Concept → Reality · Rewritten

The Slegoon, a sled with a roll cage and a sport of its own

In 2003 a British design student invented a sled you were strapped into, wrapped in roll bars so it could keep sliding upside down. It won a national student award and, five years later, a week of blog fame. It was never made.

The Design Blog editors

Illustration of a single-seat sled wrapped in roll bars

Illustration, AI-generated. Not the original design.

Verdict 2026

Still a concept

The Slegoon stayed a concept: we found renders and a competition win, but no production sled and no race. Its designer, Spike Reid, went on to lead expeditions and work as a photographer.

  1. 2003Spike Reid of Northumbria University wins the Design Innovation in Plastics student award with the Slegoon, under that year’s brief, Free time.
  2. 2005Reid graduates from Northumbria with a degree in Design for Industry and goes on to serve two years as president of its students’ union.
  3. 2008Core77 features the Slegoon from Reid’s online portfolio on Nov 14, 2008.
  4. 2008Gizmodo picks the sled up on Nov 16, 2008, crediting our post, and describes a roll cage that doubles as extra runners.
  5. 2010The picture agency Rex Features distributes the images in January 2010 as concept illustrations, with a claimed speed of up to 50 mph.
  6. 2017Reid completes a 98-day descent of the Ganges by stand-up paddleboard, covering more than 1,800 miles.

What it was

Slegooning was meant to be a sport as much as a product. Spike Reid, a design student at Northumbria University in Newcastle, imagined single-seat sleds racing down a snow slope in full contact, up to twenty at a time. He designed the craft to match and called it the Slegoon.

The rider sat low in a bucket seat with a five-point harness. Roll bars arched over the cockpit, and the runners were shaped so that the sled could keep sliding toward the finish line after it had flipped over. Later captions claimed speeds of up to 50 mph. The design won the 2003 Design Innovation in Plastics award, a student competition whose brief that year was free time. Reid’s portfolio names Bayer as the sponsor.

A roll cage is a plan for crashing, and most people on a snowy hill would rather have a plan for steering.

Where the idea went

For five years little happened in public. Then, in November 2008, Core77 picked the project out of Reid’s Coroflot portfolio. Our post ran the next day, and Gizmodo followed a day after that, crediting us, under a headline suggesting the sled might double as a coffin. In January 2010 the picture agency Rex Features was still circulating the images, labeled as concept illustrations.

We could not find evidence that a Slegoon was ever manufactured or that a race was held. Everything published shows renders. Whether a physical model was built for the 2003 judging could not be confirmed.

Reid went outdoors instead. He graduated in 2005, served two years as president of the Northumbria Students’ Union and became an expedition leader and photographer. In 2008 he and two companions won the first Go Beyond bursary from Land Rover and the Royal Geographical Society. In early 2017 he completed a 98-day descent of the Ganges by stand-up paddleboard, more than 1,800 miles.

What it means now

The Slegoon answered a real problem with a lot of hardware. A plain sled is fast, hard to steer and offers no protection, so Reid wrapped the rider in a cage and a harness and accepted the crash. The sleds on sale today take the opposite route. They give the rider steering, and often a brake, and try to avoid the crash in the first place. Stiga’s Snowracer has a steering wheel and a brake. The Hammerhead steers its front skis through a leaf spring.

That is simpler to make and easier to carry back up the hill, and it does not need twenty friends. The full-contact race remains a good drawing.

The original post, summarized

Our November 2008 post covered Spike Reid’s Slegoon, a single-seat snow sled with a protective cage that keeps sliding when overturned and that had won the UK Design Innovation in Plastics competition. It is summarized here rather than republished.

Sleds that steer

We found no sled with a roll cage on sale. These three give you steering instead.

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Picked for design.

  • Yukon Charlie’s Hammerhead Pro HD SledA single-rider sled steered through a stainless steel leaf spring, on polycarbonate and HDPE skis. The listing gives a weight of 15 pounds and allows riding feet first or head first.View on Amazon
  • STIGA Snowracer CurveA steel-framed steering sled with a steering wheel, a brake and a retractable tow line, listed for riders up to 198 lb.View on Amazon
  • ZIPFY Freestyle Mini LugeA small sit-down luge with a single handle, steered and braked with the feet, and made in the USA according to the listing.View on Amazon

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