Former Oak Bay News editor Don Descoteau (now with the Goldstream News Gazette) documented the 2011 race between then mayor Christopher Causton and Meg Tilly in the annual Mayor’s Challenge Tea cup Race.
The Oscar-nominated actress, a non-swimmer, performed admirably in the dead calm waters off Willows Beach, getting out to the Oak Bay Sea Rescue zodiac and back in just a few minutes.
The mayor reached the beach first, but ever the sportsman, he waited for Tilly and ran through the sand alongside his opponent, ringing the bell together with her.
“Meg, you’ve got the best style since (Olympic rower) Silken Laumann,” Causton said, in reference to the lone challenger who beat him cleanly in more than a dozen previous races.
“He was more than a gentleman,” Tilly said of the mayor after receiving the tea cup trophy from then Tea Party Society chair Bill Murphy-Dyson.
Causton, as he does at Monday night council meetings, used his vote to break the tie.
This year’s Mayor’s Challenge Tea cup race is Sunday, June 4 at 3 p.m.
Visit oakbayteaparty.com or find our special pull out section in the May 31 Oak Bay News for a full schedule of events.