BC Premier Gordon Campbell Seeks to Put "Good Foot" Forward Before Attempting Backward Somersault on Robson Square Zipline

“I had no practice first. The only practice I’ve had is stepping off the ledge of other proverbial cliffs," said Premier Gordon Campbell as he prepared to take off on the Robson Square zipline.

Campbell took one step forward.  Then he told the Ecotours crew in charge of the event to “hang on one sec” so he could find his “good foot." Five minutes later, he let go, zipping through Ziptrek Ecotours’ feature attraction of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games.

Since its Whistler inception in the summer of 2002, founders David Udow and Charles Steele have created this zipline tour in North America with a mandate “to provide an experience that far and away exceeds your expectations while following a sustainable business model and promoting the importance of The Natural Step Framework for sustainability both locally and globally.”

“It’s great for people to see the opportunities down here. There’s a whole bunch of festival activities, concert activities, information activities here in downtown Vancouver during the Olympics and I want everyone to know that it’s there for them, it’s open for them, it’s free for them, it’s their Olympics for them to have a good time,” Campbell said.

When asked his thoughts about the Olympics being a week away, Campbell was very upbeat.

“As we get closer and closer to the Games, it’s sort of like, in lots of ways seeing people’s energy pick up and seeing the inspiration quotient pick up… young people particularly, so we’re all very excited in Canada to be hosting the Olympic Games. We think the athletes are going to have venues where they are able to be the best they’ve ever been, and I think it’s going to be a time we will remember for the rest of our lives.”

For him, the worst part of the zipline was the first step. As hesitant as he was to lunge himself forward, he quickly gained aplomb by the cheers of the crowd combined with the immense pressure to make the first move.

"You may not have noticed this but I was trying to do a somersault backwards but I didn’t quite make it," he said.

After it was all over, Premier Campbell stated confidently that it was worth doing and suggested everyone in the city take their turn.

See the Video of Premier Gordon Campbell's Zipline ride on The Vancouver Observer YouTube Channel