Photo: Line-ups and crowds at new Iqaluit pool

Iqaluit’s new aquatic centre has been a hotspot since its grand opening, Jan. 26, with the City of Iqaluit reporting massive attendance numbers over the building’s opening weekend. More than 1,000 individual visits were logged at the aquatic centre each day, the city reports. The high volume of Iqalungmiut eager to try out the centre’s brand new pool and fitness room had many lined-up in rows around the building’s main lobby due to a 160-person capacity inside the pool. “Due to the high number of swimmers, limits were put in place to ensure that the ratio for lifeguards to swimmers was in keeping with regulations,” the City of Iqaluit’s spokesperson Andrea Spitzer, told Nunatsiaq News, Jan. 30. The city expects that as new programs are introduced into the schedule, the number of swimmers will be spread out more evenly across the day. (PHOTO BY STEVE DUCHARME)