It was a childhood dream that might have gone unrealized.
But when Al White lost his right leg to a bone infection, he decided the time was now; he'd climb into a borrowed bathtub, with a borrowed outboard motor, and race others around a 58-kilometre stretch of the Georgia Strait.
Nanaimo's annual bathtub race has attracted all types of competitors since the tradition began in 1967. But White is likely the only racer to do it with two left feet.
After all, the prosthetic leg he used was also borrowed.
White's brother also uses a prosthetic leg. But unlike his own, his brother's is waterproof.
“I can't get [mine] wet because salt water, like anything, just chews everything up,” White tells CTV News.
The only problem was that his brother lost his left leg – and White needed a right.
Or perhaps he didn't after all.
“Everybody was like, 'Wow, you’ve got two left feet man,'" White says of his arrival for race day last weekend.
It wasn't a huge problem once he was out on the water. But the final leg of the race happens to be a land sprint towards a bell that each competitor must ring.
“Like Bambi on ice, that’s what it felt like," he says.
With the crowd roaring, White fell.
"There was people crying all over the place, hugging each other," says race commodore Greg Peacock. "A lot of people have known Al for many, many years. It’s an honour to see him do that.”
Struggling and unable to stand up to ring the bell, White did what he says he had to do.
“I’m going to take the leg off and I’m going to ring the bell with the prosthetic leg," he recalls thinking before doing just that.
White didn't finish first, but he was officially named this year's most sportsmanlike racer – and likely, if unofficially, the fan favourite.
