Family and friends of a three-time Olympic rower who has not been seen since Tuesday say they have high hopes he will return home safe and sound.
VicPD investigators have been searching for Harold Backer, 52, who has been missing since Tuesday, when he told his wife he was going for a bike ride.
“We have an active, ongoing investigation with our [law enforcement] partners in the U.S. and we’re hoping to bring him home soon,” said Victoria police spokesman Bowen Osoko.
A preliminary investigation has revealed that Backer left Victoria and boarded the Black Ball Coho Ferry to Port Angeles on Tuesday at 10:30 a.m.
Backer, who is white, is six-foot-three with a medium build and has greying hair and green eyes. He was believed to be wearing a red cycling jersey, black riding pants and possibly carrying a black backpack.
It was likely he would have been riding a black Cannondale road bike.
Backer is a Brentwood College Rowing Club graduate and award-winning junior men’s coach, and rowed during the 1984, 1988 and 1992 Olympics.
Several friends and fellow rowers have travelled to Washington state to search for their friend, who it is believed might have gone cycling on Hurricane Ridge or the Olympic Discovery Trail.
His wife, Elizabeth Hardy, said while it is not uncommon for her husband to tackle an “extreme fitness challenge,” she became worried when he didn’t return home by 7 p.m. Tuesday for dinner.
When she asked him that morning whether his outing would be “an all-day thing” or just a few hours, he said he wouldn’t be long, and that he would probably just head up the Galloping Goose Regional Trail, she said.
A search-and-rescue team couldn’t find him on the trail, however. She became alarmed after she realized his passport was missing.
“My husband is a former Olympian and he has a lot of stamina, and he is fit,” said Hardy, a master rower herself. She said when they lived near Brentwood College he would ride the Malahat.
When they celebrated their anniversary near Hurricane Ridge this summer, she said he expressed an interest in cycling there, “but I said, ‘This is out of my league,’ ” she recalled.
Hardy said someone reported having seen a cyclist heading up Hurricane Ridge on Tuesday, but she said she was told the mountain was closed because of snow.
“He does like a challenge,” said Hardy, who was waiting to see if video surveillance footage of passengers disembarking from the Coho indicated what direction he was headed.
In an attempt to hasten her husband’s return, Hardy posted an open letter on Facebook “asking him what was up” and seeking help to find him.
She said she was grateful that her husband, whom she described as somewhat introverted, had “such an amazing network of friends” willing to help her find him.
Victoria police ask anyone with information on Backer’s whereabouts to call them at 250-995-7654, or to contact Washington state police.
