On Saturday, June 25, 2005, the trip started out with Abdil taking Southwest Airlines from Indianapolis to Chicago Midway, then ATA to Newark, then Malaysia Airlines to Stockholm. He arrived at the Stockholm Arlanda International Airport on Sunday morning at 11:00 and had to wait for William to arrive at 16:30. William took a flight with Scandinavian Airlines from Paris CDG. They finally met each other for the first time in their lives and proceeded to get an airport locker to store their luggage and luge equipment prior to getting kebabs for dinner at one of the airport restaurants. Then it was a long wait till midnight because they were taking the overnight train from Arlanda to Åre, which left at 00:24 on Monday and arrived at 08:42.

Sweden is situated so up north in Europe that even during the summer, the weather was very cold, at least during the first few days they were there. The sun also never seemed to go down so it was always daytime even at night.

Playing Congkak on Malaysia Airlines flying to Stockholm

The view of Åre from the train station (note the snow-capped mountains in the summer)

Upon arriving at the train station, they were breathtaken by the beautiful scenery that surrounded them. There was a huge body of water to the south that separated them from more mountain ranges that offer skiing in the winter. They looked for Marcus and the group but apparently they were not on the same train as they said they were. Regardless, they checked in at the tourist information office, got the keys to the cabin, and proceeded to go to their cabin.

The cabin was simply gorgeous and cosy, being fully furnished with living room with 2 sofa beds, a cable TV with 15 channels, a kitchen complete with cooking utensils, dishware and cutlery, microwave, refrigerator, dishwasher, a bathroom with laundry machine, and a small bedroom with 2 bunkbeds. They then proceeded to make the apartment their territory by putting up the THP banner and the Malaysian flag. William didn't have a French flag though. After that they proceeded to assemble their luges in order to get some practice. Unfortunately it was starting to rain.

They proceeded to the athlete shuttle pickup area whereby they met the other riders, mostly downhill skateboarders from Sweden. It was there that Abdil met Baltic Chayjanya, a downhill skateboarder from Thailand but has been living in Stockholm for a few years now working at a sushi restaurant.

Shortly after, the shuttle bus arrived and took them to the top of the hill. The rain was actually a light drizzle, but the road was wet enough to warrant riding with the most absolute caution.

The girl starter Helena told the riders to quickly go as there was a car waiting at the top that wanted to go down the hill. Abdil and William waited for Francois Fevrier, another French street luger, to grab his luge from the bus and join them on their first run. Abdil told William to stay behind him so they could learn the course. Unfortunately William pushed off far ahead of Abdil and passed him only a few meters from the start line. Abdil, who had no choice but to draft William and hopefully pass him later so he could show William to go slowly, only managed to pass

William and Abdil hanging out in the cabin

Aki from Switzerland and Kurt from Australia during the sliding competition in the main square

William at the slight left-hand sweeper prior to reaching the first hairpin turn when William started to sit up and brake. When Abdil passed William, he could feel his luge starting to hydroplane on the wet road, and worried if William experienced the same thing.

Slowing down significantly to the first hairpin and looking back to see where William was, Abdil could not see him. Moments later he saw William laying down on the road near the guardrail. William had crashed into the guardrail and Abdil had to abandon his luge by the first hairpin and quickly run up to William to assess the situation. Francois had also stopped to see if William was okay. Soon the nearby corner marshalls left their posts and attended to William. He couldn't move, and Abdil suspected something bad, a possible broken leg. A French rider by the name of Alex Ulrich quickly came in his car to talk to William about some details. The corner marshalls called the paramedics and soon the siren of the ambulance could be heard wailing at the bottom of the hill. Help was on the way.

True enough, the paramedics suspected a broken femur and proceeded to put William in a splint and carried him into the ambulance before William was airlifted by the helicopter to the Ostersund hospital which was 100 km away!

