by Michael Deibert
Beach Town Crier Toronto, September, 1996
Every day Laura Hopcroft cycles to her office at Spadina Rd. and RichmondSt. from her home on Woodbine Ave. near Queen St. After work she peddlesher 14-inch Kona Explosif mountain bike another 40 miles or more with trainerRoger Waithe, a bicycle courier and professional racer.
If that isn't enough, every now and then she slips away from overseeingher business to deliver packages as a courier.
Music and biking both share Laura's 28-year-old heart. She has beenpromoting bands since she was in Grade 7, says friend and employee JesseMacowycz who took care of Laura's business, Boundless, while she spentthree weeks recently in San Francisco where she competed in the Cycle MessengerWorld Championships during the Labour Day weekend.
Readers may recall that little get together of free spirits from aroundthe world taking place in Toronto last year. That was the one where thetelevision news showed people with nose rings doing wheelies and the barebum of a dude cycling into the distance after apparently forgetting hisskin tight shirt and lycra shorts.
In Toronto these are the people who spend their spare time hanging aroundthe Standby Cafe on downtown Temperance St. and taking part in "alleycat" races, which Macowycz describes as illegal competitions heldin the dark of night, followed by beer bashes and live bands.
Laura was a co-founder of Toronto-based Gat Productions, a publicityand image consulting company that has counted the band Chicago among itsclients. Three years ago she started Boundless, a firm handling publicityfor independent bands, which she operates with four employees. Macowycz,who plays bass in a band which he says is "rougher and hairier thanpunk," states that Boundless has 40 acts on its client list and helpedtwo groups launch themselves onto major record deals. This year Laura wasnominated for the Independent Promoter of the Year award in the Canadianmusic industry's annual Juno competition.
Macowycz says his boss slips away from her desk occasionally to pedalpackages from one business to another because she has to put in the milesto keep her official standing as a bicycle courier. She has to remain amember of the traffic slalom fraternity if she wants to continue competingin its races.
In a business where everyone knows everyone they have an informal wayof determining a competitor's eligibility, explains Macowycz. "Theycan say, 'Hey, he's not a courier' or 'She's not a courier'. "
Last year Laura was top Canadian woman and fifth female overall in thebike courier encounter which saw more than 600 competitors from over 60cities negotiating an obstacle course to see who could deliver a pile ofpackages in the least amount of time.
This year in San Francisco she placed third among Canadian women.
While her business may be an artistic success, it doesn't appear tobe making her a millionaire. With the help of sponsors she managed to scrapeup the money to fly down to San Francisco. However, during the three weeksshe spent there, says Macowycz, she worked as a courier to pick up money"for food and stuff."
Training partner Waithe and her dad Eric helped her financially. Alsoamong her sponsors were a number of businesses and organizations from theBeach area: Beaches Chiropractic Centre, Beaches International Jazz FestivalSociety, and Toronto Beaches Lion Club.
Ward 10 Councillor Tom Jakobek was also one of her sponsors. She originallywent to him asking if there were any government grants for which she mightqualify. Jakobek couldn't think of anything like that. However, even thoughhe can be tight with a dollar as head of the Toronto's budget committee,he pulled out his own cheque book to help Hopcroft.
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