Inducted October 22, 2005
From all the kilometers that George Parsons has walked in his career, he has never been one to walk away from anything. George Parsons was simply chasing his dream. George participated in many sports throughout his career but his main focus was on track and field. He started his Road Walking career as a 17 year old in the early 1950’s and his involvement in the sport spanned for three decades into the 1970’s. His first competition was in 1952 when he entered the annual five mile road race as a member of the Church Lads Brigade. He thought he had won this race, but he was disqualified when the judges ruled that he had broken his stride in the struggle to the finish line. This was a mistake he never made again and went on from there to become known as “King of the Road”. The ten mile race was his favorite distance however he entered and won numerous other distances and events. He won his first ten mile race in 1958 and continued to finish in the top three throughout his career. In 1959 he walked the one mile race in a record time of 6 minutes, 41.6 seconds, which was only four seconds off the world record at that time. In 1960, the Amateur Athletic Union of Canada sent him to Toronto to compete in the Olympic Trials to secure a berth on the Canadian Olympic Team. He finished second in the 20 km race but was 2 minutes shy of the mark to make the Olympic Team. He has set many records throughout his career and continued to beat his own records year after year. In 1979, George returned to the track to win two first place positions in the masters one mile and three mile walks, proving once again that he still had what it took to be the best.