{"id":9927,"date":"2017-01-26T10:05:00","date_gmt":"2017-01-26T10:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/2017\/01\/26\/wanted-next-generation-of-luge-competitors\/"},"modified":"2017-01-26T10:05:00","modified_gmt":"2017-01-26T10:05:00","slug":"wanted-next-generation-of-luge-competitors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wanted-next-generation-of-luge-competitors\/","title":{"rendered":"Wanted: Next Generation Of Luge Competitors"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Aaron Schachter<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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Aiden Kelly trains for the men’s singles luge at the 2014 Winter Olympics on Feb. 7, 2014, in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia. Michael Sohn\/AP<\/strong> hide caption<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Michael Sohn\/AP<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

It isn’t easy to find people to do luge, the sport that uses a tiny little sled to rip down an icy track at about 90 miles an hour. That’s largely because there are only three places in the U.S. where you can try the real thing.<\/p>\n

USA Luge, the organization that recruits and trains athletes for international luge competitions, is looking for the next generation of competitors, and it’s throwing regional events to find new talent.<\/p>\n

In the summer, they run sleds on wheels, racing down hilly pavement. In winter, there are practice tracks and races at ski slopes around the county.<\/p>\n

“Luge is one of those sports that you think about for like two weeks every four years,” says Aiden Kelly, a veteran “slider,” as luge racers are called. “It’s a much bigger sport in Europe.”<\/p>\n

Kelly started at 13 after he was picked out of a crowd of kids at one “slider search.”<\/p>\n

“The Germans and Austrians and Italian fans over there probably keep us going a little more than our American fans do unfortunately, but I think everybody’s always interested when they see it,” he says.<\/p>\n

At a recent slider search at the Wachusett Mountain Ski Area in Massachusetts, participants used plastic replicas of the actual steel sleds.<\/p>\n

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