Ashleigh Nelson’s new quest – runblogrun

Ashleigh Nelson’s new quest

When Ashley Nelson did not make the GB team For the Paris Olympics, she was 33 and felt that it was time to pull the curtain down on an illustrious career and, Heaven forbid, get a proper job. Then she was invited to try out with the British bobsleigh team and any thought of retiring from sport was put on the back burner.

Ashleigh had a successful career as a British sprinter. The highlight was winning a bronze medal in the 100m in the 2014 European Championship. She also won relay medals – Gold at European Championships and Commonwealth Games, silver and bronze at world championships. She was also in the GB team for the 2008 and 2020 Olympics.

The try-out for the GB bobsleigh team was sufficiently successful for her to be added to the team and for her to compete in the 2024 World Championships. Ashleigh describes the process in a very matter-of-fact fashion: “Adelé Nicoll the GB pilot invited me. I went down to Bath and gave it a try and I was actually quite good at it. After that they said: ‘you are quite good on the track. Do you want to gave it a go on the ice?’ I was also good on the ice and they made me part of the team. Nine months after that try-out in Bath I was on my way to the World Championships in Lake Placid, USA”. A seventh place finish in Lillehammer for Nelson and Nicoll – Nicoll’s best result of the season – had helped secure selection for the Worlds.

Adelé Nicoll is the pilot or driver and Ashleigh the brakewoman in the two-women bob.  Ashleigh explains her role: “Adelé and I push off the sled together. Adele jumps in and I push for a few more steps to keep the sled going as fast as possible and then I jump in too. At the end Adelé shouts loudly ‘Brake! Brake!’ and I pull the brake which is essentially like a dead lift of about 170 KG.  As we are going about 80mph you can imagine that it is a pretty epic deadlift at the end”.

Hurtling down a mountain at 80mph in a small bobsled seems quite terrifying, I wondered if it felt that way to Ashleigh who is relatively new to it. “It was scary the first couple of times. But Adelé is a brilliant pilot and I trust her with my life.  I don’t think I realized how dangerous it was until later on in…