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Colin Woodcock: never without a paddle. gasaâ€"onâ€"THEâ€"rAKE 1O 18g4 . canags 08 Family Medicine/Obstetrics OTMH Hospital Privileges Dr. Jonathan Lapp MD CCFP New Patients Welcome is pleased to announce the opening of his practice in association with The Dorval Medical Associates Dr. George Southey Dr. Margaret Found Dr. Anastasia Sky 465 Morden Rd. Oakville 8427154 Extended Hours Mon. to Thurs. â€"9:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Fri. â€"9:30 a. m.â€"5:00 p.m. Sat. â€"9:30 a.m.~â€"12 noon (Photo by Riziero Vertolli) Outdoors the favorite element for this local canoeing cop or Colin Woodcock, life is a Fcanoe trip. I mean this figuraâ€" tively and literally. Up the creek without a paddle? It will not happen to this man. For one thing he‘s got too many friends. You are gazing upon the broad face of a rugged individualist with a proverâ€" bial heart of gold. An irrepressible Canadian, full of boyish candor and pride, Staff Inspector Woodcock (who sounds suspiciously Irish), is a 35â€"yearâ€" member of Metropolitan Toronto‘s finest. He heads up the Fraud Squad these days, no less. In his spare time the Oakville resident of some 21 years has spent nearly 12 months organizing "The Great Lake Race" (for charity) which ran on Canada Day. For the past three months, 2 or 3 times a week, he has been training for it, When I spoke to him he mainâ€" tained he was ready for anything. "You have to put a lot of time and energy into getting ready for these things, especially as you get older. Its hard," he said and he chuckled. "I‘d like to do it right now and get it over with." This was the 10th Annual "Great Lake Race," 50 kilometres across the unpredictable water of Lake Ontario from Niagaraâ€"onâ€"theâ€"Lake to Toronto‘s Exhibition Park by North Country canoes (the 26‘ voyageur vessels which featured so prommently in our country‘s romantic past. the difference is these days they are most often craftâ€" ed of fibreglass). â€" It was the first time in the race for Inspector Woodcock. He explained: "I wanted to do something for Canada Day that was Canadian. I had the idea to paddle across the Lake from Niagara to Toronto in a big, North canoe flying a Canadian flag." (I think it was Pierre Berton who defined a Canadian as someone who could make love in a canoe. Clearly, Woodcock was on the right track.) Aseasoned outdoorsman, the policeman had travelled hundreds of miles along the waterways of northern Ontario and the Yukon albeit in smaller canoes. He‘d taken groups of inner city kids on camps and canoe trips over the years. In other words this was his element. The Inspector heard about the Great Lake Race because the Durham Police had paddled in it last year. Not a shy guy, Woodcock contacted the organizer, Bob Murdoch, who was with a charitaâ€" ble group called Community Centre 55 in Toronto‘s east end. They decided to join forces. "I needed him for his expertise on the Lake," the veteran policeman said. "I‘d never crossed open water of this size before." What Murdoch needed from Woodcock may not have been immediately obvious. Enthusiastic, magnetic, extremely wellâ€"connected the Staff Inspector has ways of getâ€" ting things done. The "race" this year included 12 North canoes and one Montreal canoe (36‘) plus a flotilla of 18 power boats in support. To sponsor an entry required a donation of $3000 and each paddler had to raise a minimum of $250 in pledges from friends, relatives, neighbors or comâ€" plete strangers. "The money I raise goes to the (See ‘Race‘ page 12)