Trinidad and Tobago bobsledders start GoFundMe for new sled

The Trinidad and Tobago bobsleigh team has started a GoFundMe account to raise money for a new, four-man bobsleigh.

The account was created on February 4 by TT bobsleigh pilot Axel Brown, with a goal of £25,000 (approximately TT$210,100. So far, however, only £80 has been donated, by six contributors.

Brown confirmed the team had received some financial support from the Ministry of Sport and Community Development, but not enough for the sled.

He said while the team is grateful for the support, realistically, they would need to order the new sled by May, with the start of the new season set for September.

With two more races in Lillehammer, Norway, on February 15-16, to conclude the current season, the Brown-led TT squad will have to manoeuvre the icy slopes with the old sled.

Brown said while the current sled is owned by the team, it’s just not good enough to keep up.

“It’s like we're racing in the F1 in a Toyota Yaris! The sled we're in is currently worse than our abilities, so we're capped on how good we can possibly be, not through talent, but through lack of money to buy a sled.”

At the team’s first event in 2025, on January 12 in Switzerland, they defeated a team which returned two weeks later with a new sled, and were then 1.5 seconds faster than the TT unit.

“So if the importance of a sled isn’t clear, when you know that we didn't make the top 20 (Switzerland) by 0.18 seconds, it's plain to see how much difference a sled makes, when that alone changed 1.5 seconds, which is why we're trying to swim with a brick tied to our legs by having sub-par equipment.

“Every other team on the World Cup has a sled owned by their federation. Every single one. So until we do, we can't compete.
"Basically, the question becomes how bad do we, as a country, want representation in the Winter Olympics for the first time in the event which made Jamaicans world-famous?”

On the GoFundMe account, the details read, “We are the TT bobsleigh team. Over the past three years, we’ve been proudly competing in the sport of bobsleigh, representing our nation at the Olympic Games, World Championships, and now the World Cup. However, to continue competing and improving, we need your support.”

In Switzerland, this was TT’s maiden run as a four-man team. It comprised Brown, Shakeel John, De Aundre John and Xaverri Williams.

This year, Brown also plans to develop a women’s, junior men and skeleton team to broaden TT’s representation on the global circuit.