Another gold- medal performance from Harry Ainlay track star after finding a better life in Canada
Fofanah left Sierra Leone for a better life in Alberta
The movie Blood Diamond is the closest most people will come to the devastating civil war that raged in Sierra Leone between 1996 and 2001.
But for Harry Ainlay High School’s Isatu Fofanah, the conflict that claimed more than 50,000 lives in her homeland is real life.
Fofanah fled war-torn Sierra Leone in 2001, landing in Canada as a refugee and settling with her aunt in Ponoka, where she found a new way of life after losing both of her parents as a six-year old.
“My auntie actually sponsored 13 of us to come down here and, since then, I’ve been living here,” Fofanah said. “We lost homes, families were scattered around, and we sometimes didn’t keep in touch with them.”
While her past is marked by tragedy and hardship, Saturday was all about triumph for Fofanah at the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association trackand-field championships at Foote Field.
The Grade 12 student capped a tremendous weekend with a gold-medal performance of 12.23 seconds in the 100-metre dash. It was Fofanah’s second podium-topping finish in as many days after taking the 200m crown in a time of 24.01 seconds on Friday.
“It was very exciting. I wasn’t expecting a personal best in the 200m, because last year I didn’t run the 200m after high-school provincials. I took a break,” Fofanah said. “In the 100m, I haven’t (run a) personal best yet. The wind has been a little bit tedious, but I think it’s coming.”
Fofanah, who staying with her Voleo Sprint Club coach Dwight Francis and his family during her first year living in Edmonton, said several people in Ponoka played a key role in her athletic development during the last decade.
“I was training here (at Foote Field) and the United Church in Ponoka was helping me a lot,” she said. “I don’t think I’d be here if it wasn’t for them. They’ve helped me along the way so much in a way I can never repay them, and I thank them so much.”
It was a shock for Fofanah to move from Ponoka Composite High School to Harry Ainlay, one of Edmonton’s largest schools.
“It’s different. Ainlay is huge,” Fofanah said. “It’s a huge school coming from a small town, a huge change, but I like it. I like the fact that I don’t have to commute back and forth from Ponoka to Edmonton and I can train and also do well in school.”
Harry Ainlay track coach Patrick Powell said Fofanah’s presence on the team has been nothing but positive.
“As a runner, she’s obviously very good,” said Powell. “Dwight Francis has really helped her this year, and I’m really pleased with his work and the way she’s come along with him.”
Now an elite level junior runner, Fofanah realizes her unique journey to provincial track stardom is part of what’s allowed her to excel.
“It’s helped me become a better person and, I guess, just knowing that I’ve lived through so much, it helps me with dealing with what’s coming and knowing that I can do whatever, if I’ve lived through what I’ve been through,” she said.
Fofanah will attend the University of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff, to study physical therapy in the fall.
With personal bests of 7.51 seconds in the 60m and 24.38 in the 200m, Fofanah would be among the favourites to challenge for the Big Sky Conference title in both events next season.
“Hopefully, the Olympics in 2016,” Fofanah said of her long-term goals. “Definitely not this year. I don’t have the times, but hopefully 2016.”