UPDATE: The man who lost $3,000 in cash on the Galloping Goose Trail on Tuesday is relieved it has been found.
Clint McNichol, 41, happened to have an envelope containing the unusually large amount of cash with him as he rode his bike away from his bank. It slipped from his pocket along the trail and he issued a plea for its return, along with an offer of half the money as a reward.
McNichol said he believes the money, contained in a banker’s envelope, was found right on the trail itself. The finder had obviously heard about the reward and returned half the money to the bank, McNichol said.
He said the bank manager then contacted him.
McNichol said Thursday that he hopes the person who received the reward will decide to make a donation to charity.
Original story
Clint McNichol says “a perfect storm” of circumstances has cost him $3,000.
The 41-year-old was carrying much more cash than he normally would, and he was riding his bike, which he doesn’t normally do. The money, in a white banker’s envelope, slipped from his pocket as he rode along the Galloping Goose Regional Trail about 4:45 p.m. Tuesday.
The money was meant to pay contractors working on the house that he and fiancée Chanelle Kelly, 36, are having built, and to help pay for a surprise honeymoon.
“It was a bit of a dual thing,” McNichol said.
Once he realized the money was gone, McNichol reported the loss to the Saanich police, checked with his bank in case the money had been returned and rerode the trail from the Six Mile Road area to Blanshard Street.
Now he has taken out a Times Colonist classified ad, offering half the money as a reward. The reward could also be donated to a charity of the finder’s choice, he said.
“Hopefully, we can appeal to whoever found it to do the right thing and turn it in,” Saanich police Sgt. Steve Eassie said.
McNichol said he withdrew the money from the TD bank at the Saanich Plaza, then cycled to the parking lot in the Six Mile area, where he had left his truck.
“It was the first time I’d ridden from [there] to downtown,” he said.
“I’m actually living up in Duncan but I commute in a couple of days a week.”
If you find the money, you can contact McNichol at 250-216-2921.
