LAKE PLACID, Vt. (WCAX) – The Jamaican bobsled team, made famous by their trip to the 1998 Winter Olympics and the subsequent movie, “Cool Runnings,” want to set up shop in New York’s North Country, and local lawmakers could help pave the way.
The original Jamaican team’s Nelson Chris Stokes visited Mt. Van Hoevenberg back in October and said he wanted to reestablish Lake Placid as a training base. Now, nearly three months later, lawmakers in Franklin County are looking at a proposal that would make Stokes’ dream a reality.
“They have been looking for a place to set roots and create a home base for their athletes to come back to and a community to invest in,” said Matthew Dougherty with the North Country Sports Council. He says the current deal before lawmakers would allocate $135,000 in county tax money to establish a six-month residency for the Jamaican Bobsled Association, allowing athletes to stay at the Hotel Saranac and train out of Mt. Van Hoevenberg. “We would be able to basically get the name out there you know — ‘Adirondack Frontier,’ ‘Franklin County’ — out there on their uniforms, on the sleds, and in other ways. And for Jamaican bobsled, it’s the same. They are able to create a community and grow more.”
Ashley Walden with the Olympic Regional Development Authority says they are all for the proposal. “We have tried to support smaller nations, Jamaica being one of them. So, we would love for them to permanently relocate, use this as a training ground. Not only do we have the sliding center, we also have the ice house, the indoor training facility here. There is no better place if you are want to be in the top end of the podium for bobsled, skeleton. There is no better place to be than here,” she said.
Dougherty says the village of Saranac Lake and Harrietstown have put out resolutions supporting the proposal. He hopes a final decision by county lawmakers comes within the next few weeks.
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