"How in the world do you run on ice while pushing a bobsled?"

We hear that question a lot. And understandably so, considering some of our athletes have a hard time skating on ice! But as bobsledders, we have some special equipment to help: our bobspikes.

Bobspikes, or the special shoes worn by bobsledders, are built much like sprint shoes worn by track and field athletes. However, instead of only a handful of spikes on the bottom, bobsled shoes have several hundred. This allows us to maintain traction on the ice while pushing our sled down the start ramp at full speed. However, these spikes may not be longer than 4 millimeters or .16th of an inch.

Given the relatively small demand for bobspikes, Adidas is the only shoe compay that currently supplies them.

Since bobspikes are covered in metal spikes and are so expensive, we actually wear special shoe covers when not on the ice. These shoe covers actually fit right around the bobspikes and zip up the front, thus giving us the ability to walk around with our bobspikes on and not damage them. When we get up to the starting line, we can simply unzip and remove the shoe covers. At that point teams can either leave the covers at the start or place them inside the sled for the ride down.

Ok, so maybe they're not exactly a winner at the fashion awards, but bobspikes are definitely a key part of any bobsledder's equipment list.