Ice Warriors (Hardback)

"The Parachute Regiment’s entry into the sport of bobsleigh in 1987 came at just the right time, when all three regular battalions were rotating through demanding operational tours of Northern Ireland. Bobsleigh, which requires guts, nerve, and high levels of physical fitness, provided an exceptional competitive and recreational means to channel the paratrooper ethos. Predictably, the inevitable challenges that such an ambitious and unique project encountered were no match for the athletes’ airborne attitude. With infectious optimism, and offensive eagerness, they kept on track. Their outstanding accolades included numerous Army, Inter-Service, and British Championship titles, as well as two Olympic Bronze Medals, with more to come.” - Colonel Commandant The Parachute Regiment – Major General Ollie Kingsbury OBE

"Then a serving PARA officer myself, I well remember Colin as the driving force behind the Regiment’s newly established bobsleigh team and hearing about some of the challenges that he was then facing. Colin’s bobsleigh vision was a canny one; as a sport it astutely played to our soldiers’ strengths, and it certainly caught their imagination too, that’s for sure. The results achieved by the team over the years that followed were remarkable and the benefits to the wider Regiment were considerable in terms of providing our hugely capable and driven paratroopers with a glamorously exciting and dangerous sport to either strive to compete in themselves or in which to follow the progress of their very own Regimental Team and be proud of it, including the opportunity for a number of our soldiers to compete in no less than four Winter Olympiads, with two of them winning Olympic Bronze medals in 1998 – surely the pinnacle of achievement for any sportsman. Surely also beyond the wildest dreams of any of those young men when they first joined the Parachute Regiment as recruits, but in creating those sorts of opportunities, in enabling our people to excel in all that they are able to, and in championing the credentials of our organisation as an egalitarian meritocracy, Colin and the team were absolutely pursuing the ethos and founding principles of The Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces.

As CEO of ‘Support our Paras’, I am proud and delighted to be a part of enabling this proud legacy to continue today, with an all-Parachute Regiment crew now representing Team GB on the Europa Circuit and at least two serving paratroopers currently on track to compete in the Milan 2026 Winter Olympics and beyond. Like all other paratroopers past and present, I will be cheering them on as they do so". - CEO Support our Paras – Colonel (Retd) Andrew Jacko Jackson

The Parachute Regiment experienced a certain amount of resistance when they first entered the sport of bobsleigh at the Army Novice Championship at Winterberg 1987.

The regiment applied the same ethos to bobsleigh as we do to soldiering, ‘’They have the highest standards in all things’’. Even for the Novice Competition, the Team Captain ensured all those applying to establish the Parachute Regiment Team met the athletic standards set by the British Bobsleigh Association and the Army Bobsleigh Association. When it was apparent the Parachute Regiment team were the only ones who met those standards and were outperforming everyone else at the start the Army Manager sought to change the rules of the competition to reduce the impact of the physical standards the Army had set.

As The Parachute Regiment teams journey progressed, dominating the Army Team for the Inter-services, seven of the eight team members for several years were Parachute Regiment, yet the non-Para member was inevitably the Team Captain.

This resistance eventually culminated into ‘’I would rather have NO medal than The Parachute Regiment Team winning an Olympic medal’’ Head of the BBA Selection Committee for the 1992 Winter Olympics.

Such barriers and adversity simply made the Parachute Regiment Team more determined to achieve at the highest level.

The Parachute Regiment has two Bronze Olympic Medals and has dominated the Army Team since 1989 and does so to this day.

The Legacy

The Parachute Regiment Bobsleigh Team will continue to develop new bobsleigh talent to maintain their dominance at Army & Inter-Service level while providing serving Paratroopers with the opportunity to experience this amazing sport while encouraging recruitment & retention with the regiment.

In addition, the Parachute Regiment has an all-Para crew representing Great Britain on the Europa Circuit with the Para driver exceeding expectation as a Developing Driver, helped by the fact that he qualified still as GB’s fastest starting Driver and Brakeman. He is in a phenomenal position to qualify as a driver for the 2026 Milan Winter Olympics and on to the 2030 Winter Olympics.