Cool Runnings

How time flies. Mashable informed me today that one of my favourite feelgood movies, Cool Runnings (1993), was released 20 years ago on Tuesday. Nostalgia aside, this time frame seems extremely unlikely given that it feels like only a few years ago. Surely can't have been so long? Apparently so.

I loved Cool Runnings. It is loosely based on the true story the impoverished Jamaican bobsled team's debut in the 1988 Winter Olympics after a supposed foiled attempt by three runners to qualify as sprinters for the summer games. The characters are colourful, lively and resourceful. How else would a random group of guys from a tropical country be able to enter a winter event when they've neither seen snow nor a bobsleigh before?

The upbeat pseudo-reggae soundtrack helped the movie achieve slightly longer lasting fame. My first band formed in 1993 so naturally Jimmy Cliff's version of I Can See Clearly Now was part of our set list. It was lots of fun to play and really popular with audiences of all ages. Good times, great memories.



I love this list of 14 ways Cool Runnings is still relevant to your life made up of snippets from the film. The message is clear: anything is possible if you're prepared to work for it - even if you only have a bathtub to practise in.