Calgary electrician hoping to put a charge into his Olympic dream

It costs a lot of money to become an Olympic athlete. Glenn Campbell speaks with a Calgary bobsleigh athlete who works full time to pay the bills.

It’s Wednesday morning and Chris Ashley and his crew are on another call.

Ashley works as an electrician with Granite Electric.

He got his ticket 17 years ago and says he loves the job.

“I get to go all over,” he said. “We’re all over southern Alberta – from Lethbridge up to Edmonton – so I get to go to a new place every day, and I get to work with a bunch of good guys.”

The other career

As much as Ashley loves his job, he says something was missing in his life.

He’d always been athletic and always had a dream to do something big athletically.

Four years ago, he found what he was looking for when he started his journey in Bobsleigh.

“A good buddy of mine said, ‘Hey, I’m going to join the Canadian Bobsled team, do you want to train with me?’ I said ‘Bobsled? Sure, let’s give it a go.’”

“The training was awesome, we were sprinting and lifting and all these cool things that I love to do. I ended up qualifying to test for Team Canada and made it.”

Busy life

Ashley says it wouldn’t be possible for him to compete in bobsleigh without having a very understanding company and a great boss because he needs to take a lot of time off.

“I came to my boss and said ‘I’m going to do this crazy bobsled thing, and I’m going to need to take six months off,’” he laughed.

“He was like, ‘What?’ But I was chatting with him, and I think everybody had an Olympic dream when they were a kid, and him and I kind of touched on that.

“He always wanted to be an Olympian in some fashion, and he said, ‘Chris, go for it man. We’ll support you and go make us proud.’”

Hoping to earn an Olympic spot

Next week is a big week for the Canadian bobsleigh team; they’re having their selection camp in Whistler, B.C.

Ashley says he wants his dream of competing in the Olympics to become a reality – and he’s hoping to do that in the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.

“As soon as you put that Maple Leaf on your back and you’re competing for Team Canada… there’s no feeling like it. It’s amazing and I’m grateful for the opportunity.”