LaFayette-Boyd showing no signs of slowing down

Carol LaFayette-Boyd is proving you may never have to slow down.

LaFayette-Boyd was a track star during her high school days at Sheldon-Williams Collegiate in Regina, but she never thought she would run competitively after that.

“Back in the day, women really didn’t participate – just the really elite who could afford it and had excellent coaches who could take them through that,” LaFayette-Boyd said. “There was not even a thought in my mind about continuing that.

“We would have races at family reunions and I would beat most of them, even the 16-year-olds.”

But it wasn’t until she was 50 when the opportunity arose for her to get back onto the track.

“My husband and I were trying to stay in shape so we had a park behind us and tried to run a mile, which is a really long way,” she said. “In 1991, they announced the Canadian Masters Games were going to be in Regina and part of the Games, besides golf and the other sports, there was track and field. I think the Games are 50-plus and I was turning 50. Running 100 yards is better than a mile and I thought, ‘Well I could do this.’

“What’s really exciting about it was that it was in Regina and if I made a fool of myself, I wouldn’t have wasted any money.”

Now she finds herself still running at a high level and is being recognized for it.

The 80-year-old track and field athlete has been named the World Masters Athletics (WMA) Female Athlete of the Year.

Carol LaFayette-Boyd. (Britton Gray/980 CJME)

“I was very surprised because I didn’t go to the international games, I had just gone to our national games,” LaFayette-Boyd said. “Usually it is someone that has gone to internationals.

“What was really nice about it was I’m 80 and the male person was 90 because usually it’s the younger people that are doing so well so they are the ones who get the awards.”

Part of why she was able to capture the title this year was she was breaking records for the 80+ category. She set the 100-metre, 200-metre, long jump and triple jump world records last year. She has 17 world age group records to her name.

“I break records but people come from behind me and take them away. I just don’t understand how records can keep getting broken; that amazes me,” LaFayette-Boyd said.

She’s proving to be an inspiration for younger runners as well.

“She has been a pretty big inspiration for me. I have seen her break records along the way and it’s such an inspiration that she is still accomplishing things,” said 15-year-old Anya Krueger, who trains with LaFayette-Boyd with Excel Athletika in Regina. “It shows how hard work and dedication really pays off.”

LaFayette-Boyd’s proving she can still keep up.

“She’s not a big talker but she is someone who leads by example. To see what she’s doing (at her age), you see how she is still doing all the same drills (as everyone) and doing them very well,” said 16-year-old Femi Akinloye.

It was the second time the Regina resident has won the masters award — the other was in 2018 – and it’s something she didn’t expect at the time.

“There was a gal in England who was a thrower and she broke records by like two metres and things like that so I knew she would be the winner and I hadn’t planned to travel to Poland so I hadn’t signed up,” LaFayette-Boyd said.

“When I got the award, I had to go to get the award but I couldn’t compete, which was kind of nice for the people there who were glad to see I wasn’t competing.”

LaFayette-Boyd calls Regina home but is originally from a homestead located near Rosetown.

“I was born on a farm out there with no running water and no electricity. No more of that, I can’t even go camping for 24 hours,” LaFayette-Boyd said. But she has grown to love competing at the masters events every year.

“There are a lot of people who aren’t the best in the world but they keep coming out because it is so much fun. For me, what it is is just keeping in shape and just knowing I have to stay in shape to be in this sport,” LaFayette-Boyd said.

She plans on continuing it for the foreseeable future.

“That’s my plan, at least until I’m 106, because then I’ll catch up with that 106-year-old (who’s currently competing). If she keeps going, so will I,” LaFayette-Boyd said.