Greased lightning

Dad with future wife Hazel Stevens, his best skating trophy

Dad has long been a good skater. In fact, a February 4, 1929 article in the The Winnipeg Free Press, shown below, lists Murray Fraser as the winner of the Boys 10 and under race. That was just the start.

Proud mom Annie Fraser pasted this into her scrapbook.

Murray Fraser, looking like a champion on a makeshift podium.

... and with his big sister Jessie, ready to race

Decades later, Dad proved he was no flash in the pan.

In 1993, his daughter Virginia bought him a membership in the St. James Speedskating Club, and Dad joined Virginia and her sons, Edmund and Thomas, at the rink.

The coach couldn’t believe her stopwatch. “Do you realize you’re breaking records?”she exclaimed, as Dad cruised easily around the Sargent Park oval. She convinced him to make it official, and at age 74, Dad found himself in a spandex race suit, racing the clock. In short order he shattered every national record for men in the 70-plus category, at various distances on both indoor and outdoor tracks.

All but one record, that is. Dad deliberately left one record unchallenged. He thought the previous record holder should remain a champion, too.

Murray Fraser is a blur as he shatters another Canadian record

Over 60 years after their first mention of speedy Murray Fraser, The Winnipeg Free Press took notice of him again in their article entitled, "Masters champ sets torrid pace," below.


Monday, January 25, 1993

When Dad finally hung up his speedskates it was not because he had nothing left to prove. It was because the early morning races did not appeal to this night owl after dancing until the wee hours the night before!