50th Anniversary - Corduroy Enduro

[Mike OReilly]

This year marks the 50th running of the "Cord Run", an event which always figured largely in John Pentons', and later the entire Penton families' annual schedule of competition. Starting in 1953 as a two day run from Toronto's Gold Rock Hotel to the Haliburton Highlands and back, it remains a challenging run through the always tough Canadian Shield country (which for the uninitiated, means either bedrock granite or bottomless "loon shit").

Penton Sr first won the event in 1958, and dominated for the next six years. Indeed many of the early family photos included in Ed Youngblood's biography of Mr. Penton, feature the famous and coveted Corduroy "log" trophy. (the shot on page 52 of the Amherst Meadowlarks gathered around the piano for instance, although the date of "circa 1954" would seem to be about 4 yrs. off). Although those early years were won aboard NSU and then a 250 BMW, the last time I checked, the Penton motorcycle itself was still the winningest bike at the Cord. The name for Hi-Point Accessories also had its genesis from the event, where the term "high point" is used to describe the overall winner.

Myself and a team from the Bytown Motorcycle Association (Ottawa, Ontario) will be headed to "Cord country" on September 20th and 21st. We're bringing along my restored Jackpiner and a "done up" BSA Gold Star scrambler for a display of vintage enduro equipment as well as working a check or special test each day at the event. The amazing part for me anyway, is I remember well the 25th running of the event and the display of vintage equipment and ceremonial start that took place on that occasion! The year was 1978 and the era of the Penton motorcycle had been over for a year already, but it truly does not seem that it can have been that long ago.