Hold on for dear life: why Lewis Goodenough swapped powerlifting for bobsleigh

Lewis Goodenough was looking for a new challenge when he spotted an advert for RAF bobsleigh trials.

An RAF Air Traffic Control Officer and a competitive powerlifter, he was used to pushing himself physically. But bobsleigh offered something very different. He went to his first trials in July 2025, and by August he was back for more.

Then came Lillehammer. Lewis travelled to the Inter-Services competition partly to see how the sport worked at competition level, and partly to assess whether he had a realistic chance of progressing.

What struck him most was not simply the speed; it was the team. “Everyone was preparing sleds together. You are all in the same boat, sharing the same emotions,” he says.

That was when the sport really began to get under his skin. Between 2021 and 2024, Lewis had made good progress in powerlifting, but it is an individual sport. Bobsleigh gave him something he had been missing: camaraderie, with plenty of adrenaline thrown in.

Holding on

Lewis has already had a few spills, including one when the sled came out of a turn late and flipped.

“When the pilot spills the sled, you just have to hold on for dear life. But we do get taught how to react in the event of a spill.”

For some people, that might be enough to reconsider their choice of sport. For Lewis, it is simply part of the challenge.

Learning a completely new skill

Raw strength will only take a bobsleigh athlete so far. Lewis has invested personally in specialist coaching, combining work at the push-track facility with online training, and has learned that success is not simply about sprinting hard and pushing a heavy sled.

One area in particular began to transform his performance: transition training. At the start of a run, athletes must accelerate powerfully, transfer that momentum into the sled and load into it cleanly. The tiniest hesitation can cost precious fractions of a second.

For someone coming from powerlifting, where controlled force is everything, that meant a very different use of strength. As the coaching took effect, Lewis could feel the pieces coming together, and the more he learned, the more he wanted to progress.

His goal now is clear: to earn a place in the RAF team and keep competing alongside his military career.

More than sport

Lewis believes the benefits run both ways. Bobsleigh gives him an outlet beyond his day-to-day RAF role, and the qualities it demands are just as relevant to military life.

“It shows physical and mental resilience,” he says.

There is the discipline of training, the willingness to keep learning, the ability to perform under pressure and, occasionally, the need to pick yourself up after a rather more literal setback than most working days provide.

Through the RAF Bobsleigh, Luge and Skeleton Association, athletes also meet people from different trades, ranks and parts of the Service, while those who run the Association offer advice, encouragement and opportunities to develop. It is a community tlmNexus is proud to support as a sponsor.

“You expand your horizons in the bobsleigh community,” says Lewis. “I am always learning how far I can push myself.”

His partner and family have learned something about that too. “They have been amazed at my willingness to test the limits, but that is exactly what I was looking for when I applied for RAF bobsleigh trials.”