George TURNER

George Turner took up cycling in 1931 and was a student at the Ottawa Technical School when he was selected to represent Canada in cycling at the 1934 British Empire Games, after accumulating the most number of points at that year’s Canadian national championships. At the Empire Games, he finished second in his opening heat of the 1000 yard sprint to Australian Horace Pethybridge, the eventual silver medalist, and was eliminated. Turner then earned consideration for a spot on Canada’s delegation to the 1936 Summer Olympics by emerging victorious in a 100 km trial race in Toronto, but initially there were insufficient funds to send him to Berlin. Eventually, however, his military unit, the First Field Company of the Royal Canadian Engineers, as well as his family and friends, pulled together enough money to send him overseas. At the Games, he crashed with 10 miles to go in the road race and, although he finished the race despite an injured arm, his final time was not recorded. He also competed in the team pursuit and placed ninth among thirteen teams, alongside Lionel Coleman, George Crompton, and Bob McLeod.

After the Olympics, Turner continued his service with the Royal Canadian Engineers and took part in World War II, rising to the rank of Captain. He survived the conflict, but his brother Jean Albert Mark Turner of the Royal Canadian Air Force, was presumed killed in action. George returned to Ottawa after the war and died relatively young, at the age of 50.