As we learned on Friday, bobsledding requires not only speed and strength, but $50,000 to $100,000 to get a bobsleigh of your very own.
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How does the bobsleigh get to the top of the run?
- February 26, 2010 4:46 PM |
- By Erin Valois
Story provided by
By Gillian Grace, National Post
As we learned yesterday, bobsledding requires not only speed and strength, but $50,000 to $100,000 to get a bobsleigh of your very own.
But, as Olympic bobsleigh requires four heats, or runs, what goes whooshing down a track at nearly 150 km/h must go up again. And for most bobsleigh courses, including those at Whistler's Sliding Centre, a truck is the transport of choice.
Not so glamorous, but it does the trick. Stewart McDonough, the communications specialist for Canada Olympic Park in Calgary, has the lowdown on how it all works.
A dock at the end of the run, at the same height as the flatbed truck, allows for easy loading of the 210 kilogram sled. Wooden runner guards, called scabbards (like a sheath for a sword) guard the carefully-crafted sleigh, McDonough says, and attached with a hitch and rope to the truck for added security. Typical trucks can carry two sleds at a time, as well as the helmets and gear. In Calgary, the sleighs travel up a regular, two-lane road from the base all the way up to the top.
And yes, the athletes hitch a ride up with the same truck (in the cab, duh, not the back).
A typical, kilometre-and-a-half run takes under a minute; the loading and return to the top takes nearly ten times that, proving it takes plenty of prep to go downhill, fast.
About the Author
- Bruce Arthur Bruce Arthur is the National Post's national sports columnist. A Vancouver native, he has been with the Post since 2001, and a columnist since 2005. He is covering his second Olympics, after the 2008 Games in Beijing. He expects these Games to be slightly less propagandistic, and for China to win slightly fewer medals.
- Joe O'Connor Joe O'Connor is a roving sports feature writer with an open-ended beat. He joined the National Post in 2002, and has spent the past seven years bouncing from sport to sport, offering fresh perspectives and delivering unique stories wherever he goes. Whether it has been getting Don Cherry to open up about his love life; George Chuvalo to talk about heartbreaking loss; or racing down the side of a mountain with former Crazy Canuck, Dave Irwin, the veteran Postie chases a story wherever it leads. Before joining the newspaper he was a two-time silver medalist at the National Magazine Awards. Vancouver will be his first Olympics.
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