Bob Weir

A competitive age-group swimmer in Winnipeg in the 1950s, Bob Weir completed his first long-distance swim in 1962 at the age of 19 when he crossed Lake Winnipeg, 18 miles, in 9 hours 57 minutes. The following year (1963) he swam across Lake Manitoba, 34 miles, 25 hours 10 minutes, aged 20.

Professional Circuit (1964): Bob spent the summer of 1964 on the professional circuit, participating in four marathons, including the inaugural 24-Heures La Tuque, a two-person tag-team race, in which he and his partner, John Lumgair, finished fourth.

Lake Ontario (1989): After a 25-year hiatus, Bob's next marathon attempt occurred in 1989, when he became the 27th person to succeed in crossing Lake Ontario (45.3 km), in a time of 22 hours, 8 minutes.

Lakes Couchiching-Simcoe (1991): Bob swam a combined 56 km (35 mile) conquest of Lake Couchiching and Lake Simcoe in a time of 25 hours, 8 minutes from Washago to Barrie. The first attempt, however, was thwarted by a severe electrical storm around Hawkstone yacht club at 3:51 am when he had completed 32 km of the targeted swim.

In 1992, he crossed Lake Erie, 43 km (27 miles), in 23 hours, 41 minutes from Dunkirk (New York state) to Mohawk Point (near Dunnville, Ontario). As he approached his targeted finish, he had to battle some strong westerly winds that were driving him off course; however, he eventually landed safely on the last point of land to the east of his original target.

1993 took Bob to New Hampshire, where at the age of 50 he became the first person to swim the 21 miles of Lake Winnipesaukee (of Golden Pond fame) in 12 hours flat from Center Harbor to Alton Bay (Photographs above, left and centre). This swim was completed under some very hot conditions (both air and water).

SSO & MSO

Bob became involved with SSO in 1989, and served as its President from 1992 to 2006.
In 1996, he received the Cliff Lumsdon Award of SSO for his achievements and contributions.
Bob also competed regularly in Masters Swimming events, and was the president of Masters Swimming Ontario from 1991 to 1994.

Leaside Sports Hall of Fame, Toronto, 2019

In recognition of his wide-ranging achievements and contributions to both Masters and Marathon swimming, Bob was inducted into the Leaside Sports Hall of Fame on 15 November 2019.
Anthony Regan compiled a wonderful video for the induction ceremony that involved tributes video tributes from his wife, Joyce Curry, Paula Stephanson and Bryan Finlay.
Joyce captured the driving force behind Bob's lifetime success in swimming, explaining that his secret has not been a matter of "Conquest" but his ongoing "Love for swimming".