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Fort St. John counts steps in the right direction

Northern community takes up fitness challenge, shows support for 2010 Olympics

Steve Thorlakson, mayor of Fort St. John, has almost walked to Whistler from his city more than 1,400 kilometres away.

With 1,200 kilometres under his belt, Thorlakson is well on his way. But he doesn’t intend to stop here.

In fact, he won’t even be here at all.

The mayor of Fort St. John is on a virtual walk, one where he keeps track of all his steps on a pedometer. He then logs his progress online.

"The premier had issued the challenge for British Columbians to increase their fitness and one of the best low-impact ways is walking," explained Thorlakson, from his Fort St. John office this week.

"So we decided amongst ourselves that we would pick up the challenge and where better to virtually walk than to Whistler."

Thorlakson is one of 400 people who have taken up the Web-based Walk to Whistler challenge, where they log all their steps, be it from the office to a meeting room or on a round of golf.

The online calculator records their progress from their own community to Whistler.

The program is Fort St. John’s way of showing support for the 2010 Olympics. It’s also part of an Active Living Strategy.

"We used to be amongst the fittest people in the world and Canadians generally have not exactly been up to snuff, so this is a good step, you bet," said the mayor.

Since he started four months ago, Thorlakson has increased his average daily walking distance from six kilometres to eight or nine.

His trick is simple.

"I actually convinced my doctor to write me a prescription that required me to golf 18 holes every day – I kid you not," he said.

"I was on the golf course this morning. And it’s a good measure to me as well – the fewer steps that I take during a round of golf, the better I’m golfing!"

In addition to improving his golf game, the mayor has shed a few pounds and managed to tone up.

"You know how all these buff young guys are bragging about having a six pack? Well, I used to have kind of a spongy keg. And it’s now down to a 12 pack and it’s a firmer 12-pack."

Though more than half of the participants to date are from Fort St. John, people as far afield as Toronto, Edmonton and Iqaluit have also signed up.

Free pedometers have been sent to every B.C. mayor and the chairs of each regional district in the province.

Squamish-Lillooet Regional District Board Chair Susan Gimse had her pedometer on her belt at the August monthly board meeting.

She had accepted Fort St. John’s challenge.

"Now I’m challenging all of you to get with the program," said Gimse to her fellow board members.

"It’s part of an active strategy to get people out in the community and exercising."

The ultimate goal is to improve fitness and encourage others to achieve greater fitness too.

The mayor said that’s a challenge that could last forever.

The program also raises awareness for Fort St. John’s Olympic Legacy project.

The city proposes to be one of the three to five cities in B.C. to get a regional training centre, as promised by the provincial government.

These training centres ensure that the province as a whole benefits from the 2010 Winter Games, not just Vancouver and the Sea to Sky corridor, said Thorlakson.

Fort St. John dreams to have the second covered speed skating oval in western Canada. The only other venue in the west is the oval in Calgary, which Thorlakson said is overbooked.

He believes Fort St. John is the perfect fit.

The city has produced 64 national or world champion speed skaters, including two-time Olympian Linda Johnson-Blair.

"We’ve got a couple of juniors that are probably going to make the Canadian Olympic team for 2010," said a proud Thorlakson.

"In our case, because we are home to some national level champions and speed skating is really big in this part of B.C. and northwestern Alberta, we believe that we would be attracting people from all over the world in advance of the Olympics to do training and it would be an excellent second site for training Canada’s own athletes on an ongoing, permanent basis."

Unlike the 2010 speed skating oval, which will be built for the Games in Richmond then converted for other uses, Fort St. John proposes a permanent oval with a running track under the ice. Inside the oval would be an Olympic sized hockey rink and a NHL size rink.

"This would be a multiple-use facility that would serve for conferences, trade fairs, all kinds of good stuff," said Thorlakson.

"So the Walk to Whistler is part of our awareness raising of that campaign."

They would like to have the oval up and running as soon as possible.

"We’re encouraging the premier to make an announcement sooner rather than later," said Thorlakson.

For more information about the program log on to www.walktowhistler.com. Participants are also eligible for random draw prizes including a planned grand prize of tickets for two to the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics.