Ben Johnson's recent sojourn in the Shelbourne clearly gave him and his agent Morris Chrobotek some strange ideas. Still banned from official competition against humans, Johnson will now race against two horses and a car in a charity event this month.

The 36-year-old athlete will run against a standard-bred pacer, a thoroughbred and a stock car next Thursday in a charity stunt organised by the Atlantic Lottery Corporation to benefit the Children's Wish Foundation for terminally ill children.

Johnson has not competed since receiving a lifetime suspension from the International Amateur Athletics Federation in 1993 after failing a second drug test. His most recent appeal of the ban was denied last month in an Ontario court.

Chrobotek couldn't help taking a swipe at officials who have kept Johnson off the track. "I want the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport to test the horses," Johnson's agent said, suggesting that director Victor Lachance "personally go out and take the urine."