80-year-old Regina track star named World's Best Athlete for a second time
Regina’s Carol LaFayette-Boyd has been named the 2022 World Masters Athlete of the Year. LaFayette-Boyd won the same honour in 2018.
“It’s almost like I know other people that I thought deserved it, and I think ‘now why don’t they get it?,’” LaFayette-Boyd said on the news of receiving the honour for the second time.
Masters athletics is a class of the sport athletics for those aged 35 or older. Athletes can compete in track and field, road running and cross country. The competitors are put into five year age categories.
“I didn’t even know there were Masters athletes until 1992 actually, I was turning 50 and the Canadian Masters Games were going to be in Regina. My husband and I had been trying to run a mile and just trying to stay in shape. I looked at these games and there was track and field for 50 plus, and I was turning 50 that year so I thought ‘This is what I will do’,” she said.
“If it’s in my hometown, I won’t have to travel, I won’t waste any money if I make a fool of myself.”
LaFayette-Boyd then went on to break multiple world records at the age of 76 and once again when she reached the 80 plus category. In 2022 she broke the outdoor world track and field records for the 100 metre, 200 metre, Long Jump and Triple Jump. She also broke the indoor track and field records for Long Jump and 60 metre.
“The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that I need to take care of myself. Every day I get up, I ride my bike, I read my Bible, do my stretching and I do the elliptical,” LaFayette-Boyd said.
“It doesn’t matter how well you do or don’t do. If you just get out there and keep fit and healthy, that’s what’s important.”
LaFayette-Boyd trains under Chadon Dorsch, the head coach of Excel Athletika.
“She’s been an inspiration to all of us and all of the young kids that we have coming up. To have somebody of her age and caliber is absolutely amazing,” Dorsch said.
“For me being 46 and coaching an 80-year-old and she listens to me, that’s fantastic,” he laughed. “Our goal is to make our athletes better and get them to the goals they want to achieve. It doesn’t matter what age you are, it doesn’t matter what skill set you are. Everybody’s proud of somebody making that kind of accomplishment. I absolutely love training her.”
Another Masters athlete that trains alongside LaFayette-Boyd is 69 year old Selina Coward. The two call themselves a dynamic duo because they help push one another to stay healthy and reach new heights in the sport.
“Carol props up my tree when I don’t feel good or if I’m not healthy that day. She pulls me along and it’s the same with her. When she doesn’t feel good or she’s got something on her plate. We talk to each other and we help each other out,” Coward said.
Coward enjoys the sport because she said it makes her feel healthy and strong, among other perks.
“I get mistaken for a 45-year-old which really helps me a lot and people come up to me and say, ‘I’ve seen you working out, how can I do this?.’I’ve offered to help out and give them a hint or two. If I see someone needs help, I don’t hesitate,” Coward said.
The two train amongst the club’s younger athletes every week.
“Right now we’re coming Monday and Wednesday nights and Saturday morning. It’s really supposed to be an hour and a half. But we usually end up two hours because we start early to keep up with these kids,” said LaFayette-Boyd.
Despite the fact LaFayette-Boyd has broken multiple records and earned a world-class honour for the second time, she is nowhere near finished when it comes to her career.
“Right now we [Masters Athletics] have three 106-year-old women. One in India and two in the United States. So that’s my goal, 26 [more] years.”
“I think there’s only one thing that I would really like to happen and that’s to get into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame. Then I think I can relax and I don’t have to collect any more medals or do anything else. But in order to eat there they say you have to retire and I won’t be retiring for at least 26 years.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
Poilievre unrepentant over calling Trudeau 'wacko' as his MPs say Speaker should resign
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh confirms his party will support the Liberals' federal budget
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says his party will support the federal budget, ending any speculation that the party could pull out of its deal with the minority Liberal government.
Dental care program accepting claims for 1 million seniors
Citizens' Services Minister Terry Beech says 1,200 seniors have already visited a dentist and had their claims processed by the federal government's new dental care plan.