny Ciochetti, of Edmonton, to put down the fastest two-run combined time of the evening in the womens race at one minute 54.70 seconds. The Canadian duo crossed the finish line with run times of 57.20 and 57.50.

With Ciochetti and Jaime Cruickshank splitting time on the brakes in the Canada 1 sled last season, Upperton drove to three World Cup podium finishes en route to finishing fourth overall in the 2006-07 World Cup standings.

“It is always fun to race at home, and we have a good group of women racing in Canada which makes the competition strong,” said Upperton, who is pre-selected for the national team. “I think it is important to race in these events. It gives us an extra couple of runs early in the season, and allows us to test different equipment before the World Cup begins.”

he 06/07 season was a great one.My two brakemen Jenny and Jaime were brillant all season and I’m proud so say that we manage to end up 4th ranked overall in the World Cup standings and our worst finish this year on the WC was a 4th….much better than the previous seasons 10th.  We were not able to participate in the Canadian Championships due to a shipping problem with our equipment.
So as for now,I’m busy training,trying to select my two brakemen again for next season.Our bobsleigh federation has undergone massive restructuring and I think things have finally settled down.I’m working with a new Strength and Conditioning coach name Quin Sekulich.  I’m really excited about this.  He is a great coach and I’m sure will make a positive impact on our already great push times.  I’ve been working hard this summer not only training but also trying to get some new equipment sorted out for next season. I have started working with a wonderful group of people based in Montreal called B2Ten.I’ll tell you more about them later,and I’ve been making some progress with sponsors and trying to finalize the euqipment stuff.I will keep you posted as more develops.
xo
Hels

Helen Upperton and teammate Jennifer Ciochetti captured bronze with a combined time of one minute, 50.72 seconds. The Canadian team were 1.19 seconds behind the German leaders, Sandra Kiriasis and her brakeman Romy Logsch. Cathleen Martini and Janine Tischer, also of Germany, took the silver.

The Canadian Women’s Bobsleigh Team is back home after an extremely successful first half of their 2006-2007 World Cup Tour.  The Canada I sled, driven by pilot Helen Upperton and pushed by brakemen Jaime Cruickshank and Jennifer Ciochetti brought home three podium finishes, two international start records, and two medals after only 3 races on the North American portion of the FIBT World Cup Tour.  Helen and her team are currently sitting 3rd in the overall World Cup stadings behind American pilot Shauna Rohbock and German pilot Cathleen Martini.  The World Cup season starts back up again on January 9th in Cortina, Italy.  Check back soon for more news or for more information please visit FIBT.COM.

The 2006/2007 FIBT World Cup kicks off next week in Calgary, Canada. Come out and cheer on our Canadian Bobsleigh and Skeleton teams as they take on the World!

For a PDF of the 2006/2007 FIBT Visa Calgary World Cup Schedule, click HERE.

Canadian National Team Selections are underway with races for Men’s and Women’s Bobsleigh and Men’s and Women’s Skeleton happening at Canada Olympic Park this weekend (Saturday October 14 and Sunday October 15 at 7 PM) and next weekend (Saturday October 21, and Sunday October 22, 2006 at 7 PM). The National Team will be announced the following week here in Calgary, Alberta. Come out and cheer our teams on!

Well we have just finished our 2nd world cup event of the season. Lake Placid is always a challenging track for me but I’m really happy with the progress we made as a team and our 10th place result. This was Kaillie’s first race back since her ankle injury and it was nice having her racing again. She’s been itching to get back in the sled since the season started as well and it must have been a relief for her to get the first one out of the way. We are still sitting 4th in the World Cup standings which is much more than I expected so… on to the next race. We leave for a training week in Torino, Italy at the Olympic track and then we are off to Igls, Austria to compete in our 3rd World Cup race of the season.

World Cup # 1 is over. I was pretty nervous but wow… what a race. My first ever podium finish and on top of that… A bronze medal for Canada. What a great start to the season and I’m so happy all of my friends and family were here to watch. Speaking of great starts, Heather pushed me to a new Canadian start record and tied the international start record as well. I also have one more Olympic Qualification complete. 2 down, one more top 7 to go!!

Well we are finished our National Team Selections, I have earned the spot of Canada I this season by winning both selection races and the Canadian National Championships. Heather Moyse has been pushing me and doing a great job. She is getting some good race experience before the world cup season begins. We have also set a new Canadian Push Record – twice. We are both looking forward to Kaillie’s comeback after a severe ankle sprain. We are hoping she’ll be ready by the 2nd or 3rd world cup race. Fingers crossed.