The runner who races Toronto transit beat the Eglinton Crosstown by 10 minutes
And this was with sidewalks so icy that he had to run in the bike lane
Our favourite investigative jogger is back. This time, Mac Bauer—who raced the Finch West LRT last December and won by 18 minutes—put the Eglinton Crosstown LRT’s speed to the test by running alongside its overground stops. His co-conspirator, Annie Yang, timed her journey aboard one of the brand new trains.
Related: A timeline of every single Eglinton Crosstown disaster, from 2010 until today
The Eglinton Crosstown finally opened to the public last weekend after beginning construction 15 years ago and being set back by countless delays. Some have called for a public inquiry to determine why it took so long and why its cost ballooned significantly over budget. (Premier Doug Ford said that won’t be necessary and that we should just be happy that it launched.)
While some excited transit takers camped out overnight to experience the first train’s departure, Bauer decided to inaugurate the LRT by seeing who could reach its destination faster.
In the end, Bauer ran from Kennedy station to Aga Khan Park and Museum station and beat the LRT by 10 minutes. In better weather, his time would likely have been even faster, but he noted in a video posted to Instagram that he was forced to contend with icy sidewalks, which were so dangerous in some patches that he had to run in the bike lane.
Related: Toronto drivers blocked streetcar tracks over 300 times in just 11 days this winter
Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
