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Olympians / Hall of Fame Inductees
Dr. Jack Taunton – MSc, MD, Dip Sport Med (CASEM), CFPC-SEM, FACSM
BC Sports Hall of Fame – 8 Olympic Games
In 1971, Taunton co-founded Lions Gate Road Runners—the first road running club in Canada—as well as the race which grew into today’s BMO Vancouver International Marathon. With wife Cheryl, they began organizing many early road races around Stanley Park, “borrowing” water bottles from the clinic she worked at and using tongue depressors to identify runner placings.When the Tauntons combined forces with Doug and Diane Clement, one of those races—the Lions Gate Eight—grew into the Vancouver Sun Run in 1985, one of the largest timed 10km races in the world with 50,000 participants annually.
Working again with Doug Clement, Taunton co-founded the Allan McGavin Sports Medicine Centre at UBC in 1979, growing from humble beginnings in a trailer behind the university’s hospital to the best sports medicine clinic in Canada. He also co-founded SportMedBC based out of this facility.
Taunton never quite fulfilled his dream of going to the Olympics as an athlete, but ultimately he made Canadian teams in his words “through the backdoor” as a team doctor. In total, he has tended to teams at eight Olympic Games, including chief medical officer for the entire Canadian team at the Sydney 2000 Olympics just five weeks after open heart surgery and then the entire Vancouver 2010 Olympics, the first Games in which the IOC Medical Commission didn’t offer a single complaint.
Along the way, he served at hundreds of other events locally and abroad and on over fifty different provincial, national, and international medical committees relating to sport. He coordinated the medical portion of Rick Hansen’s 1985-87 Man in Motion World Tour, running alongside Hansen for nearly 100km a day across Alberta and part of Saskatchewan. For extended periods he served as team physician for the Vancouver Grizzlies and the Canadian men’s and women’s national field hockey team. He led the founding of the UBC Grand Prix of Cycling event in 2010. The list goes on and on.
Most recently Taunton proved key to the founding of the $64 million Fortius Sport and Health Centre in Burnaby. As Fortius’ medical director, Taunton has created an integrated sports medicine concept which many now consider the centre of Canadian sport and medicine research.
Written and researched by Jason Beck, Curator of the BC Sports Hall of Fame.
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CHRIS WINTER (Red Shirt)
Chris Winter (North Vancouver, British Columbia) is a Canadian track and field athlete competing in the middle-distance events, predominantly the 3,000m steeplechase.[1][2] Winter attended Handsworth Secondary graduating in the spring of 2004 before moving to Eugene to compete for the University of Oregon. Winter competed for the Ducks from 2004 to 2009 as a key member to their middle distance team in both cross country and track. After placing 6th at the 2008 NCAA West Regional, Winter advanced for his first time to the NCAA division one Championships where he placed 12th against the collegiate bests. In his senior season, Winter returned to the NCAA Championships to improve on his previous performance with a 9th-place finish in a time of 8:46.06, just one position back from scoring for the Ducks.
Winter has represented Canada on multiple world stages. In 2003, Winter won bronze in the 2000m Steeplechase at the World U18 Track & Field Championships, running a time of 5:44.23. From here Winter continued to be one of Canada’s top steeplechasers, moving on to compete at the 2004 World Junior Track & Field Championships in Grosseto, Italy. As a senior Winter competed at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, finishing in a 6th position with a time of 8:29.83. Side-note… Chris was also the Canadian Cross Country Champion (He won’t tell you !!!)… Along with wife Rachel Cliff, Chris is one of the best runners in the history of the world.
In July 2016 Winter reached the pinnacle of his career and was officially named to Canada’s Olympic team.[3] Winter went on to compete for Canada at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games in the 3000m Steeplechase in a time of 8:33.95.
WE THANK YOU CHRIS FOR BEING OUR
KITSFEST 2017 VIP ATHLETE
Kits Beach Icons
The Godfather of Kitsilano Beach Basketball
Charles Pruiet
(Honoured August 13, 2023 – Yellow Cap)
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ÖMER CETINER
100,000 shots / year x 14 years = 1,400,000 shots
MOST SHOTS IN HISTORY
*Healthy living / active-lifestyle enthusiast Ömar uses the courts more than anyone.
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AUGUST 30, 1933 – DECEMBER 21, 2019
Tevi is a true Kits Beach and Vancouver icon.
He will be greatly missed: Kits Beach / Vancouver will never be the same but Tevie’s essence and amazing spirit will live on with us forever. Rest in peace, Tevi.
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VIP ATHLETES
Rachel Cliff (born 1 April 1988) is a Canadian long-distance runner. She competed in the women’s 10,000 meters at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics. In 2018, she set the Canadian record with a time of 1:10:08 in The Woodlands Half-Marathon, in March 2018. The same year, Cliff also secured the fastest ever debut-marathon by a Canadian woman when finishing the 2018 Berlin Marathon in 11th place. She won the bronze medal in the 10,000m at the 2018 NACAC Championships and placed 9th at both the 2015 Universiade5000m in Korea, as well as the 10,000m at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Rachel has also won the Vancouver Sun Run (45,000 participants). At the Nagoya Women’s 2019 Marathon, she set the Canadian record, running the Japanese marathon as only her second career marathon ever. Along with husband Chris Winter, Rachel is one of the best runners in the history of the world.
WE THANK YOU RACHEL FOR BEING OUR
KITSFEST 2017 VIP ATHLETE
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Basketball
Coming soon…
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Tennis
(P. Sampres, N. Djokovoc, S. Williams, Navratilova)
Unsubstantiated / Unconfirmed!
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Volleyball
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