Justin Trudeau challenges Thomas Mulcair and Stephen Harper to hike the Grouse Grind

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      Will the October 19 federal election be decided by the fastest Grouse Grind time of the party leaders?

      Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau headed to Grouse Mountain today (September 11) for photo ops on Mother Nature's locally famous Stairmaster.

      And he issued a challenge to NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair and Conservative Leader Stephen Harper.

      Covering a distance of 2.9 kilometres, the trail ascends 853 metres from a base elevation of 274 metres above sea level to below the ski area chalet at 1,127 metres. There's 2,830 stairs.

      It takes most people around 1.5 hours. That's hardly long enough to qualify as a "campaign trail".

      So I challenge Trudeau 2.0 and his rivals, including Green Leader Elizabeth May, to see how fast they can hike the Baden-Powell Trail, which extends 42 kilometres from Horseshoe Bay to Deep Cove, before election day.

      But I request that they limit their party size to 10 people or less, for environmental reasons.

      On July 11, Knee Knackering North Shore Trail Run winner Christopher Jones did the B-P Trail in four hours, 51 minutes, 34 seconds.

      What say you, JT?

      Comments

      19 Comments

      Stephen Rees

      Sep 11, 2015 at 12:18pm

      I could not complete the Grouse Grind, nor do I intend to try. I have a heart condition, and would certainly faint fairly early in the climb. But that does not mean I am unfit to hold public office, nor should it debar me from running for office. The assumptions in this article seem to me to be ableist.

      James Blatchford

      Sep 11, 2015 at 2:13pm

      Unfair!....Trudeau has had much more practice. He regularly took a hike from question period as I recall.

      Humphrey

      Sep 11, 2015 at 6:14pm

      Come on!! he's not only fit he Is Just'n True

      Chloe

      Sep 11, 2015 at 6:31pm

      Challenging on the Gross Grind isn't a powerful argument to get credit for elections. His opponents won't even care about that unrelated challenge

      Hcheryl McGregor

      Sep 11, 2015 at 8:35pm

      You've got to be kidding. Is this La Lapine? Beaverton?

      Don't Mislead

      Sep 11, 2015 at 9:44pm

      The question at the beginning begs the inference that Trudeau made a silly challenge to decide the election. He did no such thing; he merely challenged them to do the grind.

      Foxer

      Sep 11, 2015 at 9:58pm

      Well - that is now the silliest thing i've heard in this campaign from anyone. And it was up against some pretty stiff competition.

      I'm sorry but "we'll see who the best leader is - drop and give me 20" is not a valid campaign position to take.

      Pirate

      Sep 12, 2015 at 9:01am

      Who the f**k cares which leader can hike faster? For the love of all that's good, it's not their physical fitness that matters! It's meaningless! Good lord.