15-year-old Keon Rude is in a field in southwest Calgary setting up hurdles. That’s about the only thing he can do to get in practice since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down tracks in and around the city.
Keon didn’t get into track until a few years ago. He says he was actually playing another sport at the time.
“Well it started off because I used to play football and I wanted to get faster and better at football,” he said during a break from training.
“So I joined track to see if I could get faster. But then I ended up being better at track!"
That was a smart decision. Keon says he started by trying a lot of different disciplines but he settled on sprint and hurdles.
That's because he says hurdles came naturally to him.
“I knew I was alright because I did it in school a couple of times," he says.
That is an understatement. Rude is very good at hurdles. Further proof of that was at the provincial indoor track and field championships in February, where Rude broke the provincial record for Under 16 hurdles. His time was 8.52 seconds.
The grade 10 student from Central Memorial in Calgary says it was a great feeling.
“The actual race, it just started off like all of the other races. You know: try my best,” he said.
“And then once I passed the finish line I saw my time. It was a really good feeling knowing that I got it.”
Keon’s mother Cindy was was there watching her son every step of the way as he brought down the record. Cindy admits she was nervous.
“It was nerve wracking in the starting block. I was like, just don’t false start!” she said.
“And then as he took off and I was like he’s going, he’s going. He’s got it. I think that the world heard me scream how proud I was. I was yelling pretty loud,” she said with a laugh.
Keon says he’d like to take the sport further, possibly competing at the college or university level. And maybe even higher if he keeps breaking records.
