The Western Wards will be cheering on their own bobsleigh team in a Help For Heroes challenge.
John Bird and team mate Tracy Connell practising on the dry slopes raring to take to the ice
Andrew Copestake and John Bird are taking to the slopes against a team from the Royal Air Force to raise money for the RAF Benevolent Fund (RAFBF).
The pair and four other British civilians have started training in Igls, Austria, preparing to battle it out against the service personnel, where they will also raise money for Help for Heroes.
Six civilians and six British officers will train for six days to decide which two from each team will take to the 1,220 metre track at 85 miles per hour in the two-man bob sleighs.
Andrew’s daughter Isabell led a fundraising campaign at Sarisbury Junior School last Friday to help promote her “hero” dad’s challenge.
“I feel really helpful and good inside that I’m helping a charity,” said the 10-year-old pupil.
“He’s like one of the heroes we’re talking about because he’s raising money and he’s done lots of things.”
Although she will be cheering for her dad from home, she said she is quite worried about him, adding: “It’s mixed emotions because it’s like ‘yay’ for him because he’s doing this to raise money, but it’s very dangerous.”
Pupils and parents flocked to the cake stall, teddy tombola and to buy RAFBF promotional goodies at the school fundraiser.
John Bird and Andrew Copestake pretend to be in a bob sleigh while Isabell Copestake (second left) raises money with a donation from Charlotte Jenkins, 11.
John and Andrew are excited about the challenge of zooming across the ice in a 200kg two-man bobsleigh raising cash for troops, as they both have family in the forces.
Andrew said in the tough economic climate they wanted a test that would excite people to give money and raised awareness with the school fundraiser.
“We felt it needed to be something different to get people interested and motivated and that’s what led us to doing this at the school,” said the 44-year-old from Bursledon.
“Everybody’s a novice; no-one’s done it before. These are active servicemen we’re going against, so that’s part of the challenge – an ordinary guy off the street who may even beat an RAF team.”
The determined father-of-three said he was looking forward to “getting home in one piece, finishing the race and raising lots of money in the process.”
John, who has been fundraising for 17 years, came up with the bobsleigh idea and contacted the RAF because he wanted to help their benevolent fund, which supported his family after his father, who was an electrical engineer in the RAF, died from lung cancer.
“When my father died in the RAF they helped my mum out with financial and welfare support,” said the 37-year-old from Gosport.
“I wanted to do something unique and looked at the sports on the RAF website to see what we could challenge them at.”
He hopes to beat the RAF team and come home without any broken bones.
And he gave thanks to the school for raising £162 for the cause, adding: “A massive thank you to the school for doing all this for us especially the helpers and the parents who made the cakes.”
Pupils and parents flocked to the cake stall and toy tombola at Sarisbury Juniors
So far the team has raised £13,000 this year in a number of fundraising events including, a curry night, a Spinnaker Tower disco, RAF air shows and a 24-hour dance marathon. They hope to raise more than £15,000.
There will also be a post-fundraiser at the tower on January 20 with a reggae singer.
The race day, on December 18, will see the teams compete, one in a sleigh called Ice Rider and the other team in one named Blade Runner.
Follow their blog or donate at www.charitybobsleigh.co.uk.