Dr. Jack Taunton has been inducted into the B.C. Athletics Hall of Fame inductee for his outstanding contributions as an athlete, community builder and sports medicine physician.
B.C. Athletics presented the longtime Richmond resident and UBC professor with the award at a ceremony on Saturday night.
"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."
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 crosscountry ski.
Co-founder of the Allan McGavin Sports Medicine Centre, Taunton maintains an active sports medicine practice. He works with distance runners, cyclists, triathletes and others as doctor and coach.
Taunton teaches sports medicine in the Dept. of Family Practice, Faculty of Medicine and at the School of Kinesiology, Faculty of Education. He conducts clinical and exercise medicine research with a focus on overuse injuries and injury prevention as well as exercise and the elderly.
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 Grizzlies, Vancouver Canucks and Vancouver Whitecaps.
'None of my sports medicine contributions would have been possible without the support from UBC Faculty of Medicine, the School of Kinesiology and the team at the Allan McGavin Sports Med Clinic," says Taunton.
Taunton 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 celebrated its 40th anniversary. That same year, Taunton was a founding member of the Vancouver International Marathon. With Doug and Diane Clement, Taunton helped launch the Vancouver Sun Run in 1985.
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