U.S. Luge Athletes “Camping” in Lake Placid

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. --- The off-season, what little there is to it, is beginning to whined down and the USA Luge national team has just one more training camp in Lake Placid, N.Y before the beginning of the 2009-10 international racing season and February’s 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada.  The team is in Lake Placid through, Monday, Oct. 26, putting the finishing touches on their off season preparation before they depart for Park City, Utah, the Olympic training week in Whistler, Canada and the beginning of an almost five month long competition season.

“It’s been a real quick off-season,” remarked Ashley Walden (Lake Placid, N.Y. and Westborough, Mass.) “I had some time to do some hiking and travel, but most of my time was spent preparing for the upcoming season and staying focused.  I think that any time it’s an Olympic year, you sacrifice your off-season as much as you can so that you’re totally prepared.”

Although this is the off-season’s final camp, this is not the first time the athletes have returned to Lake Placid since the end of last season.  The team has participated in organized team activities during camps in July and August, and for many, they have spent their entire summer in Lake Placid training.

“I really think that there is a benefit to staying and training in Lake Placid during the off-season,” stated 2009 world champion Erin Hamlin (Remsen, N.Y.).  “Lake Placid is the best place to train because you have everything here, the start house, where I really focused on my starts this summer, the Olympic Training Center, where I worked on getting stronger, and this summer I also did some wheel-training, easily taking over 120 runs on the track.”

While in Lake Placid, the team will spend plenty of time conducting start training at USA Luge’s headquarters on the fully refrigerated indoor start ramp, and in the gym and weight room of the Olympic Training Center, working on strength and balance.  The squad will also begin sliding for the first time this season when the Mt. Van Hoevenberg course opens, weather permitting, on Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2009. 

“After a long summer of not being on the ice, this is what everyone is looking forward to,” said Walden.  “I think that once you take that first run on the ice, the clock really begins to tick and you know the start of the [competition] season is just a couple of weeks away.”

While some of the athletes will use the time on the track to shake off a little off-season rust, and even do a little testing, others will use the time to prepare for a race-off series which will help to determine USA Luge’s final international racing squad, and eventually, USA Luge’s 10-member Olympic team.

The first race-off occurs on Wednesday, Oct. 21, and the second race-off continues the process on Friday, Oct. 23 when the first cut-down of athletes takes place. The race-off series then moves on to Park City, where the team will be pared down again, before moving on to Whistler where the final cuts will be made.  Athletes who miss making the fall 2009 squad will have the option of training in Lake Placid for the bulk of the remaining fall, winter and spring sliding season.