He’s known as the Mad Cyclist of Springbank Park.

Runners along the multi-use paths in London’s west-end park have been on alert for a decade for the large man on an undersized bike, squeezed into a one-piece hooded Spandex suit, who likes to run them off the trails.

He usually wore a black suit but was seen wearing other colours. His attire was described as a uni-tard, a one piece leotard or a tight suit similar to what the Blue Man Group wear.

Wayne Morrison, 67, wearing a more formal men’s suit, listened intently from the defence table at his Superior Court trial that points to him as the danger on the trails.

He pleaded not guilty Wednesday to four charges: assault, assault with a weapon (his bicycle) in 2012, mischief by interfering with the lawful use and enjoyment of property and common nuisance dating back to 2003.

London teacher and runner Rachel Weir testified about what happened to her while she was on her usual Sunday morning run on Dec. 2, 2012. She said she was struck from behind by a uni-tard-wearing man on a bike on the trail not far from the Guy Lombardo bridge.

“I felt like I was flying through the air,” she testified. Weir said she landed on the asphalt, her forehead hitting the pavement.

She tried to get up, but she was dizzy and fell back down.

Two female runners came to Weir’s aid. She said could see the cyclist on the ground — a man she had seen before in the onesie.

Weir testified she told the man he hit her and that the man said with anger, “You got in my way.”

The women took her home, Weir said, then she went to hospital where she was diagnosed with a concussion, scrapes and bruises. She missed a week of work but has fully recovered.

News of the incident spread like wild fire through the running community and to Sgt. Steve Cochrane, an avid runner and former director of the Forest City Road Races.

“When it was described to me what happened, I knew exactly what happened,” he testified.

In the fall of 2004, just as Cochrane was nearing the finish line of a marathon, he said he saw a cyclist with “a distinctive face” in a one-piece Spandex suit ride around the bike leading the runners “and drive directly at me.

“I didn’t realize what was happening because it was such ridiculous behaviour,” he said.

Cochrane testified the cyclist made contact with his left shoulder, causing him to stumble. There was an exchange of angry words, but the officer finished the race.

At the finish line, other runners told of close encounters with the unitard-wearing man cycling way too fast down the middle of the paths.

Cochrane testified the cyclist was a regular on Sunday mornings when his running group would train. They would yell at him to slow down.

Cochrane said he became aware that the man was Morrison. He was worried about the Mother’s Day road races and decided as a police officer and a race organizer he would meet Morrison for a friendly chat. At a coffee shop, Cochrane explained of the potential dangers attached to Morrison crashing the race party and asked him if he might take a Sunday off to minimize the risk.

“He told me that he didn’t care whether or not we had a permit, he will ride his bike the way he wants,” Cochrane said.

Morrison told him he had “certain physical impairments” that “required him to ride at a high rate of speed,” Cochrane said.

For countless Sundays after they met — at least 50 times — Cochrane said he would see Morrison riding too fast and too close to runners.

Other runners has close calls of him riding near their lanes and chasing them to the side. David Stollar testified he felt the breeze of the Mad Cyclist’s bike just centimetres from his elbow near Greenway Park.

Stollar had headphones on and was listening to music at low volume so he could stay aware of anyone else on the trail

He said he yelled at the uni-tard-wearing cyclist as he sped past and the cyclist yelled back, “You shouldn’t have been listening to music.”

Paul Roberts, the former owner of Runners Choice who now owns London’s New Balance franchise, testified to seeing the cyclist racing towards the finish line of a road race in 2005 and coming dangerous close to the chute where several runners were standing.

He yelled and signalled for the unitard man to slow down. It wasn’t going to happen. “Within a minute, he was on top of us,” he said.

Roberts said he had run out and push over the cyclist before he crashed into the chute. He told him to “get off his bike, go around and get out of here.

Roberts said he was well aware of him and heard often heard fellow runners say “Oh, there’s the Mad Cyclist.”

“It’s more times than I can count on my hands and toes,” he said.

The trial continues Thursday.

jane.sims@sunmedia.ca

twitter.com/JaneatLFPress?