Opening day on the multi-use path on the Gordie Howe International Bridge was a day of firsts, potential firsts and almost-firsts for several cyclists and pedestrians, as they sought to etch their names into this chapter of history.
The Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority confirmed on Wednesday that cyclist Justin Bellemore, who had been camped outside the Canadian entrance to the path since around 4 a.m. on Tuesday, was the first to complete the journey on the bridge from Windsor to Detroit.
Neil Greenberg was the first to arrive in Windsor from Detroit, it said.
The CEO of Tourism Windsor-Essex Pelee Island was on hand at the Windsor entrance to welcome Greenberg when he arrived in the city and present him with a travel package containing a one-night hotel stay in Windsor, a dining voucher and a Windsor experience of his choice.
“I’m still in shock,” he said upon learning he was the first.
“I’m a little bit in disbelief.”
The first person to arrive in Windsor from Detroit on foot was runner Marcel Murray, who estimated he powered across the bridge in just over 12 minutes and 30 seconds.
He hadn’t initially planned to try to be the first to cross but, he said, “when I seen the guy from Canada … he was sitting there [at] like 4 in the morning or something like that, I said ‘Hell no. We gotta do something for the U.S., you know what I’m saying?”
The multi-use path opened at 8 a.m. Wednesday morning, approximately a week and a half after the long-awaited opening of the bridge to motor vehicle traffic.
It is the first time in decades that pedestrians and cyclists have been able to cross a bridge between Windsor and Detroit.
The bridge authority formally noted the first people to arrive at each side of the path, but it did not take note of any of the more novel firsts attempted by some crossers.
Nonetheless, father and daughter Jerome and Mia Pellerito appeared on Wednesday morning to have been the first people to arrive in Windsor from Detroit on a tandem bicycle.
Tyler Bloodworth, meanwhile, crossed from Detroit to Windsor on a unicycle.
“I saw this as a good opportunity to try to do something cool and be the first person to unicycle across the bridge,” he said.
“Unfortunately, there was one in front of me, so I ended up being the second person. You can’t make this up.”
Bellemore told CBC on Tuesday that his plan to be the first to cross the multi-use path on the bridge had started as a bit of a joke.
But on Wednesday, he said it was “really cool” to know that he would go down in history.
“[It’s] something that I can tell my family, friends, or if I ever have [them], kids,” he said.
Bellemore said he pushed himself hard up the hill before taking a look behind him.
“I didn’t really see anyone in the rearview,” he said.
“So I was able to kind of take, like, two or three pictures and kind of enjoy the way down before kind of dodging all the Detroit people that were coming the other way.”
He was gifted a fanny pack on the Detroit side of the path, he said.
Asked how he felt after riding across the bridge having waited outside for the gates to open since 4 a.m. Tuesday, Bellemore replied, “I feel like I need some rest.”
