Hurdling over adversity
Disappointing finish didn’t throw Notre Dame grad off her game
Kendra Leger’s first clash with calamity at the university level was telling of the type of person she is.
In an event which would normally rattle a young athlete, Leger responded by nearly setting a new Canadian junior record.
“She hit the final hurdle in the prelims very hard and actually did not qualify for the final, where she would have been a strong medal contender,” said University of Guelph associate head coach Jason Kerr. “This was the first bout of adversity we dealt with all season, and was a critical moment in her development.”
Within 20 minutes of the event they collectively decided to take responsibility.
“Take control back, make no excuses and prepare for the next one,” said Kerr.
They met at 7 a.m. the next day, 10 days before nationals, and immediately shifted their focus.
At the U Sports Track and Field Championships in Windsor, the Welland hurdler was ignited.
“She ran a massive personal best, came within 0.01s of the Canadian junior record at that event, became an all-Canadian, and was a huge part of a women’s national Championship,” said Kerr. “Long story short, the good ones know how to bounce back.”
The Notre Dame College School graduate is trending upwards, so Athletics Canada named her to its 32-member team to represent Canada at the 2018 IAAF World U20 Championships taking place from July 10-15 in Tampere, Finland.
“Ever since the beginning of the indoor track season at Guelph, my main goals were to break the outdoor Canadian Junior record for 100-metre hurdles,” said Leger. “Hopefully, in achieving that, the world juniors was just something that would come along with it.
“Currently, heading into world juniors, I am ranked sixth and am .02 milliseconds off of the Canadian junior record.”
Leger started competing in track and field during elementary school and, in her words, was “slightly above mediocre.”
She didn’t take track seriously until the end of Grade 10 when she started training outside of high school.
“Again, I was mediocre and placed fourth at OFSAA (Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations). I was training six days a week, eight hours a day,” she said. “Two kilometres in the morning, lifting during school and six hours after school.
“I had no time for a social life and had to be tough on myself to keep my grades up.”
Grade 11 was a struggle for her for multiple reasons, one being a surgery before the season started.
“I began hurdles the summer of Grade 12 and graduated that year with two OFSAA medals,” she said. “One in the 100-metre hurdles, one in the 100-metre sprint, and a scholarship for academics and athletics.”
Leger received offers from universities such as Princeton, Michigan and Queen’s, but ultimately selected Guelph.
“I chose Guelph because I wanted to pursue my track career further and, in Canada, Guelph is the track hub,” said Leger. “I gravitate to track because I can better control the outcome. I can choose to push my limits and find my breaking points.
“The adrenalin rush is something addicting to me, I chase perfection, no matter how unachievable that is. Everything I do I do with purpose and that will bring me the closes to perfection that I can achieve.”