THE Beaminster School bobsleigh team has had its first training run ahead of the British Bobsleigh Championships in Austria on March 8.

The four-man team Amy Nicholson, Jonah Ayunga and Skyler Herzog and their driver, Olympian Olly Biddulph, were at the University of Bath push track for their first taste of what they will need to do in the championships.

Operations director for the British Bobsleigh team and Beaminster School governor Mark Carter said: “The process of quickly loading three crew wearing special shoes, each with 375 sharp ice spikes into the confined space inside a four-man bobsleigh certainly has the potential for injury, hence a progressive approach to training is always taken.

“The push track used by the GB Team has a wheeled push start trolley that runs on rails, which is open, allowing the push start coach to see precisely what is happening during the load.

“The team did well practising loading technique and will be going back to Bath for a further training session on March 1, a week before they race.”

There are three events in the British Bobsleigh Championships, a women’s race, a two-man race and the four-man race.

Beaminster’s reserve athlete Emma Harris has now teamed up with the 2011 British Bobsleigh Champion, Michelle Coy, to compete in the women's race. The sixth form pupils will be making history – by being the youngest-ever British bobsleigh team to compete in the British Championship games.