Ice canoeing started as a grueling, dangerous, necessary means of transportation to cross the frozen Saint Lawrence River during the winter. The legend is that the racing began as a competition between families for the contract to deliver the mail. Now there’s an association (the Association de Canot a Glace de Quebec - ACCGQ) and several regular annual races, including at Quebec City's Carnaval de Quebec, the biggest Winter Carnival in the World. More than 40 teams compete, struggling with the powerful current, great chunks of ice and numbing water.