Cyclist Confident of Completing Long Trip
Peace River Block News, August 11, 1971, p. 8

        It was 14 years ago that cyclist John Hathaway set a cross-Canada endurance ride record and he's only been back in serious training for two months. But he is confident that he can attain his goal of completing the 756 mile ride from Dawson Creek to downtown Vancouver in 76 hours. He arrived in Dawson Creek yesterday and will leave from the main post office at 5 p.m. tomorrow and arrive at the Vancouver post office at 9 p.m. Sunday. He rode his bike to Dawson Creek from Quesnel to familiarize himself with the roads.

        Hathaway says he feels the worst hill on the entire route will be the Pine River hill 43 miles west of Dawson Creek on the Hart Highway. He says there are many steep hills in the Quesnel-Williams Lake region, but the Pine hill is by far the longest. His schedule calls for him to reach Chetwynd in four hours 31 minutes. His eastbound trip from Chetwynd took only four hours and 20 minutes. He'll make two six hours rest stops along the route, at Quesnel and probably at Cache Creek or Spence's Bridge. Hathaway says he'll get short additional rest stops if he can shave a few minutes off his time between points along the route.

        He works as a draughtsman for the B.C. Research Council in Vancouver, but still has been riding 100 miles or more daily during his training program, which was capped by a 200 mile ride from Vancouver via Squamish to Pemberton.

Photograph: Veteran cyclist John Hathaway (at the Mile '0' Post) leaves Dawson Creek Thursday in an attempt to reach Vancouver in a record 76 hours.