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HIGH-SPEEDsslsild ildie Get your adrenaline pumping, learn to luge S
itting with your butt firmly planted on your sled and your feet pointing downhill at the start of a 950-metre winding luge track, you're bound to find your heart in your throat. You might even find yourself thinking, "What the hell am I doing? Luge is the fastest and most dangerous sliding sport around!" But then, before you even have a chance to say, "Screw this," you'll watch as a four-year-old slider effortlessly takes the corners, stretching his arm out and shifting his upper body as he goes, and you'll think, "Well, if he can do it, then I can definitely do it." Plus, by this point, you've already had two hours of instruction on the Hinton Luge Association's 150-metre track, so you know how to do the Flintstone brake by planting your feet flat on the ground. You know how to turn by tipping your upper body like a teapot, shifting your weight onto your downhill runner—the same way you would with your downhill ski on the mountain. You know to keep your steering elbow up. And, you know to listen when Cathy Jones, the association's program co-ordinator, yells for you to brake. "It looks so easy and then people get up and they try it and realize the two-hour lesson is needed," says Jones. "We work on braking first and then we work on the turning basics. Most people tend to lean into the upside of the hill and you can't do that because what that does is put the weight on the inside runner, so you go the opposite way. You'll either go straight, into the boards or into the snowbank." Hinton's facility has a natural luge track, meaning the track follows an existing mountain path. "Natural goes with the terrain, the lumps and bumps and everything," explains Jones. "It's not a cement built track." An artificial track, on the other hand, is a completely designed and constructed track, like the ones you would see athletes competing on in the Olympics. Natural luge, although not an Olympic sport, is popular in Europe, where there are World Cup and World Championship competitions each winter. Jones's three children—now all grown adults—have competed across Canada, the United
States and Europe. Greg Jones, 25, says he can remember one season where he competed in seven different countries. His best-ever showing was in Russia, where he placed 19th overall in a World Cup. He says, considering the top 15 sliders from each country are invited to compete, placing 19th was a big victory. Jones put her children on sleds when they were two years old, and by the time they were four they were already competing. Greg, who no longer competes because he's focusing on being a new dad, says he'll definitely get his daughter on a sled when she's old enough. "It's just a lot of fun. It's one of the funnest things I've ever done in my life."
VUEWEEKLY FEB 21– FEB 27, 2013
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And, he says, it's not as scary or dangerous as people make it out to be. "Lots of people hear it's crazy, but it's really not that crazy because you control your speed," he says, pointing out that you can put your feet down to brake at anytime. Greg's not one to overuse the brakes, though. He's all about the excitement of flying down the track at high speeds. "It's a minute or a minute and a half of not knowing what exactly is going to happen. It's a very good adrenaline rush," he says with a laugh. He admits, though, that you can't just learn to luge like that CONTINUED ON PAGE 24 >>
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