Canada's healthiest city

Fitness
And the future is fitness. Physical activity has long been a passion in Richmond. The city is a site for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, but the community of just 185,000 souls has already given Canada scores of elite athletes, such as world-ranked snowboarder Alexa Loo and 1984 Olympic silver medallist Charmaine Crooks. Any satellite image shows why. Set on 17 islands in the Fraser River Estuary, the city boasts 80 kilometres of walking, biking and running trails; 90 parks; a 600-member cricket club; swimming pools; running clubs; hockey rinks; a marathon clinic; a soon-to-be-completed Olympic speed-skating oval; world-class kayak and rowing facilities; and Minoru Park, the city's centrepiece sports-cum-community complex.

Not that this fascination with fitness happened overnight. Once a sleepy fishing village, Richmond was either ignored by Vancouverites or mocked as “Ditchmond” because, in a region of mountainous beauty, the highest point in town was the dyke holding back the Fraser. That was before retired Olympic runners Dr. Doug and Diane Clement arrived in 1961, “so Doug could join a medical practice,” recalls Diane, author of the Chef on the Run cookbooks. “This was a very, very small community. There wasn't even a hospital.”

But the spartan town did have one thing -- visionaries at the parks and recreation department who said if the couple would start a running club, the city would build facilities. The gamble paid off, big-time. The Richmond Kajaks Track and Field Club became one of the most successful in Canada and has since produced 25 Olympic competitors. These days, running is the city's most popular pastime, says Dr. Jack Taunton, the 2010 Games chief medical officer and a longtime resident who recently moved to Vancouver for work.

Environment
There were also environmental visionaries on city council. Almost 50 per cent of the city's waste is now recycled -- up from just eight per cent a decade ago. Council now includes a “triple bottom line” for environmental, economical and social sustainability when evaluating major city projects; it has Green (energy efficient and environmentally sound) Building Standards and is planning a massive environmental and heritage park.

Weather
The weather gods smile on Richmond, too. It's blessed with Vancouver-like mild temperatures, but 30 per cent less rain. Without climatic extremes, says Taunton, “there are very few days when you can't be out there, cycling, walking or being active.” And that's bound to add years to your life. A 20-year University of California Irvine study of 10,000 elderly people found that those who could exercise just 30 minutes a day throughout their lives were most likely to live to 90.

Lifestyle
Yet, the city's allure is more than sunshine and walking trails; residents make other healthy lifestyle choices, too. According to Statistics Canada, Richmondites have the lowest smoking (nine per cent) and obesity (six per cent) rates in the country. Locals also have an exceptional diet, in part due to the influence of the vibrant East and Southeast Asian community that makes up nearly 50 per cent of the lower-mainland population (one Eastern influence is not overeating). As well, adds Taunton, people in Richmond are conscious of eating locally. “It's a huge fishing area, so you can also buy fish right off the dock,” he says.

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