A few notes about BC Randonneurs PBP photos.

I assembled these galleries, and then linked them together in this multi-year series in early 2013.

I'm still look for any PBP photos of, or by, British Columbia riders or followers. Can you help? Contact Eric Fergusson

1979 These are Dan McGuire's photos. This is, of course, a historic moment - the four BC riders at PBP 1979 were the first Canadians. This event, and the qualifying rides earlier in 1979, marks the beginning of randonneur cycling in Canada. Featured in these photos are the founding club members #1-4: John Hathaway, Dan McGuire, Gerry Pareja and Wayne Phillips. (Number order based on descending age, we think.)

1983 Dan McGuire provided these pictures also. They were taken by his friend Alan Ingham (BC Randonneurs member #10). Alan was from the UK but was teaching economics at UBC for a time in the early 1980s. He and Dan McGuire were the only riders to complete a super randonneur series in BC in 1982. They rode PBP 1983 together. Some of the 1983 photos also include June Gallagher (BC Randonneur member #8) who provided support for Alan and Dan. Additional photos were provided by Harold Bridge (BC Randonneur member # 9), who rode his first PBP in 1983.

1987 Stephen and Carol Hinde rode PBP for first time in 1987. They didn't finish, but Stephen took photos and later archived them on flickr. Additional photos provided by Harold Bridge. Harold's photos include both Dan McGuire and Deirdre Arscott. It was Dan's final PBP as a rider (first Canadian to finish 3 PBPs), and Deirdre's first PBP (beginning of an era...). Later Deirdre Arscott provided five more photos, all from the finish. She didn't take these pictures, and isn't sure who they came from.

1991 Stephen and Carol Hinde did finish PBP 1991, and Stephen's photos are a wonderful visual narrative of the centennial PBP. In both 1987 and 1991 I used only a selection of Stephen's photos. His full galleries, with more detailed captions, are on flickr - links provided. Additional 1991 photos provided by Dave Cambon.

1995 This is a very lean collection. It was my first PBP. My sister Kelly, and boyfriend (now husband) Robert, drove support for me, and delivered the BC rides' drop bags to Brest. The available 1995 photos are Kelly and Robert's personal photos from their trip, and included a lot of shots me (only a few appear here), and several photos of a couple other fellow 8 p.m. (80 hour group) starters. Two additional photos were borrowed from a personal cycling site of Ted Milner from the late 1990s, and are of the other two 80 hour group starters. The low resolution Team BC group shot is a photocopy of a photo from Sharon Street. It would be nice to have additional photos from 1995 that show riders from the other start groups. Anyone? Sharon Street perhaps.

1999 These excellent photos are taken almost exclusively by Denis Préfontaine, who is Réal Préfontaine's nephew. I remember the wonderful slide show using these at Roger and Sharon Street's several months after PBP. Réal got the photos to me shortly after this, but it took me 13 years to get them to the web site. Better late than never.

2003 I had already put together a 2003 BC riders gallery shortly after the ride. There was a wealth of great photos from this year. Bill Kitchen and Dan McGuire sent me discs of all their images, and Stephen Hinde provide a third good quality set. And I took my own camera (my crappy, cheap film camera) for the first time, and took some photos from the finish. Between the four photographers the event was well covered for BC Randonneurs. Unfortunately I didn't do a particularly good job with these photos back in 2003. Ten years later I started from scratch with the original source photos from PBP 2003 and put together a gallery that I hope does justice to the photos. In the earlier gallery I had tried to even it out - not too many photos of the same people. This time around I said what the hell and included all photos that were remotely interesting. It means that some riders are in many photos, while other riders appear hardly at all. Réal Préfontaine, Manfred Kuchenmuller and Karen Smith are all seriously over represented, for example. At the bottom of the page are links to expanded personal galleries. Notice that in the main gallery there is also a nice selection of photos from other riders. I wish that I had larger, higher resolution versions of some of these. It's a big gallery - well over 100 photos.

2007 Remains a photo hub page with links to personal galleries. Full gallery coming some time in the future.

2011 Remains a photo hub page with links to personal galleries. Full gallery coming some time in the future.

2015 Remains a photo hub page with links to personal galleries. Full gallery coming some time in the future.

2019 Remains a photo hub page with links to personal galleries. Full gallery coming some time in the future, maybe.

Eric Fergusson
February 2013, November 2015, October 2019