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Sprinter Kelly Silcox: From Personal Best to Podium

When she first resumed sprinting after a decades-long hiatus, Regina's Kelly Silcox says revisiting her favourite high school sport carried few expectations.

When she first resumed sprinting after a decades-long hiatus, Regina's Kelly Silcox says revisiting her favourite high school sport carried few expectations.

            “(Sprinting) was always my sport in high school,” says the 52-year-old former Carlyle resident. “But after university, rowing became my main competitive sport. I rowed for 17 years and I really enjoyed it. I was a good rower, but not an exceptional rower.”

            In high school, Silcox played volleyball, curled and competed in track and field, even though she describes herself as “not really athletic in school. I just did what everybody did in high school.”

            “But I was a sprinter and I did the 100-, 200- and 400- metre sprints,” she says. “When I went to university, I didn't do track anymore. I left it behind, but I always really missed it.”

            As a member of a competitive rowing team in Regina, Silcox worked with a personal trainer who was also a track athlete at her alma mater, the University of Regina.

            “I mentioned how I had run track and how much I missed it,” she says. “(The trainer) set me up with a track workout and I trained during the summer of 2015. It was like coming home.”

            Soon after, Silcox joined Regina's Excel Athletika Track and Field Club and started sprinting competitively.

            “I did a few local meets in 2015,” she says. “And in 2016, I did my first international meet -

 the Americas Masters Games in Vancouver.”

            Silcox made three trips to the podium during her first international competition - earning a silver medal for the 100-metre sprint and a bronze medal in the 200-metre sprint (both in the Women's 50 Categories) - in addition to receiving a silver medal for the 4X100 women's relay as part of a four-person team from Saskatchewan. 

            “ I didn't really know what to expect,” says Silcox, when asked about earning medals so soon after becoming a mature competitor in her chosen sport. “And I didn't really think about medalling. I was hoping to go in and earn some personal bests.”

            “On the podium, you think: 'Okay, I can do this.' So (winning) pushes me to do this and gives me the motivation to see how far I can go.”

            “It was an amazing experience,” she says. “It was my first international meet and there were competitors from North America, Central America and South America - but not just from the Americas - there were Masters athletes (aged 35 years- old and up) from throughout the world.”

            “It was held in Vancouver and it was the inaugural event for the Americas Masters Games, so the Olympic cauldron was lit at the opening ceremony and there was a real buzz; a lot of energy.”

            “You just kind of feed off that energy at a big competition like the Masters,” says Silcox. “But with the Masters, there's also tons of friendships you make. Masters athletes keep coming back to compete and keep moving up in age categories, so those friendships are ongoing and we follow each other's progress.”

            “There's competition, but there's a social aspect, too.”

            Although she works full-time as a financial planner, Silcox also trains full-time.

            “I train at the track three days a week and weight train twice a week,” she says. “On other days, I'll golf or walk or do some sort of physical activity. And we train outdoors as much as we can. Even in winter, we try to get outside and work around the weather.”

            When asked what she would tell others considering a return to sport, she says: “Just do it. Put one foot in front of the other and just do it. It wasn't easy for me and the workouts were gruelling - but the more I trained and the harder I worked, the easier it became and it's really fulfilling now.”

            “In fact, I'm taking some coaching levels this year so I can coach PeeWees and Bantams as a way to give back when I retire,” says Silcox.

            However, Silcox isn't retiring yet.

            “There's a 76-year-old lady I know who competes in the 100-metre, the 200-metre, the long jump, the triple jump and the high jump,” she says. “She's exceptional and that's what I want to be.”

            Kelly Silcox will compete later this summer at the Canadian Masters Athletics Championships, August 3-5 in Vancouver and also at the World Masters Athletics Championships, Sept. 4-16 in Malaga, Spain.