By this time, Abdil was demotivated to continue riding for the day after his teammate crashed on his very first run. Abdil hitched a ride with Alex Ulrich back to the cabin where they could contact William's parents on his cellphone. All of William's belongings were still in the cabin, including his wallet, so Abdil had to search the wallet for any helpful information. Alex and another French rider, Nathaniel, soon found William's home phone number on his cellphone and called his mom to relay the bad news. Alex and Nathaniel then proceeded to contact Alain Esnault, the agent of the French Federation of Roller Sports (FFRS) who deals with insurance for French riders. One of the benefits of being a member is that if the rider gets injured anywhere in the world, the rider's air travel back to France is paid for. Alex and Nathaniel had to pull some strings in order to create a membership for William.

After all the phone-calling ordeal was over, Abdil was left alone in the cabin. Marcus and the group still hadn't arrived, so Abdil decided to disassemble William's luge and pack it up, as well as William's other personal belongings.

What a bad start (not to mention the first day!) to what would have been an otherwise perfectly enjoyable week.

" Eh, you from Malaysia / Thailand? I'm from Thailand / Malaysia! "

In leading order: Edgar de Wit (Netherlands), Abdil Mahdzan (Malaysia), Caue Lemes (Brazil), Jorge Sousa (Portugal)

Marcus and the other American riders only arrived on Tuesday, June 28, 2005. It turned out that their reservations were fully booked and they were forced to take the next train the following day and had to spend an extra night in Copenhagen.

The days started to pass by. On Tuesday it still rained, so Abdil decided to get some practice runs only in the morning (3 runs) before lunch break after which he went back to the cabin to chill and relax.

Wednesday, June 29, 2005. It did not rain! Everyone proceeded to get 3 runs in the morning before lunch and 3 runs after lunch. Practice ended at 16:00 because the shuttle bus service was not to be available after that time.

Thursday, June 30, 2005. Qualifying day. Of course things took a long time because there were more than 60 downhill skateboarders! Not only that, but the self-triggering timing mechanism was malfunctioning after the first qualifying run for the downhill skateboarders, so the race officials had to revert to manual release by 2-way radio.

Friday, July 1, 2005. Race day. Marcus and the organizers decided to utilize a 6-man format for the street luge class.

Abdil's first heat included David Dean, Angelina Nobre, and Jorge Sousa. David Dean thought he would win this heat, but Angelina took it. Abdil, who was drafting Angelina, could only say that Angelina has a very low tuck and that she's fast! But drafting Angelina proved to be beneficial as she caused Abdil to go much faster and he even caught up to David Dean and was beaten only by a few inches at the finish line.

Abdil proceeded to the semifinals. In this heat, David Dean and Sebastien Tournissac were way out in front, so Abdil had to draft Angelina who was drafting Beni Weber. True enough, Angelina pulled Abdil into her draft and both riders managed to pass Beni prior to the chicane at the bottom, causing Beni to finish 5th in the heat. Sebastien Tournissac, David Dean, and Angelina Nobre went to the finals.

Abdil went to the consolation final. It was interesting because there was a lot of bumping and rider contact at the start line due to the 6-man line-up. Abdil even veered off onto the gravel on the left hand side of the road and was passed by Viktor Meijer and Dan Ahlstrom and saw them high-fiving each other, like it was planned?! Nevertheless, Abdil caught up to them and passed them both, finishing 4th in the heat. Turns out their high-five was not the result of premeditation to send Abdil off the road but the fact that they were both Swedish, thinking they both would not come in last in the heat (Abdil veering off onto the gravel was his own fault apparently).

DOWNHILL BROTHERHOOD: Street lugers and downhill skateboarders from France, Sweden, Portugal, Brazil, Thailand, and Malaysia

At any rate, Abdil still had fun at the event and got to meet riders in many downhill disciplines from all over the world. Hopefully Abdil can obtain sponsorship from Malaysian companies so he can go back to Europe in the future and kick some ass! Of course some hardcore training on the Malaysian mountain roads is in order.

Abdil "Furlong" Mahdzan would like to thank the following people for making his stay in Sweden memorable:

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