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For 35 years I have been a member of the Toronto Olympic Club. There is much pleasure in contributing to the work of one of Canada's leading distance running clubs that does a great deal to train Canada's young athletes, help to organize track meets and races for Canada's budding athletes, and raise money to send them to provincial, national and international events. Age and arthritis are taking their toll on my own efforts at running. Since winning a couple of Canadian Masters national distance titles 25 years ago, I had many lean years until winning the over 60 category in the Canadian Cross Country Championship in 2003 and recently the over 75 5K road race championship. Like many geographers, I take great interest in seeing the world on a daily basis, whether jogging, cycling or skiing
A serendipitous consequence of breaking a leg in 1990 was my discovery of bicycles and cycling. All sorts of bicycles, including very old ones - hobby horses from 1819 and penny farthings from the 1880s - are crammed into my bicycle museum which is opened for school visits from time to time. Most summers now include long rides on them. Recent rides on the backroads - including Trieste to Vienna (2004), Rochester to Salisbury, Maryland (2000), Cherbourg to Roeselare, Belgium(2003), Riga to Bad Bruckenau (2005), the Hook of Holland to Neuchatel in Switzerland (2009), Kincardine to Indianapolis (2009) England to Denmark (2010), Paris to London (2011) and Bratislava to Tiszacezske in Hungary (2014), Paris to Avignon - on a velocipede (2015) and Nancy to Karlsruhe on a hobby horse (2017) are some of the most memorable. I am Past President of the International Veteran Cycling Association, which acts as the international co-ordinating body for 25 national veteran cycling clubs, promotes research into cycling and holds a meet in a different country every year.
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