For Immediate Release:

Friday November 25, 2005

Contact: Tom LaDue

Public and Media Relations Director

United States Bobsled and Skeleton Federation

(518) 523-1842 ext. 106

Calgary, Canada – The final race of the AIT America’s Cup Skeleton tour would see Yuuki Nozawa from Japan and Canadian Tash Ellison win the overall 2006 America’s Cup Titles. The final race would also see the American team have two men finish in the top five while three women finished in the top six. Taking the top honors in their respective fields were 2004 Europa Cup Champion Chris Hedquist (Salt Lake City, UT) taking the gold and Mackenzie Flanders (Park City, UT) taking bronze.

In the men’s race, Chris Hedquist took the gold medal for the fourth consecutive race in dominating fashion after having the two fastest runs of the competition. Hedquist had a first run of 57.04 and a second run of 57.11 to finish with a combined time of 1:54.15. In second, 1.08 seconds behind Hedquist, was Jon Montgomery from Canada with a time of 1:55.23 (57.59, 57.64). Finishing in third, with a time of 1:55.38 after runs of 57.54 and 57.84 also from Canada was Keith Loach.

Rounding out the top six were: Mike Douglas from Canada, in fourth, with a time of 1:55.57 (57.87, 57.70); 2005 Europa Cup Champion Rob Murray (Oviedo, FL) in fifth, with a time of 1:56.08 (58.20, 57.88) and Hiroyuki Maruyama from Japan, in sixth, with a time of 1:56.31 (58.50, 57.81).

Also competing for the United States: Adam Donahoo (Sandy, UT) in ninth, with a time of 1:56.86 (58.33, 58.53); Maury Zuber (Des Moines, IA) in tenth, with a time of 1:56.96 (58.44, 58.52); Matt Antoine (Prairie du Chien, WI) in eleventh, with a time of 1:57.05 (58.78, 58.27) and John Daly (Smithtown, NY) in fourteenth, with a time of 1:57.61 (58.49, 59.12).

The United States continued to have a strong showing in the women’s race with four women finishing in the top seven. Canadian Amy Gough won her second gold medal in a row after runs of 59.35 and 59.34 for a combined time of 1:58.69. In second, 1.23 seconds behind Gough, taking the silver was Canadian Sarah Reid with a time of 1:59.92 after runs of 59.91 and 1:00.01. Taking the bronze was Mackenzie Flanders (Park City, UT) with runs of 59.91 and 1:00.46 for a combined time of 2:00.37.

Rounding out the top six were: Jody Barton (Washingtonville, NY) in fourth, with a time of 2:00.77 (1:00.43, 1:00.34); Tash Ellison from Canada in fifth, with a time of 2:00.93 (59.82, 1:01.11) and Marci Francis (Monroe, NY) in sixth, with a time of 2:01.22 (1:00.09, 1:01.13).

Also competing for the United States: Felicia Canfield (Park City, UT) in seventh, with a combined time of 2:01.30 (1:01.01, 1:00.29) and Kim Krolewski (Needham, MA) in fifteenth, with a combined time of 2:03.35 (1:00.89, 1:02.46).

After the race the final season awards for the FIBT AIT America’s Cup Tour were awarded. The overall 2006 America’s Cup men’s title went to Yuuki Nozawa from Japan and the 2006 America’s Cup women’s title went to Canadian Tash Ellison. The top American finishers in each discipline were 2005 Europa Cup Champion Chris Hedquist (Salt Lake City, UT) in third and Felica Canfield (Park City, UT) in second.

For a list of the America’s Cup skeleton final rankings please log onto www.fibt.com.

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USBSF would like to thank its premier sponsor, Verizon Communications

and additional sponsors, AIT Worldwide Logistics, Allianz Life, Karbon.

USBSF suppliers: CW-X, Duofold, The Goodwin Law Firm PLLC.,

The Hilton Family of Hotels, KBC Helmets, Luminox, SportsMark, Swany,

Timberland, and Vulcan Lead.