Notes from Bastion Ross: All too Short a Road

Dear Bastion.

Most of you have already heard the sad news of the tragic passing of one of our members, Gavin Fletcher, this Monday. It is not an easy thing when such a relatively young man is taken but especially hard when he leaves behind a young family. Our hearts go out to Natalie and his two daughters.

Gavin was a talented athlete who never considered himself one and always seemed to live by the credo, seize the day. He was game for any new adventure that came along but did not let any endeavour consume him. He did not live to train and he was extremely level headed about his priorities in life.The first time I met Gavin was at the Island Relay when he ran on a Bastion team and I was volunteering. I was stationed at Gavin's transition point during the day and after the race I helped the photographer round up the teams for their team pictures. He was always smiling and had a positive attitude and I remember the photo attached very well and it is evident what was important to Gavin in life. I ran with Gavin a few times with ROC and the thing I remember most for some reason is him running with his puppy and trying to get him used to running with people.Because Gavin had such a great attitude about sports he had a knack for inspiring the timid and doubting to expanding what they thought was possible for them to do and to convince them to try new things. He seemed to make things appear less intimidating.

I was talking to Marilyn Funk last night and she told me that she commuted to Victoria with Gavin a while ago and that he got her into cycling. They would be dropped off some distance from Victoria and they would do long rides into work. Anybody who knows how whiny Marilyn is, knows how hard that is. Today she still uses her bike to get to work even though its now to Malaspina College.I knew that Marilyn rode a bike to Victoria but I did not know it was Gavin that started her off. I'm sure there are a lot of stories out there about Gavin that nobody knows about and I have attached an important message from Dan Brady that he asked me to pass along about the funeral service and memorial for Gavin this Sunday. Also a trust fund for the family is being set up and Frontrunners is accepting any cards for Natalie and the girls. They will be picked up next week.

Nothing much else to say.

Ross