About Us
Hello and welcome from the Aussie Bob Squad!
We are attempting to qualify to the Beijing Winter Olympic Games and we'd love to have you help!
Who are we?
We are a team of athletes, all with a different backgrounds ranging from Track & Field to CrossFit, Weightlifting and Soccer. Our team includes:
Evan O'Hanlon
Australian Bobsleigh Pilot since 2018, Athlete with Cerebral Palsy, 5 x Paralympic Champion, 12 x Para Athletics World Champion, multiple world record holder and Aiming to become the first Paralympian to then attend the Olympics in a different sport. 32 years old from Hunters Hill, NSW but living in The Czech Republic.
Joe Williamson
Grew up playing rep soccer and touch football, transitioned to beach and track sprinting before making the switch to brakeman in 2018. Currently studying Bachelor of Psychology. Sunshine Coast, Queensland.
Dylan Sorensen
Former national level 400m hurdler and state weightlifter. 27 year old Osteopath from Cairns, Queensland. Brakeman since March 2019.
Patrick Cannon
Patrick Castelli - 2x former world's strongest man winner and strongman world champion. Current strength and conditioning coach for Queensland-based Olympic athletes and hopefuls. 30 years old, living in Brisbane, Queensland.
Max Hudson
Current NSWIS Track sprint cyclist, with a decent weight lifting and strength back ground. 24yr old Boy from the bush who knows how to work hard and train harder. Wagga, New South Wales
James Newbury
4 x Crossfit games athlete, multiple time Australian national champion, CrossFit 4 person team invitational world champions, 29 years old from Adelaide, South Australia
Elias Arcondoulis
Research Assistant Professor of Aerospace Engineering.
Australian 4-man bobsleigh representative (2016) . Former U/105kg strongest man, state shot put champion, state U/20 discus record holder and U/94kg state Olympic Weightlifting champion. 36 years old from Adelaide, South Australia.
Marcus Di Sipio
Weightlifter, crossfitter and former distance runner. Currently a student in biomedical sciences and public health. Australian Brakeman since 2019. 24 years old from Melbourne, Victoria.
Kevin Chavez
RIO2016 Olympian in 3M Springboard and former world champion with a rich history in developing explosiveness and speed over many years. Mexican born now proud Australian citizen.
Kevin Chavez
Together we are the:
What we are hoping to achieve.
Bobsleigh is an incredibly expensive sport, most countries have huge national programs with athlete support, coaching, travel etc. looked after. However, we are fully self-funded and managed so on top of performance we also need to sort out all the behind the scenes admin, travel and accommodation. Whilst this was already a huge task, we now have the added complexity of trying to achieve this in a world impacted by Covid-19. To achieve all of this on top of quarantine and testing we need your help more than ever! This season sits on a knifes edge right now and will play an important role in our attempt to qualify to the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing 2022.
A few examples of some of the costs that incur across a season include:
- Accommodation (per team of 5) – $15,000+.
- Travel (Vehicle costs & fuel, International freight, flights etc) – $15,000+.
- Bobsleigh Equipment – 2 Man sled rental $10,000+, 4 Man sled rental $10,000+, Runners (the steel blades on the bottom of the sled) $10,000+.
- Personal Equipment (Helmet, Spikes, Burns vest & race suit) – $1500 per athlete.
Add to these food for a few hungry blokes, some gym costs, running repairs for bodies, cars and sleds and you can see we are quickly looking like the poor younger brother of all the other teams.
What a season looks like for us.
Australia is a beautiful country. We are known for our amazing weather, sandy beaches and sweeping plains. What we are not known for are cold winters, snow, ice annnnnnnnnnnnnd bobsledders. As such we compete in Europe and North America. Luckily our Pilot Evan is based in the Czech Republic with his family were he moved to lower his living costs and be closer to the ice tracks of Europe. However, the rest of the squad is based around Australia. This means that no matter how we design our season our travel and accommodation become huge costs.
Over the last few years we have got some good training and racing done in Europe in places like:
- Altenberg, Germany
- Winterberg, Germany
-Königssee, Germany
- La Plagne, France
- Lillehammer, Norway
Whilst this has been great for our development and driving skills, there has been some changes to the Olympic qualification system that will mean we almost certainly need to compete in North America come the 2021/2022 season. With this in mind we would love to get some practice in over on those tracks as soon as possible but are aware that that may not be possible due to the global pandemic.
None the less, we need to get out there this season (starting November 2020) and get some practice and racing done to ensure we meet all the criteria to be eligible for selection to the 2022 Olympic Games.
Where you come in.
If you can spare a few dollarydoos to help us cover some of our costs it would be amazing and anything we can do to help you out in return can be discussed. To get us all started we have designed a few pieces of merch for you to proudly wear. Keep an eye out as we will be adding more items everyday.
