In this week's Rewind, Robert Smith opts for a winter theme as he remembers the series of ice racing programs held on the Rideau Canal in Ottawa. He recalls several of the race's participants and includes some pictures to better tell the story. This all took place about 40-plus years ago.
Equine artist Elaine Macpherson's rendering of ice racing on the Ottawa River circa 1898 (displayed with the artist's permission).
Back in 1979, a group of organizers and sponsors decided to stage a series of annual ice races (mainly for harness horses and a few hockey players) to be held on Ottawa's Rideau Canal. It was part of the capital city's newly created Winterlude festivities, which kicked off that year.
Foremost in the organizing of this endeavour was a well-known harness racing personality, the late Bill Galvin. I had the pleasure of many conversations with him about these events. He worked very hard on this annual project and was proud of the outcomes. It was truly a unique event that entertained a huge number of fans. It was widely covered by numerous media outlets and aired on national TV networks.
Winterlude balloon flies above the ice races on the Rideau Canal.
I have chosen a few years when these gatherings were held and attempted to summarize some of the happenings that occurred on race day in those years.
1979 - The Inaugural Day of Ice Racing on the Rideau Canal
Harness racing on ice, which dates back to pre-Confederation days, was revived after an absence of at least 60 years. In this revival, an afternoon program of eight races was arranged, involving a number of the best drivers in the entire sport. The races, a quarter-mile in distance, were held between the Pretoria Bridge and Fifth Avenue in Ottawa on the frozen Rideau Canal.
Involved in this first-ever "Canadian Club Classic" race were a number of well-known drivers, each representing a province: Herve Filion (Quebec), Ron Waples (Ontario), Gilles Gendron (Quebec), Keith Linton (B.C.), Francis McIsaac (P.E.I.), Dave Pinkney (Nova Scotia) and Ed Tracey (Saskatchewan).
The winner of this first-ever competition was Ed Tracey, originally from Weyburn, Sask. The day's festivities also included a race featuring members of Canada's most famous harness racing family, the eight Filion brothers. Also, retired hockey player, the great Bobby Hull, won a race with four junior hockey players in relay fashion. Hull was the winner, driving a great old trotter, Prince Demon.
This first-ever ice racing event was recently remembered when one of the participants in the Filion family race passed away. Renald Filion, winner of the race between the eight brothers, passed away on Jan. 13, 2026. It was recalled how he "introduced" a very young Justin Trudeau to a participating horse. The photograph below captured that now-famous moment when the future Prime Minister was in the spotlight.
1985 - Danielle Duquette Steals the Show
The 1985 ice racing competition was keenly contested, as always, and the winner, in somewhat of an upset, was the only female participant, Danielle Duquette. She was a part-time driver and training assistant in the powerful stable of Jean-Paul Charron.
While a number of the drivers drew some interest from fans in attendance, it seemed that all eyes were on the eventual winner, Ms. Duquette of Longueuil, Que. A report in the Montreal Gazette newspaper read: "With her long hair whipping out from under her green and yellow helmet, Duquette was a clear favourite throughout the races and a collective roar went up when she was declared the winner."
She told a reporter that in this type of racing, luck plays a major part, as not all horses are adept at racing on ice. "Some horses really like the ice; they're not frightened when they slip, while others are. I was fortunate to get paired with a number of horses that race well on the unusual surface."
Hakan Wallner, a noted driver from Sweden, won the featured race of the day, which carried a purse of $5,000, but most of the huge crowd seemed to love the performance of Duquette above all else.
1986 - Westerner Grundy Wins Ice Racing Contest
The competition again took on an international flair as the talented reinsman Tjitse Smeding from The Netherlands was credited with setting a new world record for ice racing at the quarter-mile distance. He recorded a winning time of :26.4 in the feature event, driving Rio Command N. This erased a mark set four years prior when Canadian-born Johnny Chapman won in :27 even with Wee Dee.
The overall winner that year was Brent Grundy, a Western Canada native but then racing on the Ontario circuit. Grundy was victorious in a strange way, in that he had no idea how the scoring system worked. His sixth-place finish in the final event of the day gave him the required points to finish first. He had attempted to find out his status, but there was so little time between events that he failed to get an answer.
This year marked the eighth of this type of competition and was then known as the Molson Trotting Classic. In charge of the racing was a real veteran of the harness sport, Dr. Roly Armitage, who was at the time general manager of Rideau Carleton Raceway. He estimated there were 100,000 spectators on hand and that they lined the entire quarter-mile course, four and five rows deep.
Following the leader and winner, Grundy, was a four-way tie for second. The aforementioned Smeding, a Hollander, Walter Paisley, Chris Storms and Dave Wall were all deadlocked in points. Others in the competition were Bob O'Dwyer, Rod Jamieson from Halifax, N.S. and Al Bowman from B.C. Reportedly, just one horse fell, and Bowman guided the horse to safety, avoiding any further problems.
Finishing in eighth spot was the 1985 winner, Danielle Duquette. She was seeking to be the first driver to win the Classic twice but did not fare as well as the previous year.
An elated Grundy described the entire experience as "like a Caribbean cruise, only better!" His only regret was that he wished he had brought his skates with him and taken a quick trip on the Rideau Canal.
Quote for the Week: "The right question is more important than the right answer." — Plato
Rideau Ice Racing Quiz
The following pictures in today's quiz are mainly connected to participants in the Rideau Ice Racing events covered in this week's Rewind.
#1 – Who is this person? She was a big part of the Rideau Canal ice races.
#2 – Can you identify these folks who were part of the ice racing festivities?
#3 – This gentleman was a participant in one of the very early race days on the Rideau Canal. Who is he?
#4 – A couple of members of this famous family were part of the very first ice racing programs. This one might not be too difficult, but who do we have here?
(The correct answers to the above photos will be posted here by Robert as a comment in a few days.)