Updated Sept. 10 at 11:17 a.m.: Sudbury NDP candidate Beth Mairs will have to wait a bit to see if her cycling skills can top her federal election components.
Mairs had challenged the Sudbury riding candidates to a five-km bicycle race, as part of the Bush Pig Open hosted by the Walden Mountain Bike Club. The event was set to go today, but the rainy weather has forced the club to postpone the race.
Green candidate Bill Crumplin was prepared to take up the challenge, but Liberal MP Paul Lefebvre, who is seeking re-election, bowed out, saying he had a prior commitment. Mairs said Conservative candidate Pierre St-Amant didn't respond to her challenge.
The NDP candidate says she will still bike over to Monarch Recovery Services to make a donation.
Original story
Sudbury NDP candidate Beth Mairs doesn't just want to beat incumbent Liberal MP Paul Lefebvre in the Oct. 21 federal election, she wants to beat him on bicycle, too.
OK, maybe 'beat' is too strong a word, but today Mairs issued a challenge to her opponents — Lefebvre, Tory candidate Pierre St-Amant and Green candidate Bill Crumplin — to compete against her in the Sept. 10 Bush Pig Open, hosted by the Walden Mountain Bike Club.
She's calling it a "friendly challenge."
"Ms. Mairs will be the only woman running for a major party for the Sudbury House of Commons seat," a release from her campaign said. "Today, Beth issued a 'friendly' challenge to our sitting MP Paul Lefebvre, known as a keen cyclist, as well as Pierre St-Amant (Conservative candidate), and Bill Crumplin (Green Party) to join her in a five-km mountain biking race to be held at Naughton trails."
For more info on the Bush Pig Open series, you can visit the event Facebook page.
If the candidates accept, Mairs also challenged them to pledge a personal donation to a community cause of their choice. She's pledged a donation to Monarch Recovery Services for Women.
The Bush Pig Open Series is sponsored by the Outside Store, which offered to rent a mountain bike to any of the candidates needing one.
Mairs' campaign said Green candidate Bill Crumplin agreed to participate with a simple, “This sounds fun.”
At age 61, Mairs is likely be the oldest woman in the race tomorrow evening, the campaign said. Other candidates have yet to respond.
Racers should arrive at the Walden Mountain Bike Club at 5 p.m. on Sept. 10. The race starts at 5:30 p.m.
