THEY may be more at home on a hockey field, but Bathurst St Pat’s duo Brendan Burke and Graeme Pleming showed they are just as comfortable slicing down Mount Panorama on a luge.
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Burke and Pleming are believed to be the only two Bathurst residents competing in the street luge division at Newton’s Playground, while former Saint Stanislaus’ College and Bathurst High student Rob McWhinnie was racing in the downhill skateboard event.
After two exciting qualifying runs down the Mount on Saturday, Burke revealed he had been a luge enthusiast for quiet some time and could not pass up the opportunity to compete in Newton’s Playground.
“As a kid I used to watch the X-Games and then I decided to have a go at making my own board and that’s how I started,” Burke said.
“It is the adrenaline that I love, it is just a great experience.”
It was Burke’s enthusiasm which eventually saw his St Pat’s hockey team-mate have a crack at luging. It was an experience which instantly had Pleming hooked.
“I play hockey with Brendan and saw he was a marshal at this event last year,” Pleming said.
“I just got talking to him and when I had a go on his board I was hooked. I love the smooth feeling on the luge. Sometimes I think my wife would rather see me doing this than playing hockey.”
While well off the pace of NASCAR driver Andy Lally (59.84 seconds) in qualifying, Burke (71.81) in 40th and Pleming (72.68) in 42nd showed that despite limited preparation, they could still be competitive in the 51-man field.
“It is tough as we have had little support,” Pleming said.
“It would have been great to get some practice in and work out racing lines before the event, but we didn’t get any support from the council on this.”
Pleming added with so many quality international riders in Bathurst for Newton’s Playground, it was nice to talk to guys who were equally excited about street luge as him.
“A lot of guys have said we must go down Mount Panorama all the time, but as we can’t it is great to finally have a run down,” he said.
“All the guys here from overseas are great, they are elite athletes who don’t mind having a chat and telling
you how to doing things better.
“It is something I’ll be talking about for a long time to come.”
It was a sentiment echoed by Burke.
“This is an event we have talked about for a long time,” he said.
“To have an event like this in our own town is just fantastic.
“Who knows? With a bit of extra support we could see someone from Bathurst having a crack at the podium at this event in years to come.”
