Dr. Jack Taunton named 2011 BC Athletics Hall of Fame inductee

UBC Prof Dr. Jack Taunton has been named the 2011 BC Athletics Hall of Fame inductee for his outstanding contributions as an athlete, community builder and sports medicine physician. BC Athletics presented Dr. Taunton, co-founder of the Allan McGavin Sports Medicine Centre, with the distinction on Sunday, December 3 during an award ceremony in Richmond, B.C.

 “This award is a tremendous honour,” says Dr. Taunton, who served as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) at Vancouver’s 2010 Winter Games and was responsible for basic and emergency health care and doping control.

“It’s truly a case of a hobby going wild with an initial running career that led to starting up a sports medicine clinic with my partner Dr. Doug Clement and then my endeavours at UBC. It has been a great run.”

Taunton’s career highlights include CMO appointments for the Canadian teams at the Sydney Olympics, two Pan American Games and two World Student Games.  He was team physician and association coordinating physician for the women’s Field Hockey Canada team for more than 25 years, and served as team physician for the Vancouver Gizzlies, Vancouver Canucks and Vancouver Whitecaps.

Taunton teaches sports medicine in the Dept. of Family Practice, Faculty of Medicine and at the School of Kinesiology, Faculty of Education. He was attracted to medicine after suffering from polio as a child and a severe car accident as a teen. To strengthen his body and his passion for fitness, Taunton took up running. In 1971, he co-founded B.C.’s first road running club, Lions Gate Road Runners, which recently celebrated its 40th anniversary. That same year, Taunton was a founding member of the Vancouver International Marathon. With Doug and Diane Clement, Taunton helped to found the Vancouver Sun Run in 1985.
At age 64, Taunton has completed 62 marathons with a best performance of 2:25:29 and countless road races. He continues to run and race, cycle and cross-country ski.