One of New England’s biggest science museums is transforming into a showcase for what’s considered the fastest sports on ice.
On Saturday, the Worcester EcoTarium will invite visitors of all ages to experience luge. In the Olympic sport, athletes ride sleds down icy tracks feet first at speeds over 80 miles per hour.
The EcoTarium is trucking in over 10 tons of ice from New Bedford to build its own temporary luge track, which will be limited to more modest speeds that are safe for kids. The USA Luge Team is supplying sleds and helmets, and some of its members will be onsite to help guide people down the course for the annual event to bring more attention to one of the lesser-known winter sports.
“The smiles that you see from the kids especially who get a chance to go down the thing and want to do it again and again, it’s just very rewarding for all of us,” said Gordy Sheer, who’s with the luge team.
Worcester-based Norton Abrasives is sponsoring the experience outside the EcoTarium, which will be free to all. It will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and visitors will also have free access to the museum’s other exhibits.
Sheer, an Olympics silver medalist in luge, said this year’s showcase in Worcester is especially timely with the Winter Games in Italy two weeks away. He noted that many people don’t know what luge is, so the event helps create awareness and grow the sport.
“Anytime we’re out in the public and allowing people to try the sport at an event like this, it’s very good for us,” he said.
About 2,700 people participated in last year’s event — including the EcoTarium’s director, Noreen Johnson Smith.
“I took the ride. I screamed the whole way, so I have no memory of the event,” she said, laughing. “It’s really meant for junior Olympians, but us seniors can give it a whirl.”
Smith added she’s glad the showcase won’t be disrupted by the snowstorm forecast to hit Massachusetts Sunday. However, she cautioned that it will be especially cold Saturday, so she urged visitors to be prepared.
Anyone who gets cold will be able to go into the museum’s planetarium and watch a classic film about Olympic sledding: “Cool Runnings.”
