A plan to jump a motorcycle from one end of White Rock’s broken pier to the other seems to have been grounded before it could take flight.
Brooke Colby Productions emailed Peace Arch News a release Monday, saying it plans to host a fundraising event for the pier by having a “Team Knievel” daredevil “jump the gap left in the pier.”
The press release states the production company will begin working with local and federal officials on Jan. 9 to “obtain clearances” to bring the “Team Knievel’s Most Unforgettable Motorcycle Feat” event to White Rock.
White Rock Mayor Darryl Walker told PAN Monday that the plan makes “absolutely no sense at all.”
“There’s no sense in my world, or in our world, of a motorcycle jumping from one end of the broken pier to the other end of the broken pier,” Walker said.
“We’ll say, without any doubt, that we have not – that I know of – been contacted about this. I doubt very much that we would even consider it.”
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Walker said the pier, and promenade east of the pier, are closed for safety concerns.
“They have to understand that there is a safety issue here. There would be the same safety issue as jumping a motorcycle from one end of the pier to the other,” Walker said.
He said that the event is not the type of publicity that the White Rock pier deserves.
“We need to recreate our pier for the tourists that come here by the thousands…. A single event, such as jumping a motorcycle, again, is not high on our priority list,” Walker said.
The Brooke Colby Productions press release says that Colby is not concerned with safety issues.
“Along with Knievel’s technical team and provisions mandated by the insurance company’s underwriting team, this jump will be safe and secure!” the press release states.
The release states that White Rock “needs a world-class event such as this that will bring back hope to this battered community.”
Colby told Black Press Monday that he doesn’t promote events “unless I know that I can sell it out,” and “we got to get White Rock back on the map.”
“Everybody and their uncle – any motorcycle owner, any thrill-seeker – would be down there,” Colby said.
Told of Walker’s response to the event, Colby said Walker “might not have a choice. Isn’t that federal land down there, on the sand?”
