TORONTO – Less than 48 hours before opening ceremonies, the Pan Am games organizers have announced that the 110 and 400 metre hurdle events will be moved from the stadium at York University to the High Occupancy Vehicle lane of one of southern Ontario’s major traffic arteries.
“The goal of the HOV lane installation has always been bigger than simply delaying thousands of commuters,” said games chair David Peterson. “But it wasn’t until this week that we realized we could actually slow things down enough to have a major track and field event on the highway itself.”
“We figure as long as the event is held anytime everyday people would be using the highway to get somewhere they need to go, we can count on enough traffic to put the event on safely,” he added.
The new plan calls for runners to wait at the midpoint of the Major Mackenzie and Highway 7 off-ramps for traffic to stop moving, and then to run onto the road and start the race. Rather than the standard 68-107cm upright bar, competitors will be expected to clear the hoods of the cars stuck in traffic.
“Now commuters can see one of the Pan-Am games premier events even if, like nearly all Torontonians, they didn’t actually buy a ticket!” said sales rep Stephanie Wilson.
At press time, the games had also announced that the gold medal boxing bout would now take place late at night on the streets of Parkdale.
