Los Angeles herald., 1910-02-21
CANADIAN WINTER SPORTS
By Frederic j. Haskin

of skating being so popular in Can
ada it follows that there is a demand
for skates of approved style and quail
ity The expert will have only those
made of the finest tempered steel. All
those who engage in sports, such as
hockey and racing, and most OF those
who skate for pleasure, use runners
that are attached to a special pair of
strong boots that lace tightly about
the ankle for support.
In the scrimmages which occur dur
ing the skating games it frequently
happens that skates are broken, and
as a precaution against accidents of
this kind those who take part usually
have finely shal ened duplicate pairs
in their dressing rooms. There is one
point concerning skating which should
] be noted. 1t does not follow that an
athlete who is an exceptionally fast
runner will be an equally swift skater.
in fact the rule seems to be rather
to the contrary. Skating is an art
in itself, the knack of which some pos
sess naturally and which others cannot
attain with any aroount of practice.
Another popular form of amusement
in Canada during the winter season is
the toboggan slide, the parent of the
exciting aquatic diversion known as
the "chute-the-chutes." The best
slides are natural hills, with short.
steep drop at the beginning to give
momentum, followed by a long. grad
ual descent leading to a level plain be-
low. There is a slide In Montreal fol-
lowing this description which is mile
in length, and the entire course has
been made in fifty-rine seconds. I'm
like the chute the-chutes, there is no
mechanical arrangement for transpor-
tation up the incline, and it takes fully
half an hour to retrace the ground that
I,r in than a min1lta
on the way down. When there is
large crowd on the course three or
four trips are all that a party can
make in an evening.
It is needless to say that this wild
flight down the slippery surface of the
incline is intensely exciting. After
start is made there is no turning back,
and the girls have no time to think of
their back hair or anything else ex-
cept to hold on for dear life. OF
course when such terrific speed is at
tanned a "spill'' might result disas-
trously, but such accidents as occur
infrequently are due entirely to care
lessness. A sled may be capsized II
the weight is not properly distributed,
and a rear-end collision may occur if
a heavily loaded sled is started after
a lighter one without allowing ample
time to elapse. The steering is done by
sticking one foot out behind like
rudder. The big slides are very care
fully managed in order to provide good
service and prevent unpleasant occur
rences, A corps of care takers are in
charge, and season tickets are sold to
only as many as can be conveniently
accommodated.
Snow-shoeing is another standard
winter pastime of the Canadians, and
it frequently is resorted to for purposes
x.+n1 nc
not so difficult to learn as skating. the
novice can start right off, provided his
shoes are properly strapped on. The
trick of successful snow-shoeing is not
so much in the stride as in being cor
rectly "hitched up" The act Is not
one of sliding as in skating; it is
merely walking on the framework bot
toms, which are wide enough to prevent
sinking into the snow. One cannot go
forward as rapidly on snow-shoes as
he can walk over hard ground in or
binary footwear, but he can pass rap
idly over deep, soft snow in which he
would certainly become stalled without
them.
Curling is another sport in which the
Canadians are expert. Although orig
inally from Scotland, as far as can be
learned, the game has reached great
er perfection in Canada. In Scotland
it is played in the open, while in the
Dominion 1t is played IN covered rllks'
usually as an evening pastime. The
superiority of Canada's players over
those of Scotland was fully illustrated
last year, when for the first time
team visited Scotland to play a series
of match games and returned victorl-
Gus.
Ice yachting has numberless devo-
tees For this sport Toronto is the
headquarters The yachts are light
frameworks set on three skates. To
time, the speed of these craft is a diff
ficult matter. What is considered to
be the fastest time made on Toronto
bay was some years ago when John
Hanlon sailed twenty miles in twenty
one minutes and half. Another rec
ord run was a mile in a minute and
half, which time included starting, COW
ering the distance and rounding up.
Even if there are a few inches of
snow on the ice the yachting is not
affected, broader runners being used.
Montreal and Ottawa are headquarters
for horse racing on the ice, as in both
these places it is possible to lay out
circular track. The vehicles used on
these occasions are similar to those in
other races, except that runners are
substituted for wheels.