A racer makes their way down the track during the opening weekend of the 2023 ice racing season at the Minden Fairgrounds in Minden, Ontario.
Ice racing is a motorsport that has been going on in Ontario decades, first on frozen lakes, then moving to Minden in the 1970s. As the sport is weather dependent, race days can be delayed. This was the case for this opening weekend, with the dates being pushed back in the weeks prior - it simply wasn’t cold enough to build the racing track and banks. Lack of cold temperatures was not an issue on this day during the opening weekend, with temperatures being around -30C that morning.
While motorsports have traditionally been male dominated, Ice Racing has been seeing women take the top spots. In the previous ice racing season, Jen Gray, who has only been competing for four years, won the rear-wheel-drive street stud class and Elaine Willis, a veteran female racer, winning the front-wheel-drive rubber class.