Jamaica’s bobsleigh team are training for the Winter Olympics – by pushing a mini cooper around the streets of Peterborough, England.
Locals have been left stunned after spotting the Lycra clad athletes charging up and down the town.
Shanwayne Stephens, 29, and teammate Nimroy Turgott, 27, have been isolating with each other since the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdown back in March.
The pair, who represent the Jamaican national bobsleigh team, have swapped posh training facilities for metal bars and homemade weights – just like in the 1993 film Cool Runnings.
Get your sport fix on Kayo ahead of live games returning soon – classic match replays, documentaries and the latest news & announcements. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >
The bobsleigh bro’s have even been pushing a Mini Cooper – belonging to Shanwayne’s fiance, Amy, 28 – around the streets of the Cambridgeshire city to keep in shape.
Shanwayne told The Sun: “Since the lockdown began we’ve had to make do with what we’ve got.
“We’ve been pushing my fiance’s car up and down the street and have made a squat rack in the back garden.
“Pushing the car is like resistance training for us. The car is a similar weight to the sled so it helps. My fiance just tells me not to crash it.
“I know in the movie in Cool Runnings they didn’t have the correct equipment so I feel like we’re living up to their spirit and improvising as best as we can.
“As a bobsleigh driver I’ve had to keep the track fresh in my mind so I’ve been watching footage of different Olympic tracks.
“We sit on the floor and watch what corners we need to do. Everyone has been making do with what they’ve got.
“We have two two-hour sessions a day, it’s been quite good coming up with different ways to train.”
Video training plays a big part in their routine but the pair almost came a cropper after Shanwayne accidentally sliced through an internet cable while clearing part of his garden with an axe.
A visiting Virgin Media engineer managed to patch it up and boost their broadband speed at no extra charge.
Shanwayne moved to Peterborough from Jamaica when he was 11 years-old and serves in the RAF Regiment as a Lance Corporal.
He joined the Jamaican team in 2017 as a lead bobsleigh driver and trains locally in Peterborough but also down in Bath.
The speedy pair form part of the four-man Jamaican bobsleigh team.
Just like in Cool Runnings, Shanwayne missed out on qualifying for the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games in South Korea by just one spot.
But he and Nimroy are training hard so they can get on up at the 2022 Winter Olympics due to be held in Beijing, China, in 2022.
This story originally appeared on The Sun and is reproduced with permission.
