Portion of Rideau Canal Skateway now open to skaters
Posted Jan 18, 2013 07:00:01 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA, Ont. – The Rideau Canal Skateway is now open to skaters from the Bank Street Bridge to the Pretoria Bridge.
Officials opened the 2.2 km stretch of ice on Friday morning and kicked off the 43rd skating season on the canal with an official opening ceremony.
“It’s great to be able to get out,” said Leslie, who woke her son up early to go skating.
With Winterlude set to kick off on February 1, the National Capital Commission is hoping mother nature will be more cooperative than last year. Last year’s season opened a little earlier on January 8, but it came to a close in early March after only 45 days skating. That marked the shortest season in a decade.
Just 440,000 people laced up or trudged along the ice last year, down from the average of 1-million per year.
In 2005, the Guinness Book of World Records confirmed what most in the capital already knew, the Rideau Canal Skateway is the world’s largest naturally frozen skating rink, the size of 90 Olympic sized rinks.
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