Cycling Santa surprised to be a torchbearer

Tim Taylor was quite surprised to receive an email informing him that he had been selected as a torchbearer for the Niagara-on-the-Lake leg of the Niagara 2022 Canada Summer Games torch relay on July 30. 

“Complete and utter surprise,” he tells The Local. “I had no notion that anyone had even nominated me, until my daughter (Kate Fish) who is the principal at Crossroads admitted that she had some time ago submitted my name.”

The man known locally as Cycling Santa started sweating a bit, wondering how he was going to run nearly a kilometre, but relaxed as soon as he realized he could choose how he wanted to complete his segment. He will be walking his portion of the ceremonial trek. 

Since June 25, the Roly McLenahan Canada Games torch has been making its way through each of Niagara’s 12 municipalities. It began that day in Thorold, and will finish its journey on July 31 when it makes its way to the Meridian Centre in St. Catharines. 

On June 17, all torchbearers were invited to Lock 8 Gateway Park in Port Colborne to watch the torch disembark from a Canada Steamship Lines boat to begin its Niagara stay. 

“I didn’t have any sense of the magnitude of it until then,” Taylor says. “There were a lot of people there, and everybody was quite excited about it. Representing the community at a national event like this is really quite special. ”

Though Fish’s application hinted that her father might wear his Santa suit for the relay if asked, don’t expect to see Taylor decked out in red on the big day. 

“I’m not allowed to,” explains Taylor. “I asked if I could wear my Santa for Palliative Care biking shirt, or my Santa suit, and they (the host society) told me I have to wear what I’m given. I understand that. Things could get kind of crazy if everyone was allowed to do what they wanted.”

Taylor says a number of people have promised to make the journey alongside him. As many as 17 fellow members of the NOTL Rotary Club have signed up to join him.

The retired father and grandfather of two worked in the hospitality industry before shifting to public relations. He worked for national companies such as Imperial Oil, Molson and the Ontario Power Authority, his job taking him across the country. 

Taylor first became an NOTL resident when he moved here with his parents as a teenager. After years of living elsewhere, about 17 years ago the Ridley College and University of Toronto economics graduate moved back to the town to retire. 

Over the past decade, Taylor has raised thousands of dollars for Niagara-on-the-Lake Palliative Care. Every December he dons the Santa suit and cycles to private parties, businesses and schools across NOTL to raise funds for the organization. The avid cyclist also participates in the Healing Cycle Foundation ride each year, and last September completed 1,000 kilometres for that organization. 

During the COVID lockdowns, Taylor was able to shift to online visits as Santa, and tells The Local he was able to make appearances around the world as Saint Nicholas. 

“I have a couple of attributes that sort of forced me into it,” he laughs, “a long white beard and a big belly. I do it for the community, but I have so much fun doing it. At times it might be a little selfish, because I have so much fun. But it’s certainly serendipitous that I can raise some money while I do it.”

He may not be wearing red as he squires the torch through the 0.8 kilometre section along Four Mile Creek Road between Line 6 and Line 5, but the beard will be there, and so will Taylor’s Santa spirit.