Clifford (Cliff) Shand of Windsor, Nova Scotia, was the bicycle champion of the province in the late 1800s. In September 1889, at a W.A.A.C. meet, Shand won the one-mile bicycle event quite handily. He passed his closest opponent at the half-mile mark and then slowed down to cruise to an easy finish.

In the summer of 1891, Shand imported a Raleigh pneumatic safety bicycle from England and announced that he intended to ride it in the Halifax Wanderers Amateur Athletic Club Sports Bicycling Races. Shand defeated heavily favoured Richard Archibald by 35 yards and lowered the maritime Mile Record to 3 minutes, 1 and 5/8 seconds. Shand’s performance was so remarkable that no one turned out to challenge him in the Maritime Amateur Athletic Association Race one month later.

Shand became the Chief Counsel of the Maritime District of the Canadian Wheelmen’s Association in 1893. He also joined the Century Road Club a club that gave a special bar to riders who completed a hundred miles in a specific time.

In 1900, at the age of 37, Shand set a new record of 7 hours 9 minutes on the sandy roads between Windsor and Kingston.

After retiring from active competition, Shand stayed very active in sport and was known as the “Father of Sport” in Windsor. In 1926, he provided the funds to establish the Clifford Shand Chair in Physical Education at Acadia University. His home, which overlooks the Avon River in Windsor, was donated to the Province of Nova Scotia by his daughter, Gwendolyn.