Cochrane not upset about Wallenda walk

The Prince of the Air won’t be the Prince of the Niagara gorge, but he’s not disappointed.

Jay Cochrane, who has been trying to get permission from the Niagara Parks Commission to walk across the gorge on a tightrope for almost 30 years, said he thinks it’s good news that Nik Wallenda was given the green light for a similar walk across the brink of the Horseshoe falls.

“It’s great that the parks commission voted for it … it has been a long time coming,” he said Thursday. “I would have loved to be part of it, but I’m not upset.”

Cochrane is a well- known performer in Niagara Falls.

He walked the wire for three summers between various points in the Fallsview area and raised more than $ 157,000 for charity. In 2005, he completed the longest tightrope walk in North America — walking 1,800 feet from the top of the Fallsview Casino to the top of the Skylon Tower.

Cochrane said the final details are being worked out, but he plans to come back to the city this summer and will walk from the Skylon to the Hilton Hotel once a day between June and September. Donations will be split between Tender Wishes and the Boys and Girls Club.

“If that were to take place alongside Nik, what a summer for Niagara,” he said.

The Niagara Parks Commission said it still has a gorge-crossing proposal from Cochrane, who is in his 60s, but its decision to allow only one “daredevil feat” every 20 years means his dream of walking across the falls is likely dead.

“How I look at it is whoever does it, kudos to them. They were able to pull the right people together to make this happen,” he said. “I’m fine with Nik Wallenda doing the walk. He’s a young up and coming performer. He doesn’t have the technical experience of the thousands of walks that I have, but he will get there.”

Cochrane’s only concern is that the parks prepare themselves properly for the massive crowds.

“There are some tremendous ramifications to think about. You don’t want a catastrophe. You want it to be a successful event,” he said. ddakin@nfreview.com Twitter: @dandakinreview

Supplied photo The self-titled Prince of the Air, Jay Cochrane says he's not disappointed Nik Wallenda has been given the chance to walk across the Niagara Gorge, after he tried for 30 years to convince the Niagara Parks Commission to let him do the same thing. But Cochrane will return to the city to do walks this summer.