June 18/97 8:08 am - Beauce Stage 1, John Hathaway Memorial

Posted by Editor on 06/18/97
 

GRAND PRIX DE BEAUCE - Prologue - 49 km Criterium:   1. Jay Sweet, Giant Ais Traide, 1h. 12m. 27 2. Malcolm Elliot, Colorado Cycling 3. Scott McCrory, Continental Olympia 4. Trent Klasna, Colorado Cycling 5. Mark McCormack, Saturn 6. Mat Anand, Espoirs Laval 7. Czeslaw Lukascewicz, Espoirs Laval 8. Donny Lopez, Jeep Eagle 9. Wayne Boudreau, Kissena 10. Sebastien Morissette, Everfresh/Radio Energie   OTHER CANADIANS:  12. Alexandre Cloutier, Excellence sports / Harvey's 18. Curt Davis, Sportable 26. Guillaume Belzile, Everfresh 29. Jacques Landry, Everfresh 30. Alexandre Bernard, Excellence sports 36. Sylvain Beauchamp, Everfresh 38. Aaron Fillion, Sportable 39. Michael Barry, Espoirs Laval 42. Daniel Leroy, Kissena 43. Tim Hadfield, Kissena 44. Alexandre Lavallee, Espoirs Laval 48. Peter Wedge, Everfresh 54. Gino Beauchamp, Espoirs Laval 55. Jason Crookham, Sportable 58. Fabien Bergeron, Everfresh 59. Giovanni Traina, Sportable 61. Jean-Sebastien Beland, Everfresh 62. Samuel Thibodeau, Excellence sports 63. Mathieu Fagnan, Excellence sports 66. Mark Hlady, Ontario Team 67. Mat Hanson, Espoirs Laval 68. John Powell, Ontario Team 70. Mark Kaufmann, Manitoba Team 73. Mark Hibbard, Ontario team 74. Paul Kelly, Sportable 76. Yann Blindert, Ontario team 77. Joe Gulliano, Ontario team 78. David Bogue, Ontario team 79. Laszlo Alberti, Sportable 82. Trevor Gunderson, Excellence sports  ALL s.t.  The rest of the riders were lapped.   John Hathaway Memorial Service  British Columbia cyclists said goodbye today to a great Randonneur, truly one of those who fully earned the capital "R" in the word. The memorial service for John Hathaway, who recently died of cancer at the age of 72, was attended by about 90 of his friends, amongst them (in spite of a record-setting downpour) about 20 or 30 cyclists who made the journey to pay our last respects to a man who inspired several generations of riders who came into contact with him. A sizeable bunch of the bikies were in the Procession of Honour organized by Bruce Hainer of the Vancouver Bicycle Club.   I was very honoured to have been asked to help as an usher, and was delighted to be able to greet his (and my) old and new riding mates, folks from the local bicycle industry, and friends of the family. Among the attendees were the other three B.C. cyclists who, with John, made up the first successful Canadian team at Paris-Brest-Paris (1979): Dan McGuire, Wayne Phillips and yours truly.   Harold Bridge, now Vice-President of the Randonneur sector of Cycling B.C., spoke from the heart and stirred many a memory with his stories of the John we all knew and admired. Harold, still fit and keen at 70, cycled over from a far suburb of Vancouver, B.C. bringing along over a dozen of John's medals and other memorabilia.   A tandem riding partner of John's from the 1980s, Peg Mercer, literally blew us away with a stirring a-capella rendition of "Amazing Grace".   If there were tears, they were certainly of joy: the joy of knowing we had all been touched by John's unique and unforgettable personality and spirit, and also of knowing he was now out of pain and in a safe place.   At the reception, messages received by e-mail and fax from people who could not attend, among them Jennifer Wise, current President of the Brevets Randonneurs Mondiaux, Robert Lepertel, the first President and guiding light of the BRM, and webmaster extraordinaire Johnny Bertrand were read in part, and a scrapbook was circulated.   Special thanks go to the hard-working volunteers who helped organize the service: Harold, Bietta Harritz (co-executor of the estate, along with Harold), and former Vancouver Bicycle Club president Henry Hulbert, who truly took John under his wing when he needed a helping hand in the tough final weeks of his life.  The celebration became truly joyous with adjournment to a local eatery, where many more stories of our good friend were swapped and savored.   John: you would have loved it had you been there... but come to think of it, you were--in our hearts!   Gerry Pareja Vancouver, B.C. Canada gpareja@vcn.bc.ca Past President, Cycling BC, 1981-83 Past VP, Brevets Randonneurs Mondiaux (1991-95) Paris-Brest-Paris brevet, 1979