THE MOST THRILLING SPORT.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10919, 13 March 1907, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE MOST THRILLING SPORT.

Let not those who have mastered the tobaggan m Wonderland flatter themselves that they know all about the sport. Rushing down a long and curved ice course without breaking bones is a very different matter. "There are many irresistibly attractive ways of risking* one's iRe. but none has yet been discovered tlmt has such delirious joys as tobogganing m a really dangerous run." These 'remarks were inspired by the death the other day of Captain Peiinell, V.C., on the famous Cresta run at St. Moritz, m Switzerland. It is, perhaps, the most difficult tobogganing course m the world. It is about 1300 yards long, and falls about 180 -feetj with several dangeroiifi curves, wliere creat banks of snow, sup plemented by bundles of hay, "keep the tobogganers on the track. To make matters worse, a road crosses the track. Accidents are so frequent that only one tobogganer nt a time" is allowed on the course,, and .the speed attained m some places is 70 miles an hour. At one point the toboggan leaves the track, and flies through the air. Iron nerve is required for this kind of thing. Tlie tobogganer lies face downwards on liis racing framework, wliich is provided with a sliding seat, so. that the rider may throw his weight forward and backward. Strapped to his toes are steel "rakes," to be dug into the ice when he 1 wants to reduce speed, or to change his direction. Tlie expert steers by little twitches of the body, and uses the "rakes" only on the corners. The curves are banked like a cycle track, and' a' slight' mistake m steering may send the toboggan flying right over the bank. "The first plunge when the toboggan .seems to drop like a stone, the ice-wall that seems to rise suddenly as the first curve is reached, the. scrape of the steel "rakes" as the tobogganer steers roumd the dreaded corner, then another plunge at a speed of seventy miles an hour, the next curve when the toboggan climbs the banked walls, the last drop, and then the suddeh run up which makes the toboggan leap far into the air — a thousand sensations crowded into sixtysix seconds, one can never forget it, it is not a pleasure — that sixty odd seconds contain a mixture of agony, fear, triumph, apprehension, and wrenching strains." In tliis case the honey-bag lies very close to the sting, but there is never lack of daring spirits who are undeterred by the proximity. "Whiz-z-z — Then walk back two miles," was the Chinaman's description of tobogganing, and it seems to meet the case.