The head coach of the FIL group in luge on Natural Track, Karl Flacher, was in March at the Turkish championship in Sarikamis Kars (TUR). Here is his travelogue.

The warm-up 

With the Turkish airline I flew from Vienna via Istanbul to Erzurum. There is also an international airport in Kars, about 50 kilometers from the luge track in Kars, but in Istanbul I would have had to wait 15 hours for the connecting flight. That's why Erzurum airport was my destination. There I was picked up by a car and the journey went 150 kilometers east to Sarikamis. Sarikamis Kars is a tourist area with a ski resort. At the foot of the ski slopes are some very large hotels that are furnished according to European standards. A chair lift leads directly from the hotel on top of the track, the start house (2350 m) is only around 30 meters away from the mountain station of the chair lift and there is a restaurant 50 meters away from the start house. The start house is a two-story building with four rooms and a toilet. The start of the track is on the top floor of the start house. After the start there are some curve combinations, from the middle part there are longer straight lines with S-combinations. The finish house is - like the start house - a two-story building with six rooms and toilet facilities. The entire infrastructure was shown on site, the facility has internet and a lighting system for the track. Everything worked perfectly, two lighting fixtures of 34 and 88 lux are mounted on a total of 33 masts.

The start house

The Turkish championship was finally held from Thursday to Sunday and I was assigned the task of the race director. The championship was held  with sport luges. Unfortunately, the weather was very warm which wasn't good for track conditions. A total of 115 athletes from twelve clubs competed and a number of athletes and supervisors traveled by plane. Also on site was the President and Secretary General of the Turkish Association. During verious meetings it was emphasized that the association wants to apply for a FIL Junior World Cup in Sarikamis Kars.

Group photo of the Turkish championship 2020

The return journey then started from the airport in Kars, via Istanbul back to Vienna.