Inzpire Sponsor All-Military Bobsleigh Team
07 Dec 20
Inzpire are delighted to be sponsoring a team of military personnel as they seek to meet their ambition of being the first all-military bobsleigh team to compete in the Winter Olympics.
John Stanbridge (RAF), John Baines (RAF), Jason Joseph (British Army), Alex Cortes-Tankard (RAF) and Alex Cartagena (RAF) are aiming to qualify for the Beijing 2022 games, and our financial support will help them start their qualification bid this winter as they take part in the 2020/2021 European Cup season.
John and Alex competed in the 2-man event in Winterberg this weekend, finishing in the top 30. This weekend was a Great Britain for bobsleigh-pilot John and his brakeman Alex, but they have prepared as much as possible to battle it out against some of the best in the sport.
Their journey to this stage started several weeks ago and the squad have been travelling around Europe on different training camps since mid-October.
The squad's sled - home for the 2020/2021 winter season!
“Training for the team on ice has had its challenges”, explained John, who is currently based at RAF Waddington. “We eased into sliding a couple of months back, with a few days in Konigssee (Germany) training in familiar surroundings. We built up the training and were able to put in some fast pushes and down times amongst the other GB development teams”.
As the team’s pilot, John has had to adapt quickly to some new tracks this winter. “Learning a new track such as the one in Altenberg (Germany) really put my sled piloting skills to the test”, he said. The team worked hard to improve and overcome, and completed a successful week unharmed on ice – which John says is “always a bonus at quite possibly the hardest track in the world”! The team managed to adapt to the complexities of the track, and completed 10 successful runs after just a few days of getting used to it.
The team’s final week of preparation ahead of their opening race took place in Winterberg – a track which was new to John but one which he described as “a lot more forgiving than Altenberg”! John and Alex adapted quickly to the track, putting in some personal best push times and increasing their tempo and speed with every run.
The whole squad are continuing to weight-train whilst on the road, and are never found far from their portable gym equipment which is used in all weather conditions – even in the snow and ice!
We wish John and all of the squad the very best of luck for the rest of the European Cup circuit and look forward to being able to support them on the icy road to Beijing!
John and Alex prepping for their race in Winterberg this weekend
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