BARRHEAD - To be an elite athlete and compete on the world stage requires many sacrifices.
One that many people don't think about, including the athletes themselves, is how much money it will take to compete with the world's best.
That is what the 32-year-old two-time Olympian, Barrhead native Melissa Lotholz, told the Barrhead Leader during a fundraising dinner and auction at the Saints Church near Spruce Grove on June 18.
Lotholz is one of the veterans of the team, first joining the squad in 2014 as a brakeman for Kallie Humphries, following a track and field career at the University of Alberta in which she specialized in the 60-metre sprint and relay races.
In the last World Cup season, Lotholz needed to raise $50,000 to remain in the black, something she managed only because of a last-moment $10,000 donation by the now-defunct Camp Creek Community Hall Association in mid-March, shortly after the conclusion of of the Bobsleigh World Cup season.
This season, Lotholz, a pilot on Canada's National Women's Bobsleigh team, competing in the two-woman and monobob events, believes it will take roughly $70,000 to travel and compete with the world's best in a sport where hundredths of a second can mean the difference between landing on the podium in the World Cup and the being close to the bottom of the results.
Lotholz asked Saints Church to host the fundraiser as it was between Edmonton, where she had spent most of the off-season and where she had spent the majority of her sabbatical year, the 2022-2023 season, and her family home in Barrhead.
"It is nice for both of my communities to have the opportunity to learn more about what I do," she said.
Lotholz stated that fundraising has always been a part of the sport; with cuts to sports program funding, especially in the last two seasons due to changes in the way the federal government funds amateur sports, Canadian national team athletes need to take a more active role in fundraising and logistics.
"It's been tough on sport in general, but I know the cuts have been tough on [Canada Bobsleigh Canada] in particular and are very underfunded and are trying to stretch out the dollars they do have as far as they can," she said.
Some of her expenses include travel and accommodation, such as flights, vehicle rentals, hotel rooms at $29,500 a season, a Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton team fee, and athlete insurance at about $15,500, as well as upgrades to her sled. This does not include training, physiotherapy, and coaching, which would incur additional expenses of approximately $2,500 or $3,500.
"The biggest thing that we are fundraising for tonight is a set of bobsled runners. They make a huge difference in competitive advantage," Lotholz said, adding depending on the exchange rate, the runners could cost $10,000 or more each.
She noted that the two-person sled Lotholz competed in last season, the same one in which she won her first World Cup medal as a pilot — a bronze with brakeman Skylar Sieben in Lillehammer, Norway, as well as an eighth-place finish at the World Bobsleigh Championships, with brakeman Leah Walkeden and her monobob — were running on outdated runners.
Shortly after the fundraiser, Lotholz relocated to Calgary to join the rest of Canada Bobsleigh Skeleton for training camp at Canada Olympic Park and the famed Ice House for a combined training camp.
Lotholz said she welcomes returning to bobsled-specific training. After taking a month off after returning to Canada from the World Championships in April, she began training with her teammate and her regular brakeman last season, Leah Walkeden, along with a coach in Edmonton.
"We were concentrating on our sprinting and speed work while being closer to family since I'm on the road for so long during winter," she said.
After completing the training camp, Canada Bobsleigh Skeleton will move its training base to Whistler in October, with the first World Cup event at the Eugenio Monti Sliding Track in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, in November.
"We will be there for a few weeks, getting to know the track, where I hope to be back for the Olympics in February," Lotholz said.
Sometime in late January, following the last World Cup circuit event in Altenberg, Germany, Lotholz and the rest of the Canadian Bobsleigh Skeleton team will learn who will be going to the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games.
If you would like to support Lotholz's continued sporting journey financially, donations can be made through her website at www.melissalotholz.ca or via Athletes in Action in Canada at athletesinaction.ca
Athletes In Action Canada is a Christian sports-related organization dedicated to developing well-rounded athletes, with which Lotholz is very involved. People can also support Lotholz by purchasing Gold Crush, a non-alcoholic beer available through One For the Road Brewery.
Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com
