Competitive Bobsleighing by military athletes is about more than sport
Being an RAF aircraft engineer requires a great deal of skill and experience, and attracts considerable respect in its own right. Last year, one such engineer took on an extraordinary additional challenge: the leadership of a GBR Bobsleigh development team with hopes to compete for medals in 2026.
John Stanbridge takes us behind the scenes of GBR Bobsleigh, shares what it’s like to pilot a sled, and gives an insight into the financial and administrative juggling that’s all part of the job.
About British Bobsleigh
The British Bobsleigh & Skeleton Association (BBSA) is the sport’s governing body here in the UK, and its development squad is made up of four development teams ; three male and one female. Not all athletes are military, but for those that are, whilst they are released from their military duties to train and compete, they nonetheless have to use their spare time to attract funding, as none is available from elsewhere.
“A number of supportive companies such as tlmNexus, are helping to fund our team, which includes buying equipment,” says John. “We are currently aiming for a newer two-man sled, and will then be working towards a four-man team later this year.”
Travel is also a necessary cost, as John explains.
“You can only do Bobsleigh on the ice, and there are no tracks in the UK. This means we have to travel to Europe or North America to do the main training. Off-season we concentrate on working in the gym, sprinting etc. We also practice on track in Bath, which simulates pushing a sled 45-50 metres so we can practice jumping in.”
An insight into two-man and four-man runs
This means 50 seconds of total concentration in order to stay alive. With the current two-man sled, John jumps in first, followed by his brakeman. When they’re both in, they can relax to a certain extent, and focus on the track and finding the fastest route down. They attain speeds of 80-85 mph, before they reach the end of the track and the brake[JS1] man stops the sled.
It is very mentally and physically draining, and the team mates base their training on the performance in a competition, so that they are drilled in how to do well under pressure.
When the Bobsleigh team advances to a four-man team, it will be an even greater challenge. As the team pilot, John must coordinate everyone to travel the same distance.
“It’s like choreography on ice,” he says. “My job is to steer the sled so that we make as few adjustments as possible round bends, because that puts us on the fastest line. The second and third team members lie as low as possible, and the fourth person stops the sled.
“If I steer too much, we cut into the ice and slow down. If I don’t steer enough, we can lose control. The wrong steer means the wrong pressure and that can lead to a crash.”
A crash is like being in a washing machine
John describes crashing in a Bobsleigh ‘like being in a washing machine with a massive load on top of you’. A typical four-man sled with its crew weighs up to 1,389 lbs, so it’s not good. John continues, “It can cause ice burns and concussion. Despite this, statistically it is not a dangerous sport. I’ve been more injured playing football when I was younger, than I ever have in a sled.”
The history of Bobsleighing is fascinating, with the first club being founded in St. Moritz, Switzerland in 1897, and a first Winter Olympic appearance at the inaugural Winter Olympics in Chamonix, France in 1924; more can be found here https://www.ibsf.org/en/our-sports/bobsleigh-history
John says Team GBR were involved from the start, and in recent years, the UK Skeleton team has attracted funding for the last few Olympics, as their teams have won gold, silver and bronze.
Through the military, today’s GBR Bobsleigh competitors have to win the opportunity to get involved, through challenges such as one week’s adventure training. “Any pilot or military person can take part,” explains John. “They use it as a way of pushing you outside your comfort zone, so that when you go back to work things like paperwork are no longer such a worry.”
“As an athlete, Bobsleighing is a bit crazy. There are not many sports where you crash, and then get straight back into the craft. You have to be quite resilient to bruises and worse, which is why military personnel do so well because it’s drilled into us.”
John’s Bobsleigh career began after achieving representative level in the RAF, and after the required rigorous physical testing and proven experience piloting a sled , he made selection for GB Development squad. He then spent a season in North America with the New Zealand team as a brakeman, before stepping back into his more suited role as the pilot in the sled, and leadership of the GBR team last year.
As with most areas of life, the new Covid legislation hit hard with restrictions on travel, compounded by Brexit. The costs of running a Bobsleigh team are both financial and personal.
“We had a 15K funding target last year and we managed only £10K, which meant we have had to contribute to our own accommodation and food etc.,” John reveals. “It is of course a huge honour to represent my country and my service, but it’s also a big challenge, because having to win sponsorship means I can’t focus as much as possible on the sport.
“As team manager I have to maintain my skills as a high-performance athlete, and whilst I am given 65 days a year for training, I am still doing a full-time job. My goal is to attain elite athlete status, supported by the RAF; if I can get to that stage, it will help, but whilst I am competing with other pilots, it’s harder for the RAF to lose me from my primary role as a highly skilled technician.
“Finding sponsorship is new to me, and I am learning fast, building relationships with companies such as tlmNexus. We are grateful that they have agreed to sponsor us for a second year, along with three or four other companies."
The nitty-gritty of the financials
“We have a £65K target this year, which will go towards a used sled, which will cost £20-30K (as opposed to a new one which is £60K-ish). The remaining £30-35K will cover the whole season for a four-man team. “This is spread thinly over many items. For example, it costs 60-75 euros per training run, and we have to do three runs per day on a training week, so it soon adds up.
“Then, there is accommodation, food, helmets and other clothing - ice spikes are made by only one company in the world and cost £200 a pair - the vests we wear underneath our suits, gloves for the brakeman to push. Equipment is expensive, such as runners which are £5-10K for a good set, the metal surface that contacts the ice, much like ice skates etc.
“Everything is labour-intensive to make, because it’s aerodynamically designed like an F1 car, from carbon fibre with a steel frame that has to be manufactured to specific regulatory dimensions. It is a niche sport, so only two or three places in the world make what we need. We are trying to change that by working with a very supportive company, Acres Engineering in Derby, who have helped us build a portable push sled, and who bought us a tool kit. We want to help them open up as Bobsleigh specialists and put them in touch with other nations; Greg Rutherford has signed to get involved, so it shows what the sport can bring to business.”
John approached tlmNexus for sponsorship, having done one of the company’s training packages and using its well-known through-life-management system, Resolve on E-3D Sentry AWACS aircraft and Chinook helicopters. Senior staff at tlmNexus are amongst the 4000 people John has connected with on LinkedIn as part of his quest.
“Resolve from tlmNexus is good to use,” he says, “Once you have done the training package it is easy to follow; on Sentry we use it a lot for raising Forms 760s or 765s or service enquiries; the process is good for identifying faults and failures.”
Learning more about Bobsleighing with John Stanbridge inevitably makes people want to stay in touch with how the team gets on. You can do this via LinkedIn, where John gives regular updates on training and new sponsorships, or follow him on Twitter and Instagram. And, of course if you are interested in sponsoring the team, you can contact him via these platforms:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-stanbridge-bobteamstanbridge/
@johnstanners318
John_bobsleigh_stanbridge@outlook.com
Click here for more information on tlmNexus’ Resolve