Rankin keeps running

Backrooms column by Dan Hilborn
Published April 20, 2005


He may have been left in the dust, but Burnaby Coun. Lee Rankin is being a good sport after losing his $100 challenge to Burnaby NOW news editor Julie MacLellan during last weekend's Sun Run.

"I can hardly walk," Rankin told this reporter after he finished more than 10 minutes behind the leaner and younger newshound during the 21st annual instalment of the largest 10-km run in the country.

"I am completely embarrassed," Rankin said. "I was expecting to repeat the victory of Bobby Riggs over Billie Jean King, but now I guess it's going to be hard for me to show my face in public - or at least on the jogging trails."

The 51-year-old Rankin, who finished the run in a respectable time of 66:17, said he was hampered by both the 17-year age differential between himself and his competitor and the fact that he made the mistake of drinking a cup of coffee before the race started.

MacLellan, who spent the previous 12 weeks in an intensive fitness training program that was chronicled in the Burnaby NOW, finished in 56:01.

She has asked Rankin to make his $100 donation to the Marguerite Dixon Transition House Society.

In the meantime, Rankin said he'll keep on training for three different runs this fall - the Heights on the Run, the Terry Fox Run and, of course, the city council elections in November.

TOM TAO ENTERS PROVINCIAL RACE

An independent candidate with an impressive international business resume has thrown his hat into the ring in Burnaby- Willingdon for the upcoming provincial election.

Tom Tao, 61, who won 2,273 votes in a bid to become a Burnaby city councillor in the 2002 civic election, said he intends to foster more trade with Asia if he is elected.

"I don't see anyone else in the area who can play the role I can play," said Tao, who has a large collection of press clippings that show his community involvements both in North America and Taiwan.

According to his files, Tao helped bring the National Basketball Association to Taiwan and worked as an official Mandarin language commentator for ESPN Asia. He also helped bring a Continental Basketball Association team to Saskatoon, Sask., received an honorary citizenship from the state of Texas, and has photos of his meetings with former Indian president Indira Gandhi and 60 Minutes host Mike Wallace.

"I will call myself the B.C. trade ambassador to Asia and I will help create 20,000 jobs," he said confidently. "Once I get elected, I will put my resources and connections to work."

A graduate of the University of California Berkeley, Tao has lived with his family in Burnaby for seven years, and first got involved in politics after a break-in to his 12th-floor apartment in the Metrotown area.

READY FOR ANOTHER VOTE?

While the Gomery Commission continues to shock the nation with its details of kickbacks and questionable goings-on with the federal Liberal party, local NDP MP Peter Julian will be knocking on doors this weekend to find out whether local voters want to head back to the polls.

As of last Wednesday, the rookie Burnaby-New Westminster MP was leaning towards letting the inquiry finish its work, but he wouldn't have any problems if a snap election was called, even in the midst of the ongoing provincial campaign.

"Certainly the Liberals have lost a lot of legitimacy, but Gomery is continuing to interview so there may be other revelations. ... Is this the tip of the iceberg, or is this the iceberg itself?" Julian said this week. "People are just wrapping their minds around the extent of the corruption and, in the next few weeks, I think we'll see a crystallization around one of two scenarios - either the Martin government will have lost its legitimacy and we need an election, or else Canadians will feel that Justice Gomery has to complete his work."

Julian is certainly sounding optimistic about his chances if local voters want to head back to the polls. "If that's what Canadians want, I'd have no difficulty with that. We have a terrific team with over 2,000 members in the riding," he said.

BURQUITLAM MEETING

Burquitlam will have the opportunity to hear their election candidates debate environmental and social policies during an all- candidates meeting at St. Stephen's Anglican Church from 7 to 9 p.m., Tuesday, May 10.

The meeting is presented by Beacon Unitarian Church in cooperation with Como Lake United, St. Andrew's United and Trinity United churches.