A Drumheller man is taking his athletic dreams to the extreme training in skeleton.
This is the second season that 23-year-old Landon Brown has been training as a slider. He is currently on a team called the Sniper Skeleton Club based out of Calgary and is training, competing and improving.
“Last year was my rookie season, so this is my full year, and hopefully next year I get into some international racing,” said Brown.
Currently, he trains in Calgary once a week at the Ice House working on push-starts. Since the track at WinSport has been closed for renovations, he said the team is taking frequent trips to Whistler to get on track experience. On his own, he dedicates about three hours a day to training.
In this brief career, he has won a bronze and a gold medal, as well as eighth and a 15th place finish.
“Every time I am out I feel like I am getting a little faster, and if not a little faster a little smarter,” he said.
He says some of his best times are getting close to times that racers in international competition are matching.
Brown has always been athletic, and growing up he played baseball and hockey. While you are alone on the track he says it is still very much a team sport.
“You have to rely on your teammates because there is a point system and you have to qualify sleds into the races. The better your partner does, they could maybe get another person into the race,” he said.
He said the most important part of his training is developing explosiveness.
“It’s all about the explosiveness out of the start, and then just power right until you get on the sled because that is the only chance you get to give yourself an advantage going down,” he said. “Once you learn the cornering you are going to drive properly.”
Brown says that unlike many sports where people train from a young age, the prime age for skeleton in international competition is about 28 to 34.
“You can start a little bit older,” he said. “That was one big plus for me because I wanted to get into something competitive, but I didn’t have to start when I was 5 or 6, and this was one of the options.
Moving forward he hopes to race for Ireland and he is currently working on getting his citizenship.
He has a race coming up at the end of February and then at the end of March.
