An Aussie Bobsled Team

I wonder if we missed things in Calgary when we were there, but over breakfast and when plotting out our roadtrip to Banff, we could only find one thing jumping off the tourism page for the city - and that was the site of the 1988 Winter Olympics, which is now a fun park as well as a training facility.

The WinSport Canada complex had us at hello with the idea of a zipline from the ski jump platforms, and then a ride on the bobsled track. Sounded amazing!

Then we passed the ski jumps on the drive towards the Rockies, which solidified our decision to go there on the way back.

Reaching the park on the Monday after an awesome weekend, we chatted at the ticket desk about times, mindful of our flight that afternoon, and found we could really only fit the bobsled run in to our day.

We were driven up to the top of the bobsled run, with 4 other blokes who were to do the run before us. As we watched them get ready for it, we got to take in the view of the track and the Calgary sprawl below us.

Given our own helmets, we were then loaded into the bobsled one by one, and the Canadian Bobsleder (who represented in Salt Lake City) gave us the final instructions of the run down. He was pretty funny, and calmed the nerves of us as he joked and did all the checks.

This link gives you an idea of the run, and tells me that we went through 14 turns! The run announcement at the end advised us that we reached a top speed of 93km/hr on our run down the track, as we each were hurtled around within the sled, and very thankful for the helmets!


The sign walking into the top of the ride said that we were about to experience 60 seconds we would talk about for the rest of our lives! Ha, I don't doubt it! It was fun and scary all at once, and one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences!

One of the best roller-coaster experiences, that's for sure - on an Olympic track in a bobsled!

As we regained our legs and our breath, we walked back to the carpark, exhilarated and shell-shocked all at once.

I checked out the International Flag Court before we drove off, where the flags of the nations competing back in the late 80s were displayed, as well as the cauldron for the flame. What a cool visit, as the Olympics were going on in another part of the world at the very same time.