You gotta give Rick Mercer credit. He’s become Canada’s very own George Plimpton.
Plimpton, if you recall, was the genteel British American man of letters who waded into very dangerous sporting territory and wrote so eloquently about it. He stepped into the ring against world light heavyweight champion Archie Moore, played quarterback for the Detroit Lions and got between the pipes for the Boston Bruins among other adventures.
Okay, Mercer’s not quite in Plimpton territory when it comes to taking risks. He’s tried out synchronized swimming with the Olympic team (yep, he had the noseplugs) and tread water with our women’s water polo squad (see both here), and plied his skills on a speed skating oval (this isn't that bit, but it's good).
On this week’s show, Mercer not only skied with legend Nancy Greene (the newly-minted senator doesn't suffer fools but made an exception in Rick's case) but, pictured above, he also blazed a trail with national team biathletes Rosanna Crawford (foreground) and Megan Tandy. The photo was taken by Glen Crawford, father of Rosanna and big sister Chandra, the Olympic cross country skiing champ. (He works as a freelance cameraman for CBC)
The biathlete piece was a great lark with Mercer having some fun with the skiers, who were part of a nude calendar called Bold Beautiful Biathlon that they did as a fundraiser. Mercer auditions for the calendar, hiding his naughty his bits with … Well, you oughta watch it.
It's caused a spike in calendar sales – there’s less than 100 left -- and generated nearly $1,000 in donations to the hard-working team.
The thinking here is that it’s time for Mercer to take it up a notch. How about stepping into a bobsled with Pierre Lueders? Asked if he’d be up to taking Mercer for a ride, the Olympic champion was totally pumped by the prospect.
“That would be great,” said Lueders from Whistler, where he’s getting ready for next week’s World Cup. “We did a thing for the show It's a Living. It was a lot of fun. It would be nice to see if he (Mercer) is a man.”
Whaddya say, Rick?
PS If there ever make biathlon an extreme sport, I imagine it might look like this.
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