For those of you who may not be that familiar with bobsleigh, the driver is the person who sits at the front of the bob and steers it down a fast, icy track as quickly as they possibly can. Well, that’s the theory anyway!
As opposed to men’s bobsleigh, which has both two-man and four-man events, we only do ‘two-man’ in women‘s bob, which means that there are only ever two people in the sled. That said, we have three people in our team because of the nature of our sport. Injuries and niggles are quite common from the weather being so cold, while there can also be the odd crash here and there.
I should probably explain what I mean by crashing! A crash happens when the driver gets a corner slightly wrong, which can cause the bobsleigh to go on its side or head and carry on down the track with me and the brakeman still in there. Normally, it’s not too serious and we generally walk away with bruises and maybe an ice burn or two.
Bobsleigh is an exhilarating sport, but it can also be dangerous - and there can obviously be serious injuries from time to time. But you can’t afford to feel any fear. Adrenalin yes, but fear no. Feel fear, and you might as well pack it up on the spot. As you can probably imagine, therefore, the trust that Julia and Kelly put in me is massive. I have the added pressure of not only trying to get the best possible result, but also getting me and my brakeman down the track safely.
The team is pretty equal, with the only real differences being our designated roles. As a driver, I walk the track every day before an event, so that I can remember the twists and turns for when we are going down at speeds of up to 80mph. In effect, I am visualising the angles for when we race down the track. Kelly and Julia make sure that all of the technical aspects of the bobsleigh are sorted out.
When it comes to the push at the beginning of the race, I - as the driver - push on a handle near the front and Kelly or Julia push on some handles at the back. I get in the bobsleigh first and push a lever to put my handle back in before finding my steering ropes while Julia or Kelly keep running. They definitely do most of the push!
Once they are safely in the bobsleigh, it’s then up to me to drive us down the track as quickly as possible until we pass the finish line. And then it’s over to the brakeman to pull the brakes and bring us to a halt.
Julia and Kelly cannot see anything on the way down. In fact, they are bent over, so that their heads are in between their knees. They have to cope with the G force that can reach up to five. They also have to remember precisely where they are on the track, so that they know when to brake. But more importantly, if we were to crash, they know it would be dangerous to kick out, because the bobsleigh doesn’t stop immediately. In fact, far from it. It goes back and forth across the track until it comes to a stop naturally further down the course. If you were to fall out in the meantime, you would be met by a bobsleigh travelling at around 50 mph!
Our individual ambitions differ slightly on the course. As a driver, I want to get the driving better and better with each run. As the brakeman, Julia or Kelly want to make sure that the push time gets quicker, because generally the faster your start is, the quicker you will be down to the bottom.
It normally works to a 3:1 ratio. If you are a tenth of a second quicker than someone else at the top, you should be around three tenths of a second faster at the bottom. In bobsleigh, a hundredth of a second can be the difference between winning and losing.
And getting on with your team-mates is absolutely crucial in bobsleigh. My team has to work well together both on and off the track. We are away for five months of the year, competing, living, sleeping, eating, working and travelling together. If we didn’t get on with one another, it is likely that it would affect our results, which in turn would affect our funding.
Talking of which, my team are currently funded by TASS 2012 (Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme) and their assistance equates to £7,000 per person. You may think that £21,000 for our programme is quite a lot of money, but unfortunately it barely scratches the surface. A good season on the World Cup can cost up to £45,000.
Don’t get me wrong. TASS 2012 helps us massively, and I would like to thank them for their support. If we didn’t have financial help from them, we wouldn’t be able to compete at all. But we desperately need more!
At the moment, Kelly and Julia have sacrificed everything to come and compete with me for Team GB. They have not only left their families, but they have also had to leave their jobs. All in all, it means that they are not getting paid when they are away competing, but they still have their bills and mortgages to pay. For me, it is slightly less painful as I serve in the Royal Signals in the British Army, who allow me to go away in the winter months and compete. And for that, I am incredibly grateful.
I am in my second season as a driver, which is quite a novice in bobsleigh terms. But things are definitely looking hopeful. I finished fifth in the World Junior Championships last season and I am feeling more confident this season, with a brand new team and different kit. I think that Julia, Kelly and I should gel really well together.
British bobsleigh has had many successes, with Tony Nash and Robin Dixon winning gold in the 1964 Olympics, when bobsleigh was truly hard core. More recently, we have had the men claiming fifth in the 2007 World Championships and the women coming sixth in the 2008 World Championships. But it can also be one of those sports that you don’t really come across until the Winter Olympics. And then everyone remembers ‘Cool Runnings’, the film about the Jamaican four-man team! Germany and Switzerland have historically been the strongest bobsleigh nations, but did you know that Britain have won more Olympic bobsleigh medals than the likes of Canada, Austria or France? For the record, we have won one gold, one silver and two bronze.
Our ambitions in Team Walker are the same: to get to the 2009 World Championships in Lake Placid to enable us to gain qualification for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Money is the only issue at the moment. Hopefully this season will see us doing a lot of winning. Fingers crossed, Vancouver here we come!
Being one of the Simpsons - There are world-record holders and there are world-record holders. And then there is Robin Simpson. MORE. . .>>
What is Olympism - The Olympic emblem of five interlaced rings is one of the most instantly recognisable symbols in the world, but the Olympic Games is just one facet of what is called "Olympism". MORE. . .>>
COMMENT ON THIS ARTICLE > Have your say - click here. . .
|
