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Fit To Be MAYOR

Pipestone Flyer

Leduc Mayor Greg Krischke and Airdrie's Mayor Peter Brown face off in a three month "get fit challenge". "The actual competition is just between Mayor Brown and myself," said Mayor Krischke. "But if it inspires others to get active too then that's super!"

In Leduc we take a kind of pride in promoting ourselves as being a healthy and active city. We have a beautiful multiway system, lots of parks and green spaces, numerous well kept ball diamonds and soccer fields. In the winter we have about a dozen different skating surfaces, and the jewel in our crown; the LRC. 

    Knowing all of this, and having a hand in creating much of it, Leduc's Mayor Greg Krischke decided it was time for him to take full advantage of it and in his words, "Change my lifestyle and get healthy."

    So like any good type A personality, to help keep himself motivated, he challenged Airdrie's Mayor, Peter Brown, to a contest to see who could make the biggest changes and get healthiest in the next 12 weeks. 

    "We both live in vibrant communities that promote activity," said Greg, "but as leaders we aren't walking the talk. This 'get healthy challenge' isn't just about weight loss but rather a complete change in lifestyle."

    And as men holding Greg and Peter's respective positions, that can be a difficult thing to do. Attending a lot of lunches and dinners in the course of their duties, as well as late evening events where the menu choices typically lean towards rich flavours as opposed to watching your diet can be hard for a person trying to change their eating habits, but Mayor Krischke is determined to give this his best effort.

    "I've grown a little larger than I'd like to be." Greg admitted with a smile. "I would like to lose a minimum of 20 lbs and get rid of my 'gut'! I'm also cutting way down on fats and sugars and re-learning the taste of real food." He has already gone through a thorough physical including current weight, blood pressure, measurements, etc., for safety's sake as well as to give him an accurate starting point.

    In the next twelve weeks Greg says that one of his goals is to try a different activity every week. "I want to use the things we have available right here in our community, like our multiway system, parks, running tracks, and of course the LRC. You never know, you might just see me trying out a yoga class too!" He laughed. 

    Greg also confessed with a smile and a twinkle in his eye, "Because this is a 'get healthy challenge' we don't care who the winner is going to be, but just to be clear, I am going to beat Peter!" 

    The Mayors are still working out the details on what the "prize" for the winner will be but guaranteed it will run true to the "healthy" theme. 

    "This challenge really is just between Peter and myself, but if along the way, we inspire others to get healthy and active that's great!" shared Greg. "Slow and steady wins the race and that's what I intend to do."