The Heuchelheim-based sports marketing and advertising agency, In Mind GmbH (IMG), represented by Managing Director Günter Ruppel, welcomed the German luge elite together with Manfred Siekmann, CEO of Stadtwerke Gießen AG (SWG). "Your life - our energy, that's the SWG trademark," explained Siekmann, "true to this motto, it is a special pleasure for us to warmly welcome these highly energetic sports to our company."
Günter Ruppel expressed his great pleasure in presenting the world champions, who are under contract with IMG, to the local public in order to generate interest in these exciting winter sports, especially as the nearest bobsleigh track is only 80 kilometres away in Winterberg.
The multiple Olympic medallist and current world champion in luge, Silke Kraushaar, opened the bobsleigh and luge exhibition together with the reigning luge world champion David Möller in the SWG administration building in Giessen's Lahnstrasse. The two were supported by their team colleagues from BSR Oberhof (Bob-Skeleton-Rodeln Oberhof) André Florschütz and Torsten Wustlich, the runners-up in the doubles luge world championships. The four top athletes, who secured the gold and silver medals at the World Championships in Nagano (Japan) on their luge sleds in February this year, were available to sign autographs for numerous visitors and sports enthusiasts. The four lugers come from the talent factory of BSR Oberhof, the world's most successful luge club. Six years after her Olympic victory in Nagano, luger Silke Kraushaar fulfilled her dream of winning her first World Championship gold medal at the same venue. Kraushaar triumphed in 1:39.611 minutes ahead of the competition. David Möller also secured the title in the single-seater for the first time after winning the Junior World Championships in 2001 with a time of 1:39.150 minutes. André Florschütz and Torsten Wustlich secured silver in the doubles after their World Championship success in 2001 with a time of 1:39.274 minutes. The exhibition with the luges and bobsleighs can be admired at SWG until 2 April. Visitors were not only interested in the appearance of the runners, but also in their technical data.
In the ice channel, the bobsleighs reach speeds of between 80 and 135 kilometres per hour (km/h), the luge sleds up to 135 km/h. A skeleton sledge even reaches top speeds of up to 140 kilometres per hour.
The exhibits on display are
Two-man bobsleigh
Length 2.70 metres
Track width: 670 mm +/- 5 mm
Weight: min. 170 kg
Weight incl. crew: max. 390 kg
Four-man bobsleigh
Length: 3.35 metres
Track width: 670 mm +/- 5 mm
Weight: min. 210 kg
Weight incl. team: max. 630 kg
Luge
Length: 1.24 to 1.50 metres
Track width: 45 cm
Weight single-seater: 23 kg
Weight double-seater: 27 kg
Skeleton
Length: 80 - 120 cm
Overall height: 8 - 20 cm
Track width: 34 - 38 cm
Weight of sled: max. 43 kg (men) 35 kg (women)
Weight of sled with driver: max. 115 kg (men) max. 92 kg (women)
The bobsleigh and luge exhibition is not the only highlight with winter sports equipment in Giessen. The Heuchelheim agency (www.in-mind.net), which specialises in sports marketing, is organising the first Giessen City Triathlon on 17 and 18 July 2004 under the direction of Günter Ruppel. As part of the Giessen Triathlon, IMG is organising an international bobsleigh and luge competition.