Ramsay slides on to national bobsleigh team

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/11/2023 (751 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Morgan Ramsay’s sports career is now going downhill in a hurry.

That’s usually a bad thing, but as part of Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton’s (BCS) development bobsleigh team, it’s the goal.

The Rivers native caught on to the sport remarkably fast.

“I’ve been doing it for about two months. When I say ‘Been doing it,’ actually start to finish — I touched a bobsleigh for the first time two months ago,” Ramsay said via phone interview from Lake Placid, N.Y., where she’s competing in the North American Cup this week.

“Looking back, it’s so crazy that I was just thrown into the sled and now I’m representing Team Canada.”

The other perspective is it makes complete sense.

Ramsay, 23, was a track and hockey star growing up. She set Zone 7 records in the 100-metre and 200m with the Rivers Rams and trained with coach Bryce Koscielny’s Prairie Storm Athletics.

The five-foot-two forward skated for the under-18 Yellowhead Chiefs for three seasons in the Manitoba Female Hockey Hockey League, piling up 29 goals and 36 assists in 72 career regular-season games.

Ramsay joined the U Sports hockey ranks with Mount Royal Cougars in Calgary for the 2018-19 Canada West season.

She scored five goals in four seasons, but the last was massive — the game-winner in a 3-1 semifinal victory over the Montreal Carabins to reach the national final in 2023. MRU downed Concordia 4-3 in overtime to claim gold the following day.

Ramsay graduated and wasn’t sure where to go from there when Cougars coach Scott Rivett forwarded an invite to a BCS prospects camp in the fall, along with one sentence: “I think you’d be good at this.”

She went and crushed her fitness tests, including sprints, long jump, a few lifts and a push test with a sled on ice. Ramsay felt the speed mechanics she learned on the track and the power she developed over the years of skating paired perfectly for bobsleigh.

BCS agreed and called her back two weeks later to practise with the team. From there, pilot Eden Wilson asked her to form a two-woman team as her brakewoman.

Wilson, who grew up on her grandmother’s farm in Plumas before moving to Calgary, helped Ramsay get up to speed on where to put her hands and how to push the sled before jumping in and ripping down the icy track.

The team travelled to Whistler, B.C., for a few more weeks of training and held a selection race at the end.

Ramsay and Wilson were picked for the development team and will travel between Whistler, Lake Placid and Park City, Utah for North American Cup races ahead.

Ramsay has also been offered a spot to spare for Canada’s World Cup squad starting after Christmas. That means touring the likes of St. Moritz, Switzerland, Lillehammer, Norway and more European destinations.

Amidst the excitement, however, is turmoil from BCS funding cuts that leave Ramsay and her teammates paying their own way. That includes transporting sleds, travel, accommodations, food and equipment.

“It’s been us looking for sponsors. Everyone’s in the same boat for BCS,” Ramsay said.

“We’re really hoping it’s changed for next year because it’s super unfortunate that we’re a national team and we’re having to pay for everything.”

Ramsay noted she has some sponsors and plenty of support from Rivers.

“Even people that I haven’t talked to in a long time like old coaches, it’s really nice to get that recognition,” Ramsay said.

“It helps to know people are still rooting for you and believe you have much more to give.”

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com

» X: @thomasmfriesen