Luge Championships in Alberta

The Natural Track Luge Championships to be staged in Grande Prairie, Alberta, Feb. 17-19, 2007

Nov 28, 2006 Mitch Kaplan

For the first time, the Natural Track Luge Championships come to North America on Feb. 17-19, 2007, when 250 athletes from 15 countries gather in Grand Prairie, Alberta.

The Russians are coming. Russian luge champions, that is. They’re coming to the Natural Track Luge Championships to be staged in Grande Prairie, Alberta, Feb. 17-19, 2007.

It’s the first time the Natural Track Luge Championships will be held in North America.

Natural Track Luge, unlike Olympic—or Artificial Track—Luge, has no banked corners. Tracks are built anywhere by packing down snow or making ice. The course is outlined with cones, flags, hay or fencing. Natural tracks’ average slope varies according to location, but never exceeds 1.5 percent; Olympic tracks’ slope ranges between 8 and 11 percent.

Among the competitors at Grand Prairie: women’s World Cup champ Ekaterina Laverntyeva and the doubles team of Peter Popov and Ivan Lazarev. These three will headline a Russian team that has grown greatly in size from last year’s world cup races.

Laverntyeva, claimed the Women’s World Cup Championship by winning every World Cup race of the 2005/06 season.

Popov and Lazarev won races in Grande Prairie last year, but finished second overall on the World Cup circuit to the Austrian team of Schatz and Muehlbacher. The Russian duo hopes that another strong performance at Canadian Tire Track will earn them the World Championship title.

Thirteen Russian athletes and coaches that will be in Grande Prairie from February 12-19, an increase from the team of five that attended last year’s World Cup races.

"Seeing the Russian contingent grow from five to thirteen is both exciting and a little scary," said Bill Given of the Peace Country Luge Association (PCLA). "It’s exciting to know that this year’s event is going to be much bigger and that we’ll see more exposure for the Peace Country. It’s also a little scary because Russia is just one of the fifteen countries that we expect to come and there is a lot to do to be ready to host that many teams!"

The Natural Track Luge World Championships are held every two years and are Sanctioned by International Luge Federation and Luge Canada.

The 2005 event was held in Latsch, Italy. This will be the first time the event has ever been held in North America. Approximately 200 to 250 athletes, coaches and officials from fifteen countries are expected to attend the event.

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