Last Update: 4 August 2024
In the summer of 1949, 16-year-old Canadian Jackie Macdonald was introduced to the thrill of motorcycling by a friend who persuaded her to take a ride. It was an instant passion for Jackie, who quickly convinced him to teach her how to ride. Over the course of a few visits to High Park in Toronto, Jackie experimented with the motorcycle, receiving minimal formal instruction. At that time, possessing a car driver’s licence also allowed her to legally ride a motorcycle, making her newfound passion all the more accessible.
Over the next three years, Jackie saved diligently to purchase her own motorcycle, eventually buying a second-hand 1948 Harley-Davidson 45 for about $175. Upon arriving home with her new bike, she recalls gazing at it in the moonlight from her bedroom window, wondering if she’d be able to start it the next morning. Starting the bike required both a powerful right leg and a precise technique, but Jackie managed to fire it up. As she took off for her first ride, she soon discovered just how unusual it was to see a woman on a motorcycle in those days.
Jackie MacDonald Frequently Encountered Police Stops
Jackie was often stopped by the police in fact practically every time she went out on the bike. One incident she remembers fondly was when riding South on Avenue Road just past Eglinton, she was pulled over by a cop and as he approached, said “You’re going pretty fast, I clocked you at …” (she forgets the speed). He then asked her in a very gruff voice, “You got a drivers licence?” She took it out and gave it to him. He looked at it and said “You got a permit?” She took that out and presented it to him. He glanced at it and growled, “You got a job?” Jackie then replied in the prissiest voice she could muster, “Yes, I teach school for the Toronto Board of Education.” He then went around to the back of the bike, to take her licence number — after taking some time he said “We had better just forget this”. When Jackie asked him why, he replied, “If I went in and asked for a speeding ticket to be issued to a woman school teacher driving a Harley-Davidson, the boys would laugh me out of the station.”
Instead of leaving, he continued chatting with Jackie; his gruff voice softened and he finished the conversation by asking her out on a date.
Jackie presently resides in Ottawa and has proceeded to enjoy a most accomplished life in sports — with a long list of achievements both at the Olympic and world record breaking levels in shot put and discus. She competed in the 1956 Summer Olympics, where she finished 10th in the shot put and 19th in the discus throw.
Her achievements include winning a silver medal in the shot put at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, securing 5th place in the discus at the 1955 Pan American Games, and placing 6th in the shot put at the 1957 World Youth Games in Moscow. She also earned a bronze medal in the shot put at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, competing under the name Jackie Gelling.
Since 1978, a member of Ottawa’s Bicycle Club, Jackie MacDonald remains active to this day swimming, cycling and weight lifting.
*story contribution by Jackie MacDonald
