Chasing Olympic dreams at 125 km/h
Patterson key in ensuring bobsleigh track safety
Story and photo by Chris Simnett
 When
Heather Patterson is flying down the twisting, icy 1,450-metre track at the
Whistler Sliding Centre during the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, she knows she can
come back down to Earth at the Foothills Medical Centre.
Patterson, an alternate brakeman on one of the Canadian World Cup bobsleigh
teams, is also a registered nurse on Unit 37 at Calgary’s largest hospital.
She won’t be competing at the Olympics, but she is serving as a forerunner.
Forerunners hurtle down the track just before competition starts to test for the
safety of the track and to make sure the timing and video systems are working
properly.
Patterson is thrilled to be part of the Olympic experience.
“You’re hanging out at the top with all the Olympic athletes,” says the
23-year-old. “They’re all pumped, getting ready to go. I’ll be sliding maybe
five minutes before they go."
“It’s going to be great just to be there and to learn and observe,” adds
Patterson, whose goal is to compete at the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia. “When a
team is competing at that level, it’s a whole different mindset.”
Patterson has been working on Unit 37 at the Foothills Medical Centre since July, after she
graduated from the University of Western Ontario. She loves the way her job and
her sport provide balance in her life.
“As a nurse I work better when I’m more calm and collected and organized,” she
says. “With bobsleigh it’s the same. Being able to stop and take a deep breath
and collect yourself is important."
Patterson credits her job keeping her grounded. “Nursing humbles you,” she says.
“Doing the work in a hospital and then going to train, you realize what other
people have to go through. I am so fortunate in everything I have, my health and
the opportunities I’ve been given.
“You can get so wrapped up in what you’re doing, in your sport. When you come
back to work it’s back down to Earth, back to reality.”
Patterson is on Unit 37’s casual roster and says her colleagues have been
tremendously supportive.
“They’ve been really accommodating,” she says. “I started my training in
September. I told them I had to go to Whistler for two weeks and I asked if that
was okay. They told me to take as much time as I needed this year and to keep
them updated.”
Patterson only got into bobsleigh a year ago after a successful track and field
career at Western. The Ontario native won the CIS championships for shot put in
2006 and switched to bobsleigh at the urging of her track coach, who said she
had the right body-type for the sport.
“I graduated (from university) and decided I didn’t want to throw shot put any
more,” she says.
“This is my sport now,” she adds. “My right knee is damaged from shot put. You
always land on the same knee and twist. I can wear out different parts of my
body with this sport.”
Patterson laughs and says bobsleigh is hard on her back.
The G-forces she experiences in the back of the sled are intense. The ride is
anything but smooth and she’s constantly covered in bruises from banging against
the inside of the fibreglass missile she sits in. She’s crashed four times and
fallen out of the sled once at more than 125 km/h.
“It can hurt if you don’t hold yourself inside the sled,” she says with a
chuckle.
“I love it — but I also love nursing. I’m a full-time athlete this winter but I
don’t think I could ever give up nursing 100 per cent. I need that for balance
in my life.”
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