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16
Nov
Cool Runnings is real - Meet Harrogate’s Caribbean bobsleigher
There aren’t many feel-good films better than Cool Runnings.
A light-hearted comedy about four Jamaicans who take up bobsleighing, the film follows the trials and tribulations of a Caribbean nation trying to qualify for the Winter Olympics.
But what if we told you a Harrogate man was living his own version of Cool Runnings?
Meet 33-year-old Axel Brown.
Axel is a proficient sportsman, having practiced taekwondo and played American football at a high-level.
But he decided to switch sports after realising he had the right build for bobsleighing.
Axel Brown (right).
He told the Stray Ferret:
It’s something I always enjoyed watching. I remember watching [when I was about 22] and the commentators were describing the athletes’ heights and weights. You know, six foot two, 100kg. I thought, ‘that’s similar to me.’
At six feet four inches and 110 kilograms, Axel dived headfirst into the sport.
But, despite the light-hearted nature of Cool Runnings, bobsleigh is not a sport to treat lightly.
As the pilot of the bobsleigh, Axel has – in no light terms – the lives of his teammates in his hands. A crash on a bobsleigh course can be fatal.
Axel Brown (furthest left) hurtles down the track with his teammates.
At the speeds that bobsleighs can reach, piloting a bobsleigh becomes less about reactions and more about instincts.
Formula One drivers often talk about entering a “flow state” – a mental state where the driver is completely in control of his vehicle. Ayrton Senna famously said after the 1988 Monaco Grand Prix that he had passed the barrier of driving consciously and had navigated the track purely by instinct.
Axel said similar:
It’s nuts what we’re doing. Hurtling down an ice track at 100mph and using pure instinct. You do enter a flow state. It’s incredibly difficult to describe what it’s like until you feel it.
Imagine being on a rollercoaster, but you’re not strapped in, and it could derail at any point. It still scares me, and I’ve been doing it for years. You have to respect the sport, or you could get seriously hurt.
Axel's story
Axel was born in Harrogate to an English dad and a Trinidadian mum.
Son of explorer Chris Brown, who we wrote about recently, Axel’s family has an impressive sporting background.
His dad and brother, Mika, have both represented Team GB in triathlon world championships.
Axel represented Team GB in bobsleigh for seven years. But poor management and a "real nastiness" around the camp encouraged him to leave.
It turned out to be the best decision of his life.
In 2021, after leaving Team GB, Axel single-handedly established Trinidad and Tobago’s first-ever bobsleigh team, formed an entire international federation, and helped the country qualify for the Winter Olympics for the first time in 20 years – all in the space of six months.
Axel was his country's flagbearer at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
Despite the piles of paperwork, endless hours searching for capable athletes, and initial shock of “a white guy with a British accent talking about Caribbean bobsledding,” by February 2022, Axel had assembled a team of Trinidadian bobsleighers and was ready to enter the world stage.
Axel and two compatriots saw Trinidad and Tobago represented at a Winter Olympics for the first time since 2002.
Finishing 28th overall, the highest position in Trinidadian history, Axel said, “our being there was our medal”.
Axel Brown (left) with his Trinidadian compatriots at an international tournament.
He even said that Cool Runnings is a pretty accurate movie when it comes to the Olympics:
It is actually an accurate movie. The attitudes of the characters are so similar to the people I've met through this programme. I didn't really know what it meant before going into it, but it means so much to everyone and fills them with a huge sense of pride. I'm having so much more fun here than I ever was before.
You know the German rival in the film that's giving them shade? That definitely exists. You get evils, shadiness, teams eyeing each other up. Everyone is there to win.
There are now six athletes in the Trinidadian bobsleigh team.
The next step for Axel and the Trinidadian team is to qualify for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan. This time, they want to take a two-man team and a four-man one.
They will compete in Canada next weekend to do so.
The pilot said that his team had put the work in and that he was confident they could do just that.
Regardless, Axel said that his overarching feelings will always be those of pride. He said that the Trinidad and Tobago bobsleigh team has allowed him to accomplish his life’s work, and for that, he will always be grateful.
Like the film that inspired him, Axel Brown’s journey reminds us that sometimes the coolest run isn’t the one that wins gold.
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