An Olympian returns home

Though Lyndon Rush has traveled the world as a bobsledder – including to the Olympics – he still managed to return to his roots with a speaking engagement at the Community Prayer Breakfast on March 14 at the Humboldt Uniplex.

“There are a lot of us (from Humboldt) that have done well,” Rush said. “It’s kind of weird that we’re from a town this small. But it’s because there’s a community here that’s valuable. The community gave us what we needed to go out and do well in whatever field it is. Whenever you’re asked to give back to somebody that helped you, it’s really important.”

Rush’s bobsledding career began when a recruiter called his coach when he was playing for the University of Saskatchewan football team, asking if there was anyone graduating who had the appropriate body type for bobsledding.

“They asked if I wanted to try bobsled. I said sure, tried it, and I loved it. I just fell in love with it, and that’s how it got started,” Rush said.

While there were some new things to learn (after all, football and bobsledding are two different sports) Rush said that they both require the same heavy, powerful body type  and have the same type of training. In addition, both sports depend on the strength of the team.

“Without a good team in bobsledding, you have no chance, and without a good team around you in football, you have no chance,” he said.

Since that beginning, he’s been to two different Olympics and to international competitions all over the world. He retired after the 2014 Sochi Olympics and works as a real estate agent in Red Deer, commuting from his home in Sylvan Lake. But that’s not the end for him and bobsledding: he coaches up and coming bobsledders and just got back from doing that in Germany.

“I’ve been able to be involved with bobsled, but not be gone all the time like I was before,” Rush said.

Bobsledding was a good fit for Rush because prior to the beginning of his career he was into  sports that went fast, like snowmobiling, wakeboarding, and motocross.

“My name’s Lyndon Rush and I always wanted to rush,” he said. “I’ve always been into extreme sports; bobsledding was up my alley.”

He also says he likes the technical aspect of the sport, such as working to improve the bobsled, as well as being a leader and working as a team.

However, there are a few things people might not know about bobsledders. Namely, that they typically do two runs a day, equaling two minutes of doing the actual sport. The rest of the full-time job is training.

“It’s a full-time job just to do what we like to do two minutes a day,” he said. “It’s so much work for so little enjoyment.”

That’s not the only thing that people don’t really think about, though.

“We have to wear spandex, which is kind of sissy. It’s supposed to be a manly sport,” he laughed. “But they’d know that because every time they see us on TV we’re wearing those silly suits.”

Though he lives in Alberta now, he still thinks about where he grew up.

“I miss the warm summer nights. I miss the sky, northern lights, and the darkness,” he said. “It’s a small town. When you’re in a city, you don’t see the stars the same way you do in rural Saskatchewan. I miss the people in the community … it really was that place where you knew everybody. Where I live now, your neighbors are people you say hello to, but that’s about it. There’s nothing wrong with that … but in Humboldt, your neighbours were more than just the people you said hello to. There were so many connections on so many levels.”