Source: The Canadian Press
Date: December 2, 2020
(excerpt)
Murrary-Lawrence, Saskatchewan Roughriders defensive back Jay Dearborn
and B.C. Lions running back hopeful Kayden Johnson joined the national
bobsled program after the CFL cancelled its 2020 season due to the COVID-19
pandemic.
As part of the national development squad, the trio has been training at the ice
house at Calgary’s Canada Olympic Park. This week, the group moved to the
sliding centre in Whistler, B.C., where they’ll perfect their techniques on a full
course.
Built for the 2010 Olympics, the Whistler track is known as one of the fastest in
the world.
Dearborn still hasn’t figured out how to explain what it’s like to race down the
ice.
“The feel of those forces going around the corner, or the speed that you’re going
at … the biggest thing that I struggle with is how to describe what it’s like to
have your soul being crushed by these forces going through each corner,” he
said.
Just months ago, Dearborn “didn’t know a thing” about the sport. A strength and
conditioning coach at Carleton University put him in touch with a national
recruiter last year, but it wasn’t until March that the 26-year-old from Yarker,
Ont., got into a sled for the first time.
“I just knew the type of athletes it attracted and I knew I was pretty similar — a
strong, explosive, fast athlete, that are pretty technically minded people,”
Dearborn said.
Jay Dearborn 