centre of Ottawa, the national capital, has been used as a skating corridor. This has become a major tourist attraction and a popular method of commuting in with Ottawa's locals. In 2011 932,331 people used the skateway. Starting in the 1990s The Forks area of Winnipeg, where two rivers join, has also been used as a skating trail, and by 2008 was longer than the Rideau skateway (though much narrower). Due to natural variations in ice conditions, the Assiniboine Credit Union River Trail, as it is officially called varies in length each year. Similar plans to turn Montreal's Lachine Canal into a skating venue have been discussed since 2000, but were still awaiting the needed funding in 2012. In Joliette, Quebec, two parallel skating tracks, of 4 km each, on the L'Assomption River are linked to form a loop running through the center of the town. In Invermere, British Columbia, there is a 15 km skating track on Windermere Lake. List of woodland skating / ice-skating trails in Canada Arrowhead Provincial Park Ice Skating Trail (Huntsville, Ontario) Jasper Park Lodge Oval Trail (Lake Mildred, Alberta) Lac-des-Loups (Lac-des-Loups, Quebec) Lake Windermere Whiteway (Invermere, British Columbia) MacGregor Point Park Ice Skating Loop (Port Elgin, Ontario) Magog Skating Trail (Quebec, Lake Mephrémagog) Red River Mutual Trail (Winnipeg, Manitoba) Rideau Canal Skateway (Ottawa, Ontario) Shipyards Park Skating Loop (Whitehorse, Yukon) Skateway on the Rivière l'Assomption (Joliette, Quebec) Valens Conservation Area (Valens, Ontario) Historical long distance skating in Canada Long distance skating on lakes and rivers in eastern Canada and north-eastern US was more common in the years between 1850 and 1900. One region of note was the lower reaches of the Saint John River in New Brunswick. In Saint John: A Sporting Tradition, Brian Flood writes: However, on the soles of the hearty ladies and gentlemen who lived along the St John and Kennebecasis Rivers, there was a different type of skate. They used the famous "Long Reachers". Around the year 1870, James A. Whelpley patented the "Long Reach Speed Skates". Whelpley's skate factory was located at Jones Creek, on the Long Reach. Here, he turned out skates that became famous all over the continent. The skate had a blade seventeen inches long. The "woods" of the skates, at the widest point, measured less than an inch and a half. A screw protruded up a half an inch at this point. The skates were