The Citizen, 2008-10-02, Page 8The unrelated efforts of Huron
County Tourism and an eight-year-
old boy paid off last weekend when
CBC’s Rick Mercer paid his first
visit to Huron County.
Mercer took to the dirt of Walton’s
motocross track on Sunday, filming
a segment for The Mercer Report
that is scheduled to air sometime in
October, property-owner Chris Lee
says.
There are two aspects of the story,
however, about how Mercer ended
up in Walton. In an effort to garner
some publicity for Huron County, its
tourism board assembled a list of
story ideas involving interesting
spots in the county and sent them out
to various Canadian television
shows.
One that showed interest, Lee
says, was The Mercer Report.
However, talking to Mercer, he says
one of the driving forces behind his
foray into motocross was an eight-
year-old boy who was persistent in
his e-mailing to the show.
“A kid wrote the show, e-mailed us
a bunch of times asking, ‘Why
haven’t you done anything with
motocross yet? Like how is it
possible? It’s only the best thing in
the world. Clearly everyone knows,’
the way an eight-year-old would,”
Mercer said after his training
session, but before his big race.
“So we looked into it and we
looked into where the best place in
the country to do this is, and it’s right
here in Walton.”
Mercer and his crew arrived in
Huron County on Saturday. His crew
scouted the location and later went
to the beach in Goderich and had
dinner at the Benmiller Inn before
bunking down there for the night
before Mercer’s big ride on Sunday
morning.
Early Sunday morning Mercer
was fitted for a riding suit and a
helmet before Lee trained him on the
basics of riding, sending him around
the practice course and off a small
jump before teaching him how to
perform donuts.
Later in the afternoon, Mercer
interviewed several of the local
riders before taking to the track in an
actual race after a thorough search of
the grounds, Lee said, for the club’s
slowest riders.
“I was on the sidelines waiting for
when he fell or got stuck and it never
happened,” Lee said. “He put in four
steady laps and finished before two
or three of the 20 riders he raced
with.”
Mercer said that
he had some
experience with a
mini-bike when he
was young,
though nothing
like this, Lee said he learned very
quickly.
However, Mercer said, he finds it
funny that he is often seen on his
show in very death-defying
circumstances, but that he is far from
an adrenaline-seeker.
“I didn’t mind driving the bike.
It’s the jumps that scare me. The
weird thing about me is that I’m not
an adrenaline junky. Like I said, I’ve
driven mini-bikes before, and so did
everyone else in the area, but they
went off jumps and I never did,” he
said. “I’ve never been one of those
guys. I never, ever wanted to go
parachuting until I did it on this
show. I never wanted to go
dirtbiking, but every week it seems
like I’m doing something like that,
but it always ends up being fun.”
While it was a bit tough to get
used to the motocross culture,
Mercer said, he was accepted by
everyone and eventually started
finding his way.
“Any event like this is always a bit
weird when you’re an outsider
because everyone’s speaking their
own language, they’re talking
about things
you don’t
understand,”
Mercer said.
“Little kids
are pulling on
helmets and
going off jumps and I’m thinking
what my mother would do if she
watched me do that when I was 12
years old, but these mothers seem to
have adapted. It’s always strange
when you enter someone’s little
bubble, but this is a pretty interesting
bubble.”
Mercer said it’s often the
community and the people that make
his segments so interesting, which in
this case, is a testament to the people
of Huron County.
“I love these kinds of events. The
event is one thing. It helps us if the
event is exciting because it makes
for good pictures or if there’s an
element of fear to it. But really, these
pieces are about meeting a bunch of
folks who come together to do
interesting things,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s this, or if
they’re sea-kayakers or guys who get
together at 8 a.m. to go birding, it’s
all about the community and all
about the people and this is a great
group of people. This is about as
family-oriented an event as I’ve
attended.”
Mercer spent his down-time
talking to anyone he could find. He
was described by some in attendance
as “very-approachable, good with
the kids and a true gentleman.”
This was Mercer’s first visit to
Huron County, but he says he hopes
to come back soon, saying that
Goderich was easily one of the most
beautiful towns he’s seen across
Canada.
Mercer’s announcement that he
was coming to Huron County came
with a disclaimer, however. With the
calling of the recent election,
producers warned that he may be
called away at any time. He wasn’t
however, but he says he is working
towards a big election night show
that will air on Oct. 14.
“Leading up to the election, I
avoid interviewing politicians,
because if I go out and interview
SportsPAGE 8. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2008.
Driver training
Television personality Rick Mercer was in Walton to film a
segment for CBC’s The Mercer Report. Above Mercer gets
ready for takeoff; top right, sharing a laugh with local
motocross veteran Chris Lee; bottom left, donuts to go.
(Shawn Loughlin photo)
Mercer Report on track
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By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
‘I didn’t mind riding
the bike. It’s the
jumps that scare me’
Continued on page 9