A newly built 125m bobsleigh push start track facility at the University of Bath has been tested for the first time.

The track, part of the university's development as an English Institute of Sport (EIS), allows bobsleigh, luge and bobskeleton athletes to mirror the start of an actual race on the running surface, then travel at speeds of up to 40mph on fixed railway-like rails before being stopped by a bungee-type breaking mechanism.

The £300,000 project has received backing from Sport England and sponsors VT Aerospace, and it is hoped it will improve finishing times by mirroring the start at Salt Lake City, USA Olympic Games in 2002 and allow athletes to maximise their potential without having to travel abroad.

'The start is crucial to bobsleigh, and this track mirrors the real thing,' said British Bobsleigh Association performance director, Tony Wallington. 'Our athletes will be able to practice their starts time and time again. If a team loses hundredths of a second at the start it is very difficult to make up the deficit on the track. Equally, a good start can make a huge difference to the finish time.'

The University of bath is the main base for the south west region of the EIS, which is a network of high performance sports facilities, sports medicine and conditioning centres aiming to provide Britain's elite competitors with a world class training environment. All EIS centres, funded by £120m of Lottery investment, will be fully operational from 2002.

Following the completion of a timing mechanism and control tower the track will officially open in January 2002.