HEAVY snowstorms and dangerous track conditions have stolen crucial training hours from bobsleigh duo Will Golder and Kevan Crowell – who are due to make their Great Britain development team debut at the Europa Cup in St Moritz today.

The NatWest-sponsored pair, who had just three days to familiarise themselves with a notoriously difficult track, had a whole day’s training wiped out on Tuesday and will be forced to race today after only four practise attempts.

Crowell said: ‘To lose one full day of training when you are only granted three, means the steep progression through training runs will only get steeper, and it’s far from ideal. ‘In normal circumstances we would feed progressions into training – first we would use polished runners, then race runners, then we would incorporate a jog then sprint start, but with limited training time all of that will have to be done in one day.

‘That leads to more speed, more pressure and harder knocks – but then that’s bobsleighing!’
It is a nerve-racking situation for the pair, who had been hoping to give the more experienced Great Britain crews, as well as the international crews, a real run for their money.

• Picture: Will Golder and Kevan Crowell at the Horseshoe bend at St Moritz Picture by Advocate Peter Mourant