AUSSIE flags flying on cars are a ‘given’ at this time of year, but what about on a bobsled?
Gareth Nichols and Lucas Mata are the stars of Perth’s own Cool Runnings story.
While their mates will be trying to avoid sunburn today, the WA sprinters will be trying to avoid ice burn as they train for the bobsled world championships in the US.
The bobsled team, made up of the Perth duo and two ‘eastern staters’, is building towards the ultimate in winter sport – representing Australia at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia.
They look well on track, having beaten American teams to claim bronze at the America’s Cup in early December – the best an Australian four-man team has ever done.
Mullaloo 28-year-old Nichols said the first time they peered down an ice chute before racing in Canada last year was intense.
The pair had trained for just six months at Challenge Stadium with a bobsled on wheels.
“You’re lining up behind a bobsled and you’re about to go 130km/h on your bum,” he said.
“Once I got down to the bottom of the track my heart rate was going at about 100 beats per minute and I was in a big sweat with a smile on my face.”
He admitted their rise to elite sledding was “a bit of a Cool Runnings story”.
“We did the Australian (sprint) domestic circuit and we were on the fringe of making the Olympic team but could never quite get there,” Nichols said.
“Then a mate said ‘hey bobsled’s out there, they’re going to do some testing with some athletes in the lead-up to the Sochi games’.
“So we gave it a crack, both got top of the table in the testing and the next thing we know we’re in Canada pushing a bobsled around.”
For Nichols, the ice chutes are a long way from the sand at Mullaloo Beach where he unlocked a talent for beach sprinting.
He came ninth at the Lifesaving World Championship beach sprints in Egypt late last month.
He makes a strong pair with Floreat 24-year-old Mata, who has been ranked inside the best 10 sprinters in Australia.
They race in both two-man and four-man events, joining Victorian Heath Spence and Queenslander Jason Oliveri in the four-man event.
The duo train on their own in WA for most of the year.
“We just simulate what it’s like in reality as much as we can,” Nichols said.
“Once you’ve got the sled up and running it’s just a matter of running after it, so it’s very similar to sprinting.”
The Australian team is currently in North America and faces two World Cup runs in Canada before the World Championships at Lake Placid in the US next month.
Qualifying events for the Winter Olympics begin next year.
“We’ve exceeded all the expectations we had,” Nichols said.