Rookie bobsledder slides into top international scene’

By Callum Fraser

Racing down a slick, ice-covered track at speeds of up to 150 km/h, twisting through multiple turns that throw sliders at nearly 90-degree angles, it’s no wonder why bobsleigh racers are deemed some of the most fearless and extreme athletes on the planet.

Which begs the question: how does someone become a bobsledder?

Kasha Lee certainly knows.

The Ottawa native just finished up her first year racing with Canada’s national team, capping off the 2015-16 season with a 5th-place finish in the team event at the Feb. 8-21 World Championships in Austria.

Lee first got involved with bobsleigh after noticing a post on social media about a year ago.

“I knew of the sport by watching the Olympic Games and that’s pretty much all I knew about it,” Lee notes by e-mail. “When I came across a recruitment event on Facebook, that’s when I began to research more about the sport.”

After a successful recruitment camp, the Sacred Heart Catholic High School grad went down to Lake Placid, NY for her first ride in a bobsled.

“I went out (to Lake Placid) for four days to give the sport a try, hopping in the back seat with a provincial-level pilot,” Lee recounts. “I don’t remember much about my first time ever going down a bob track but I do remember the thrill I got from it.

“Every run from then on I’ve definitely felt a certain rush – sometimes scary, sometimes nerve-racking, but I would do it over and over again.”

From there, Lee decided to pursue a spot with the national team, heading to Calgary for a tryout in August.

It went quite well again, and soon enough Lee was racing alongside Olympic gold medallist Kaillie Humphries.

“Competing with Kaillie was an experience I will never forget,” underlines Lee, who was part of the gold medal-winning team at the first-ever four-woman bobsled competition staged at the World Championship (though officially, it was only an exhibition).

Of the many things that Lee learnt from Humphries during the season was her effective pre-competition central nervous system preparation.

“In one race in Switzerland, the start time was 8:30 a.m., if I remember correctly,” Lee highlights. “And Kaillie got up around 4 a.m., put on her runners and did some light CNS work. The preparation she does is admirable and it shows. She’s successful today because of the work she puts in day in and day out.”

Lee is currently amidst training 4-5 days per week in the offseason, and she’s planning to spent time in Calgary to take advantage of the facilities at the Canadian Sport Institute Calgary.

“It has an indoor push track,” notes Lee, who was a brakeman this past season but experienced a whole new rush driving the sled at a Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton camp in Whistler. “Myself, alongside five others, took on the opportunity and spent four days learning how to pilot a bobsleigh at the fastest track in the world.”