Skaters can lace up and hit N.B trails at new outdoor venues this winter
CBC
Just in time for New Brunswick's Level 3 lockdown, at least a couple of communities opened new outdoor skating trails this week.
Moncton's Centennial Park has a new 400-metre trail where its old beach used to be. And Neguac has a newly expanded skating trail in Richelieu Park.
"During the pandemic it's kind of great," said Neguac Mayor Georges Savoie, "because it's a place where people can get out and enjoy the fresh air while distancing."
Skating is one of the few athletic activities allowed over the next couple of weeks, along with other individual sports such as skiing — as long as distance is maintained from those outside the skater's household bubble.
"As a community, I think we miss that opportunity to go out and do winter activities as a group," said Dan Hicks, Moncton's director of park operations.
"Our goal for winter rec is to do everything we can to make these opportunities happen."
The new Muskrat Trail in Centennial Park has a little shack at the entrance, where people can sit down to put on their skates and store their boots in cubbyholes.
The ice trail is 12 feet, or 3.65 metres, wide and 400 metres long.
It's shaped in a loop that follows the contours of what used to be the beach area.
The rink that used to be near the park entrance is gone now, but there's still a hockey rink adjacent to the playground.
Planning for the new skating trail started a year and a half ago, said Hicks, and the idea was well-received in community consultations.
People used to have a lot of fun skating on the pond at the park, he said, but haven't been able to do so safely for a number of years, because of the wider temperature fluctuations and more frequent melts that have come with climate change.
"Mother Nature really dictates what we can and cannot do."
This is the third time this winter that city staff have built the ice, he said, and the first time it's stayed cold long enough for the trail to open.
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