A MOST HRILLING SPORT.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2027, 12 March 1907, Page 3

A MOST HRILLING SPORT.

Lot not those who have mastered the toboggan in 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 life, but none lias yet been discovered that has such delirious joys as toboganing in a really dangerous run.” These remarks were inspired by the death the other day of Capt. Pennell, V’.C., on the famous Cre.ita run at St. Moritz, in Switzerland. It is, perhaps, the most difficult tobogganing course in the world. It is about 1300 yards long, and falls about 180 feet, with several dangerous curves, where great banks of snow, supplemented 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 at a time is allowed in the course, and the speed atttalned In 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. The tobogganer lies face downwards on his racing frame-work, which is provided with a sliding seat, so that the rider may throw his weight forward and backward. Strapped to his toes arc steel

“rakes” to' bo dug into the ice when he wants tq reduce speed, or to change his direction. The expert steers by little twitches of the body, and uses the “rakes” only on the corners. The culvers are banked like a cycle track, and a slight mistake in steering may send the toboggan flying right over the bank. “The first plunge when the toboggan seems tq drop. Ijke a stone, the iccwall that seems to riso suddenly as the first curve is reached, the scrape of the steel “rakes” as tlio tobogganer steers round the dreaded corner, then another plunge at a speed of seventy miles an hour, the next curve when the tobo.g’gii u climbs the banked Walls, the ’ last drop, and then makes the toboggan leaji far into the air—a thousand sensations crowded into sixty-six 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 this case the honey-bag lies very close to. the sting, but there is never lack of daring spirits wdio are understood by the proximity. “AVliiz-z Then walk back two miles,” was the Chinaman’s description of tobogganing, and it seems to meet the case.