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Zoom! Street Luge Gets a Workout in Center City Philadelphia

By Kim Glovas

PHILADELPHIA -- As part of the Philadelphia Science Festival, the Franklin Institute today helped passersby experience "The Thrill of the Luge."

The USA Luge team set up a luge on wheels, on Winter Street, next to the Franklin Institute, to let kids and adults experience the fun of riding a luge -- but without the ice.

"We have our mobile start ramp -- it sits about six feet tall, and then the ramp comes down on the pavement surface, and we're going to give kids a quick lesson on how to lay on the sled, how to have the aerodynamic luge position on the sled, how to steer it, and then we're just going to boot 'em down the start ramp and let 'em take about a hundred-foot ride," said Fred Zimny, coach of the junior team.

There were a few kids trying the ride, but more adults.

Melissa Brickhouse of South Jersey was on her lunch break and took the challenge.

"It was great," she said afterward.  "I saw this and it was something new and different, so I said, I always wanted to feel what it felt like, so I did it."

Dow Chemical Company, which teamed up with the Franklin Institute on today's exhibit, helped design and engineer the luge sleds used by Team USA at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

 

 

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