KEY POINTS:
Heard the one about the Jamaican bobsleigh team? Its bid for gold at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary is familiar to millions who've seen the Disney dramatisation Cool Runnings.
Now the search is on for a team of cool Kiwi men to represent their country in the same event at the 2010 games in Vancouver.
Like Jamaica, New Zealand has no bobsleigh track, but that's not going to hold back sports authorities.
A nationwide talent quest is being held around the country this weekend to recruit prospective racers. About 17 strapping blokes turned up at a cold Millennium Institute in Auckland yesterday after answering an ad for "big, fast, athletic males".
"I heard they wanted big, ex-rugby players," said Sonny Ashby, a big, ex-rugby player with a little grey in his beard.
He surveyed the competition with a worried expression. "I thought there would be more fatties. Some of these guys are sleek."
Another couple of rugby players had made the journey from Hamilton for the trial - and were expecting to be back in time to play yesterday afternoon.
Dan Clark, 20, a surfboat rower from Piha, revealed he'd watched Cool Runnings the previous night "for inspiration".
"My friends said, 'What do you know about bobsleighing?'. I said, 'I've seen that cool-as movie'.
"I suppose there is a connection between surfboats and bobsleighing - it's four men in a big hard thing."
The trial also attracted serious athletes, including former national sprint record-holders. "It's no joke, that's for sure," former national 400m champ Sam Higgie said. "There's no mucking around. The quality of athletes is exceptional. It's all those years of sprinting and weight-training which will give us an advantage."
Higgie and fellow top sprinters see the Sport and Recreation New Zealand-funded project, run by Dr Angus Ross at the Dunedin Centre of Excellence, as a final chance to get to the Olympics. "I didn't get to fulfill my Olympic dream as a runner," said Higgie.
The athletes were put through their paces by Craig Harrison. He was looking for men aged 18-35 and weighing 85-115kg who could sprint 30m in less than 3.9 seconds. "We've had a good turnout and quite a mix of people. We were hoping for some big 100kg type ex-rugby players, but we haven't seen them yet."
The top eight from the weekend's trials will train intensively for selection in the four-man Olympic team. In Cool Runnings style, they will have to practise with a sleigh mounted on tracks in Dunedin, before going overseas to experience the real thing. It's not the first time New Zealand has sent a bobsleigh team to the Winter Olympics, but Ross said this team would be the "most proficient".
