Ridgeway, who will be responsible for steering British Bobsleigh towards the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, believes that public awareness of the sport needs to be raised and that it must be made available to a wider audience.

"The British invented the sport of bobsleigh and we want as many people as possible to take part and compete with other like-minded enthusiasts," he said.

"It is the ultimate adrenaline rush."

Ridgeway is also hoping to develop young talent beyond the 2014 Winter Olympics.

"I am keen to look beyond Sochi," he said.

"We need to identify, select and train our young athletes for 2018 and beyond.

"We have an intuitive underway to find the young men and women of the bobsleigh teams of the future.

"Part of this initiative will be to enter bobsleigh teams in the first ever Youth Winter Olympics at Igls in Austria in 2012."

Ridgeway has been involved with the sport since the 1970s when his regiment, The Royal Tank, dominated the British team.

In 1998 he was invited to take over as chairman of Army Bobsleigh.

The sport then merged with Army Skeleton and Luge.

He wasalso  the first director of Army Ice Sports.


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