Move over Spiderman, The Hulk and Avengers! Alexandria has a new action hero, in the form of 73-year-old Bob Hardy.
Hardy is the walker runner who in the past 26 years has overcome leukemia, blood clots, cancerous kidney tumours and colon cancer to cover more than 12,000 kilometres in walker racing, in times that make men half his age feel like couch potatoes.
“I started marathons as a bicycle racer in 2001,” he says, six years after he conquered leukemia via a bone marrow transplant. “I was racing in Durban, South Africa when I felt a pain in my stomach.” The pain was a blood clot in his intestine which resulted in three months in hospital,
three surgeries and a loss of balance. “My doctor’s advice was to buy a walker and sell the bike.”
What has undoubtedly helped Hardy’s many recoveries is that he was fit prior to his health problems. In addition to bicycle racing, he has studied jujitsu, which has helped him fall properly when he crashes, which he did in the Lachine/Bonneville Half Marathon on October 15.
“I was greedy and chose to run full speed which caused a speed wobble and loss of control,” he explains. Despite the crash, he finished the 10-kilometre race in his best time since undergoing cancer surgery last May. In the September 23 10-kilometre Community Run in Alexandria, Hardy placed first, eight minutes faster than the second and third-place runners, who were 32 and 30 years old respectively.
An inspiration to many
It is hardly surprising that Hardy’s courage and determination have inspired many people, young and old, including the Ottawa Hospital, which is currently featuring him in full-size bus shelter posters for their fundraising campaign, the second time they’ve done this.
Hardy does not race simply to challenge himself. In 2000, he joined forces with Little Angels Blood Cancer Fund, a charity which covers non-medical costs for blood cancer patients, and raised $25,000. He is still raising funds for them through his Ottawa Race Weekends.
“The bone marrow transplant can be a long and painful process,” he notes. “The body rejects the marrow and the marrow rejects the body. There are only three bone marrow transplant units in Canada – Ottawa, Vancouver and London. For many patients, a long way to travel.”
Hardy’s next race will be the Frozen Sole in Cornwall on Sunday, November 19, “a chilling experience” he remembers. Whatever his time, you can be sure he will finish it. Bob Hardy is not a quitter.
Photo credits
Profile shot: Ottawa Hospital Foundation
Head-on shot: Jeff Poissant
