EBW has your cure for the winter blues

Blog February 7, 2012

EBW has your cure for the winter blues

A skate in Koerner Gardens is a fun way to stay active this winter (Photos: Anthony Westenberg)

It’s a sad reality that only 12 percent of Canadian children get the recommended amount of daily physical activity. Often distracted by video games, they spend an average of 44 hours a week behind a computer screen, rather than being outside in the snow.

This article from Inside Toronto got us thinking: maybe we should rhyme off some reasons to get outside and enjoy the winter chill. So, just a few days after Toronto’s Cycling Infrastructure and Programs Unit decreed January 30 to be the coldest bike-ride of the year (and with Toronto Bixi bikes running year-round), we have a couple of activities that will make you fall in love with winter.

For diehards and polar bear swim fanatics, winter cycling might be one idea of a good time. But for the rest of us looking to stay true to our New Year’s resolutions, there are many other ways to get outdoors and get active.

Snow has been rare in Toronto so far this year, but “winter wonderland” or not, the trails surrounding EBW are great for hiking with the family or walking the dog. As Hugh MacLennan would say, there is a “cathedral hush in the forest,” with animal tracks in the snow and other clues to another world right outside our homes and offices.

And what about skating to get your heart pumping? Maybe you just need to remember your first time out on the ice—impatiently waiting for your parents to lace you up so you could get out and feel the sensation of flying.

Or be more like world figure-skating champion Patrick Chan, and make some new winter memories on our ice trail. He skated by in January for a fundraising event with Think First, a national organization dedicated to reducing brain and spinal cord injuries in Canadian youth. Watch the video below to see Patrick skating on our Ice Trail!