Fundraising for Blaine man who died during Ski to Sea surpasses goal

Team members of a Blaine man who died during the Ski to Sea relay race have raised nearly $12,000 for his memorial.

Rob Lawrance of Blaine died May 29 of an apparent heart attack during the cyclocross leg of the 49th annual Ski to Sea. He was 58.

Rob started race day joking around with his Border Traffic teammates in their group chat, according to a GoFundMe page started by aunt and teammate Dawn Groves. He was to do the cyclocross leg – the sixth leg of Ski to Sea, a 93-mile, seven-leg race from Mt. Baker Ski Area to Marine Park in Fairhaven. Cyclocross riders were to bike 13 miles of open fields with tall grass and mud, dirt and gravel trails, and county roads from Hovander Homestead Park in Ferndale to Zuanich Point Park in Bellingham. Groves wrote Rob was supposedly making good time on the leg when he collapsed near Squalicum Creek Park.

Race supporters came to Rob’s aid and performed CPR, according to the GoFundMe.

As the team’s kayaker, Groves waited for Rob at Zuanich Point Park with his wife, Rebecca Lawrance, a fourth grade Blaine Elementary School teacher. After he failed to show, Groves was released early via race protocol to make it to the finish in Fairhaven by 6 p.m. Rebecca learned Rob had died on course from a police officer while waiting at Zuanich Point Park, Groves wrote.

Groves and other Border Traffic teammates found out shortly after finishing in Marine Park. Border Traffic finished last overall in 293rd place after the early release with a time of 11:11:37.

“We don’t believe Rob suffered prior to his collapse because he was doing so well,” Groves wrote on the GoFundMe page. “He was probably smiling, looking forward to seeing Becky and handing off to me.”

Rebecca and Rob had met at the race 10 years earlier while partnering in the canoe leg, Groves wrote. They started a cross-border romance that lasted eight years. Rob moved to Blaine in 2021 after acquiring a permanent green card and left his job as environmental city planner for the city of Nanaimo. He had accepted a position with the city of Bellingham’s Aquatic Invasive Species Program three weeks before he died.

“He loved Blaine and took regular walks into town, visiting with locals and becoming a treasured part of the community,” Groves wrote.

Ski to Sea event organizers announced the death May 31 on Facebook, saying Bellingham Police Department reported Rob had received emergency medical treatment but died at the scene.

“Our staff and board of directors wish to express our deepest condolences to the racer’s family, friends and teammates,” Ski to Sea’s organizers wrote.

Groves wrote that Rob’s recent physical came back great.

“He was fit, active, and at age 58, filled with plans for the future,” she wrote.

To visit the GoFundMe page, go to bit.ly/3aDvaLK.