SBC instructor Marlowe and his After School class ended up doing more then just riding this past Wednesday.
From the North Shore News:
NSR praises young bikers for help finding lost hiker
Benjamin Alldritt, North Shore News
Published: Friday, May 22, 2009
North Shore Rescue is praising the efforts of a North Vancouver mountain bike instructor and two of his students after they helped locate a missing hiker.
Marlowe Northcott of Shore Bike Camps was leading Graham Brown, 12, and Kenji Yukinaga-Paradis, 10, on a ride near the top of Mountain Highway May 13, when they ran into NSR team leader Tim Jones.
Jones had been called to the area after the North Shore Emergency Management Office received a cell phone call from a lost hiker.
“He was a gentleman in his 50s,” said Jones. “He had actually taken a GPS unit with him, but he wasn’t properly oriented to the area.”
The man had hiked up Cedar Tree Trail and crossed Lynn Creek before running into snow and turning back. He had regained the trail, but mistakenly turned north. The victim called for help, and relayed his GPS coordinates to Jones, who started to organize a search. But Jones ran into Northcott and his students before the other search team members had arrived.
“The hiker was somewhat confused and I didn’t want him heading up another mountain bike trail,” said Jones. “So I asked them to help.”
“I know the area pretty well,” said Northcott, “We bike around there a lot. So Tim gave us one of his radios and we hiked up the trail.”
Northcott and his students found the lost man about 25 minutes up the trail, cold and shaken but otherwise unharmed.
“We would really like to thank them publicly for their assistance,” said Jones. “There was no hesitation. The mountain bike community has just been great.”
Jones stressed that the three volunteers remained on the trail throughout the search and were never in any danger. North Shore Rescue took Northcott, his students and their families out for dinner in thanks. The dinner and the chance to be part of a rescue more than made up for the boys missing their class, said Northcott.
“They were quite excited to be involved and almost ecstatic when we found the guy,” he said. “They’re still talking about it.”
