Luge Speedster Poarch Wins Gold

Charlie Poarch a freshman at Newtown High School and member of the United States Junior National Luge Development Team recently won his first gold medal at the Adirondack Luge Club Ice Breaker race in Lake Placid, NY.

This was Poarch’s first race as a member of the team and he finished first by three-tenths of a second, which is a good margin in a sport that’s measured to the one-1,000th of a second.

Poarch started doing luge after he was discovered at a nationwide slider search in June 2008.

He was invited to week-long training camps in Lake Placid in April 2009 and 2010. Then, in April 2010, he was named to the Junior National Development Team.

This year he trained in Lake Placid for three weeks over the summer, on sleds modified with wheels instead of blades, two weeks in November, and in a January/February training session.

In March, he has another two-week training session and will compete in the US Youth Nationals.

Poarch had to get permission from Chip Dumais, the principal at NHS, to miss school for the chance to qualify under the elite athlete program. He has two hours of supervised study hall everyday as part of his training schedule while he stays at the Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid. His training also consists of an hour in the gym doing sprints, medicine ball work, and circuit training; an hour of start training; and two hours of sliding on the actual Olympic luge track at speeds up to 55 miles per hour.

The program is no longer sponsored, so Poarch has had to do his own fundraising to cover his training costs at Lake Placid.

Poarch’s family is appreciative of the generous outpouring of financial support from some fellow members of Newtown United Methodist Church, and from those who have donated at Stop & Shop.

Anyone interested in making a tax deductible donation may contact Poarch at 203-426-6344.