Sigulda Bobsleigh, Luge, and Skeleton Track - Sigulda, Latvia
N 57° 09.048 E 024° 50.494
35V E 369423 N 6336239
The Sigulda Bobsleigh, Luge, and Skeleton Track is located in Sigulda, Latvia. The course is primarily for professional use, but tourists are able to a ride in a bob piloted by experienced athletes.
Waymark Code: WMPTCD
Location: Latvia
Date Posted: 10/17/2015
Views: 15
"The Sigulda Luge and Bobsleigh Track is a training venue for Latvia's Olympic team, and hosts international and national scale competitions every season.
The total length of the luge and bobsleigh track is 1420 m; it features 16 curves and allows for a maximum speed of 125 km/h. The track can accommodate competitions and training sessions in luge, bobsleigh, and skeleton events. Tourists are offered a ride in a soft bob, called vuchko, and in a winter or a summer bob piloted by experienced athletes.
The history of bobsleigh in Sigulda goes back to the late 19th century, when Prince Kropotkin built on his estate a 900 meter bobsleigh track with one curve.
The present-day Sigulda track was designed at the research centre of the Leipzig Sports Bureau, and built by "Graming", a company from Sarajevo."
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"The Sigulda bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track is located in Sigulda, Latvia. Currently, the track manager is Dainis Dukurs, former bobsleigh brakeman and the father of skeleton racers Martins and Tomass Dukurs.
History
Sledding took place in Sigulda as early as 1887. Several alpine skiing venues were held near the track following World War II. By the late 1960s, the city government of Sigulda approved construction of a new track, which was finally completed in 1986. It was built for the needs of Soviet bobsledders and lugers. Although skeleton wasn't initially in the building plan, Sigulda has hosted World Cup races in skeleton in the 2000s. Also, luge competitions are hosted in Sigulda each year, however, the track can't host four-man bobsleigh races, therefore there haven't been any Bobsleigh World Cup or World Championship races hosted in Sigulda. Zintis Ekmanis and the original track designer has designed a new layout which would change two curves and make four-man bobsleigh races possible, though lugers are not happy with this idea because this may render the track unusable for women's singles and men's doubles lugers. Also, Dainis Dukurs has said in an interview for Sporta Avize that there was an experiment involving Juris Šics, Andris Šics, Tomass Dukurs and Martins Dukurs, in which the quartet drove with a four-man bobsleigh without crashing. Dukurs stated that this proves that the track is, in fact, suitable for four-man teams, but to make it perfect for bobsleigh, most of the track should be rebuilt. Reconstruction was expected to be completed in 2010. However the idea was abandoned due to costs and uncertainty that such investment would pay off. The track will undergo major renovation after 2014 season. Also, an artificial ice start estacade was built in summer of 2008."
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