Kiwi sledders wanted: big, fast, tough, and preferably single

Press, 8 May 1987, Page 17

Kiwi sledders wanted: big, fast, tough, and preferably single

By

JEFF HAMPTON

The first time Don Ward climbed oh a bobsleigh was in the dark last November in Calgary, Canada, representing New Zealand against the top Northern Hemisphere bobsledders. ' “I hadn’t looked at the track before we went down,” says Ward, aged 35, formerly of Timaru. “It was exhilarating and bordering on the scary.” ' In February, the novice Kiwis were again racing — this time in the world championships. Death-defying speeds of more than 125km/h are reached as the sleds hurtle down the 1475 m-long track in such competition. Movement is difficult in the sled because -of the G-fprces exerted.. G-fqrces at the fastest point .-on ! the track have a pressure of more, than 4 l / 2 times an athlete’s body weight But Ward and the driver of the two-man sled, Lex Peterson, aged 29, formerly Of Christchurch, were not deterred. ; At Olympic Park, Calgary, the pair finished thirty-second in a field of 47, which included the best teams in the world.

Their time was a total of 10 seconds—or 2.5 seconds a run —

behind the East Germans who. won the gold medal.

Ward has returned to New Zealand with his wife and two children to help set up a goldmining venture at Cromwell.

He also has an offer to turn the heads of many young men — the chance to, represent New Zealand in the Winter Olympics at Calgary in February next year.

Ward is trying to recruit two athletic young men for the New Zealand bobsleigh team. The pair will be required to join the team on the European circuit during the next northern winter.

If the team has good qualifying times, it will be entered in the bobsleigh event at the Winter Olympics.

The New Zealanders aim to contest the two-man and fourman bobsleigh events. The team already has several signed-up members.

Ward says that anyone interested needs to be big, fast,

tough, and preferably singly, as much travel is involved. | i “Someone who has been;, into rugby would be quite satisfactory,” he says. Anyone keen should be prepared to move to Canada as soon as possible, where work can probably; be arranged. . Ward, a geology graduate of the University of Canterbury, says that bobsledding appeals to the Kiwi mentality. j j “It’s a very exhilarating sport,” he says. ; Tay Wilson, who is general secretary. Of the New Zealand Olympic 7 and Commonwealth Games Association, has said that the door is open for the bobsledders, to compete in the Winter Olympics. “It’s a matter of showing how good they are,’’ he

The sport has its dangers, says Ward. “The worst-case scenario is for the sled to leave the track.

“If you wipe out you have to crawl under the fibreglass shell.” One of Canada’s top bobsledders, Chris Laurie, crashed recently in Italy. He suffered a broken collarbone and cuts to the face and body.” Ward says that some tracks are safer than others, and the refrigerated track at Calgary is one of the best. He first went to Canada in 1973, to complete a Ph.D. in geology at the University of British Columbia. He has since worked for a number of oil exploration firms. He was laid off recently when the price of oil slumped, and that gave him the time to try bobsledding. His wife, Barbara, also a New Zealander, worked as a teacher.

Ward was persuaded to try bobsledding by Lex Peterson, a leading member of the New Zealand Luge Association, which had become a sort of social club for expatriate Kiwis in Calgary. A New Zealand Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association has since been formed. The “skeleton” part of the name relates to a form of luge in which a person lies on his stomach on a toboggan and slides down an icy'track.

The New Zealand team arranged sponsorship to buy the alloy-and-fibreglass bobsleighs. A two-men sled costs round SNZI7,OOO and a four-man sled about SNZ2O,BOO.

The team had little training, although its members were sports fans. Ward once played

rugby for the Canadian province of Alberta, and also enjoys playing squash and tennis. A > former British champion gave; the New Zealanders some coaching in the art of bobsledding'

Bobsledders wear crash helmets, goggles, pads tor the elbows and shoulders, tight-stretch suits, gloves, and special shoes with steel spikes.

They need such protective clothing in case of spills. The 1475 m-long course has a drop of 118 m, and combines eight banked curves to the left and six to the right. s

Ward says there are three sides to successful bobsledding. A co-ordinated and fast push is needed to have a good start. It is important to have a technically sound sled and a good driver. “A good driver goes to the top of the wall to get maximum slingshot,” he says. “Lex Paterson is highly rated as a driver.” Others in the sled are required to lean into the corners, rather like a pillion passenger on a motor-cycle. Each sled has a brakeman whose job is to pull on the brakes once the sled passes the finish line.

Before participating in the world championships Peterson and Ward had made about 50 runs together. The equivalent, said the “Calgary Sun,” a newspaper which reported the Kiwis’ progress with interest, is “about one month’s training schedule for the mighty Swiss, East Germans, and Soviets.”

Countries which have highlyrated bobsleigh teams include East Germany, the Soviet Union, Switzerland, Italy, and Canada. An unexpected competitor in the recent world bobsleigh championships, besides New Zealand, was a team representing the Virgin Islands.

Ward says that the Virgins pair had previously competed in the summer Olympics as yachtsmen. They finished near the end of the bobsleigh rankings, but beat Australia.

Ward is not sure whether he will be a member of the New Zealand bobsleigh team : at the Winter Olympics next year.

He may be too busy with the gold-dredging venture he and a business partner have planned. The dredge will work in the Cromwell Gorge area, and the Wards and their two children, Russell, aged 4>/>, and Katrina, aged four months, will reside in Central Otago.