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Will the October 19 federal election be decided by the fastest Grouse Grind time of the party leaders?

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau headed to Grouse Mountain today (September 11) for photo ops on Mother Nature's locally famous Stairmaster.

And he issued a challenge to NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair and Conservative Leader Stephen Harper.

Covering a distance of 2.9 kilometres, the trail ascends 853 metres from a base elevation of 274 metres above sea level to below the ski area chalet at 1,127 metres. There's 2,830 stairs.

It takes most people around 1.5 hours. That's hardly long enough to qualify as a "campaign trail".

So I challenge Trudeau 2.0 and his rivals, including Green Leader Elizabeth May, to see how fast they can hike the Baden-Powell Trail, which extends 42 kilometres from Horseshoe Bay to Deep Cove, before election day.

But I request that they limit their party size to 10 people or less, for environmental reasons.

On July 11, Knee Knackering North Shore Trail Run winner Christopher Jones did the B-P Trail in four hours, 51 minutes, 34 seconds.

What say you, JT?