Winnipeg Vs. Ottawa

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Winnipeg takes aim at Ottawa's longest rink record

The Canadian Press

January 11, 2008 at 6:11 AM EST

WINNIPEG — In the 2008 edition of the race to be home to the world's longest skating rink, Winnipeg is about to take an early lead on Ottawa.

And yet, both cities face challenges before either can officially declare itself the champion.

At 6 p.m. Friday, a 1.5-kilometre stretch of the Assiniboine River between The Forks and the Osborne Street bridge will open for public skating, complete with skate-change areas, benches and fire pots for warmth.

It is the first section of a trail officials hope will be, by season's end, an eight-kilometre ribbon of properly flooded and smoothed ice, stretching along the Assiniboine from Omand's Creek to The Forks and then about two kilometres north on the Red River to Voyageur Park.

This winter marks the first time in the 20-year history of public skating on Winnipeg's rivers that the city will make a concerted effort to produce a longer skating rink than the Rideau Canal Skateway in the national capital, officials say.

With its views of the Chateau Laurier hotel and Parliament Hill, the 7.8-kilometre Rideau skateway, registered as the world's largest naturally frozen ice surface by Guinness World Records, is better-known by Canadians as a winter attraction than Winnipeg's trail.