OTTAWA, ON – If Jim Watson has his way, this weekend’s Red Bull Crashed Ice world championships in Ottawa won’t be the last.
Watson joined Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and thousands of other people at the Rideau Canal’s Ottawa Locks Saturday for the second and final day of the high-stakes downhill ice skating championships.
The two-day competition, Watson said Sunday afternoon, “really exceeded” the city’s expectations.
“We’ve started negotiations to try to see if we can get Red Bull back every three years,” Watson told Radio-Canada.
“The organizers were very satisfied with the organization, the logistics. It worked out really well for them, and we’d love to have them back.”
Ottawa police said it was hard to count how many people braved Saturday evening’s frigid temperatures because so many people were moving in and out, but at its high point they estimated about 28,000 took in the fast-paced spectacle.
Jacqueline Legere, from St. George, Ont., clinched a second consecutive women’s championship on the weekend, while American Cameron Naasz won the men’s championship — also for the second straight year.
Crews are now tearing down the massive ice slides which made up the course at the Ottawa Locks, next to the Parliament buildings, the Château Laurier and Major’s Hill Park.
OTTAWA, ON – MARCH 03: Red Bull Crashed Ice Ottawa 2017 on March 3, 2017, on the Rideau Canal next to the Fairmount Chateau Laurier in Ottawa, ON, Canada. (Photo by Richard A. Whittaker)
OTTAWA, ON – MARCH 03: Red Bull Crashed Ice Ottawa 2017 on March 3, 2017, on the Rideau Canal next to the Fairmount Chateau Laurier in Ottawa, ON, Canada. (Photo by Richard A. Whittaker)
OTTAWA, ON – MARCH 03: Red Bull Crashed Ice Ottawa 2017 on March 3, 2017, on the Rideau Canal next to the Fairmount Chateau Laurier in Ottawa, ON, Canada. (Photo by Richard A. Whittaker)
OTTAWA, ON – MARCH 03: Red Bull Crashed Ice Ottawa 2017 on March 3, 2017, on the Rideau Canal next to the Fairmount Chateau Laurier in Ottawa, ON, Canada. (Photo by Richard A. Whittaker)
OTTAWA, ON – MARCH 03: Red Bull Crashed Ice Ottawa 2017 on March 3, 2017, on the Rideau Canal next to the Fairmount Chateau Laurier in Ottawa, ON, Canada. (Photo by Richard A. Whittaker)
OTTAWA, ON – MARCH 03: Red Bull Crashed Ice Ottawa 2017 on March 3, 2017, on the Rideau Canal next to the Fairmount Chateau Laurier in Ottawa, ON, Canada. (Photo by Richard A. Whittaker)
OTTAWA, ON – MARCH 03: Red Bull Crashed Ice Ottawa 2017 on March 3, 2017, on the Rideau Canal next to the Fairmount Chateau Laurier in Ottawa, ON, Canada. (Photo by Richard A. Whittaker)
OTTAWA, ON – MARCH 03: Red Bull Crashed Ice Ottawa 2017 on March 3, 2017, on the Rideau Canal next to the Fairmount Chateau Laurier in Ottawa, ON, Canada. (Photo by Richard A. Whittaker)
OTTAWA, ON – MARCH 03: Red Bull Crashed Ice Ottawa 2017 on March 3, 2017, on the Rideau Canal next to the Fairmount Chateau Laurier in Ottawa, ON, Canada. (Photo by Richard A. Whittaker)
OTTAWA, ON – MARCH 03: Red Bull Crashed Ice Ottawa 2017 on March 3, 2017, on the Rideau Canal next to the Fairmount Chateau Laurier in Ottawa, ON, Canada. (Photo by Richard A. Whittaker)
