Army pair join forces in para-bobsled

In a modern-day Cool Runnings, two former soldiers have come together as Australia's first para-bobsled team.

Wheelchair-bound Mark Urquhart and amputee Davin Bretherton fly to Europe on Wednesday to compete in World Cup events in Austria and Switzerland.

Like the Hollywood movie Cool Runnings, based on the Jamaican bobsled team which competed in the 1988 Winter Olympics, the Queensland pair got their chance after they were identified for exploits in another sport.

It was actually the USA Bobsled Association which asked Mr Urquhart, 46, to find a partner and compete after he was crowned world para-triathlon champion in Canada last year.

After first believing it to be a joke, he then recruited Mr Bretherton, 45, the Australian heavyweight wheelchair champion.

"The only thing I had ever known was what I'd seen on TV of the Winter Olympics and the movie Cool Runnings," he said.

"It all happened really quickly.

"The first time we met was in the airplane on the way to Canada to learn to be bobsled drivers just before Christmas."

The unlikely pair were permanently disabled while serving in the Australian Defence Force in the 1990s.

Mr Bretherton lost his leg after sustaining a serious injury on deployment in Somalia.

Mr Urquhart is confined to a wheelchair after two separate parachute incidents during army training at Richmond Airbase.

Both have survived years of pain and numerous surgeries, all of which have steeled their resolve to break through their physical barriers and reach elite levels in their sports.

"At the moment, there's only single man events but we expect there will be two-man para-bobsled events by the 2022 Winter Paralympics," Mr Urquhart said.