A chilly Sunday afternoon at the Caledonian ground stood in for the icy slopes of Vancouver yesterday as the Winter Olympic hopefuls gathered for the final act of their training camp.
They had talked weights, key performance indicators, funding and skinfolds since the weekend started, but getting outside and into the sled was what they had all been waiting for.
With organisers Angus Ross and Matt Dallow barking out encouragement and guidance, they split into teams for a series of trials to begin the process of whittling down the contenders into a final squad of four.
They are an interesting bunch.
There are the whippet sprinters, Chris Donaldson and Sam Higgie, the more padded rugby players, Karne Hesketh and Willie Trew, and Carl Condliffe, a Wellington school teacher and high jumper who also happens to be an elite-level video gamer.
Some of the triallists were a similar age to the sled, a beaten-up black beauty with licks of red flame over its front, which Ross estimated to be close to 25 years old.
With shouts of "back", "set", "ready" and a general "aaaarrggghh", the men bent their backs, pushed the sled about 15m and clambered in.
To the surprise and delight of the experts, the thrills outnumbered the spills.
"We've got a really good group here.
There's a lot of talent," Ross said.
It is hard to recreate a bobsleigh ice track - even Dunedin wasn't that cold yesterday - but Ross and Dallow devised a trial to get as close as possible.
They also tested how quickly the teams could clamber into the sled from a standing start.
There was a bit of a boys' club feel at the track, plenty of ribbing and laughter and testosterone.
But the triallists are all elite athletes and none is doing this for a lark.
One of the sprinters trying out is Don MacDonald, of Auckland.
A former world championship runner and the third-fastest New Zealander over 100m, he senses the chance to take his sporting career in an unexpected direction.
"I like speed and camaraderie and this is a really interesting concept," MacDonald said.
"We've had some good sprinters in the last few years and there's a lot of energy in this from the people involved.
We're all speed freaks and adrenaline junkies a bit.
"I'm a convert.
I'm a sprinting bobsledder.
I thought my sprinting days were behind me but this is a way I can use my speed."
MacDonald had never seen a bobsled before the weekend.
Ross, a former Winter Olympian now based at the Academy of Sport at Logan Park, has been surprised at the interest the project has attracted.
"It's kind of bizarre.
We've had television cameras and a lot of media interest and to be honest, we haven't really done anything yet."
Still, he knows the media coverage will help the push for funding to get the team to the world championships in the United States next year.
