Winter Corporate Games Story

Technically, Double Drummer didn’t submit a team to compete at the Winter Corporate Games in Thredbo last August… but that didn’t stop us from making an impact in the snowfields.

Double Drummer was asked to help a group of skiers and snowboarders to finalise their team. This is their story as told by new DD convert ‘Bella’ …

My GetData boss Graham Henley (who had competed in Thredbo a couple of times for PriceWaterhouseCoopers ‘in a former life’) and myself (Sibylle ‘Bella’ Seidler) went on a short ski trip to Park City/Utah in February this year. Sitting on a chairlift, taking in the sights, Graham mentioned the Winter Corporate Games to me… and we decided there and then that we should definitely give it a go as Team 'Getdata rocks'!

But to enter we needed four team members. My boyfriend Robert Francis signed up, but that still left us one short to meet the tournament requirements… and that’s how we became the one and only team, legally fuelled by Johnny Walker!

Johnny is a DD member – a tennis player, fisherman and keen skier. He’d already driven from Sydney to the snow three times before the Games but when approached to join our team, he figured it sounded like so much fun he couldn’t refuse. Graham, Robert and I met him at the Wild Brumby Distillery in Thredbo Valley where the four of us toasted our Gold Medal chances with home-brewed German Dunkel Weizen (dark wheat) beer.

We had a great time the day before the big race, exploring the terrain and also testing the racecourse in the afternoon. I grew up in East Germany and learned to ski when I was just 2. My parents first took me skiing in Poland, (the former) Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria… and later (after 1989), in the Alps of Austria, Switzerland and Italy. However, before this year’s Corporate Games, I had never before participated in a race.

I tried to play it cool but honestly, when it was time to put on our numbers and we stood up there on the course watching the competitors before us race, I became very excited, a little nervous and to my surprise, quite competitive!

And then it all happened so fast… I stood in the start tent and with the official counting us down and the sight of the flags, I was totally into racing mode!

3… 2… 1 ... “Competitor 679 is coming down...”

That's all I heard and off I went...

It was a great feeling but also just a little nerve-wracking. I remember wondering if I’d really make it down… and most of all thinking: “I hope I don't miss a flag!”

We all had a blast and my two races went by just too fast. Afterwards, all I wanted to do was better my time!

When the results came in we were pretty stoked. I was really surprised when I came 3rd in the Women’s 30+ Division. Having skied only 3 days in 5 years (I always happened to be in Australia during the European winter and had never skied in Australia before) I was rapt with the result! And though they didn’t win a medal, the boys did very well too, JW standing out on the mountain in his bright red ski jacket.

Johnny is now determined to recruit more DD members to participate in the 2009 Winter Corporate Games… and Graham, Robert and I are all looking forward to meeting them and enjoying another great weekend in the snow next year! (But just a thought… if all DD members are like Johnny Walker, the Games should be raising money for a charity that aims to cure liver disease!)