Mayor Watson learns to skate: video
Posted Feb 3, 2012 03:38:52 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA, On – There’s a first time for everything. For Mayor Jim Watson Friday was his first real skating lesson and he took a few turns on the city’s prized Rink of Dreams along with Sandra Plagakis from the New 105.3 Kiss FM.
He’s never skated on the Rideau Canal and Watson said admitting that is “humbling, humiliating and embarrassing, all at the same time.”
He said it’s especially difficult at the start of Winterlude when thousands of people come to Ottawa to take advantage of the UNESCO World Heritage site. So on Friday, Watson said enough is enough and he hit the ice at the Rink of Dreams for a lesson.
It took a while for things to get started. First he needed help lacing up and then finding a helmet to fit his head but once he hit the ice things got rolling.
The goal was to complete a few laps and hit centre ice without any falls and it was nearly a success. The mayor stayed vertical the whole time but CTV reporter John Hua did take a tumble into Kiss FM’s Amanda Kingsland.
After a few near slips and a call for the Zamboni, Watson started to get the hang of it and Sandra said he was doing pretty well.
Watson told 1310News he planned to use the Rink of Dreams to hone his skills and hopefully test out the canal next year.
