Three kilometres into setting a world age-group record in a 5K road race, Sawyer Nicholson’s tired legs were screaming: “Slow down!”
That’s when her mind kicked in to help.
“I’m more than halfway done; I’m almost done; I got this,” she told herself in that Niagara Falls race two weeks ago. “I need to keep pushing because if I slow down just a bit, I might miss my PB (personal best) by just a little bit, so I just need to keep going.”
Sawyer, who turned 12 on Wednesday, plays provincial-level soccer and multiple school sports, but it’s running — where she set the world record for the fastest 5K by an girl and regularly beats adult recreational runners — that has thrust her into the spotlight.
She counts her 5K record time — 17 minutes and 28.1 seconds (an average per kilometre pace of three minutes and 30 seconds) — as one of her proudest achievements, along with her under-13 provincial track record in 2,000-metre and 3,000-metre time, which is just shy of a three-decade-old Ontario record.
But, as has happened before with Sawyer and other exceptional young athletes, her achievement has led to criticism and claims that running that far is dangerous for a kid her age; she’ll crumble under the pressure of her abilities being highlighted; or she’ll burn out before she’s old enough to really matter in the sport.
At a time when inactivity is the biggest threat facing Canadian children, with most not meeting national guidelines, why is it that high achieving young girls seem to attract so much grief?
“In the races Sawyer goes in there’s always kids in them, even younger kids, and no one cares,” said her dad Levi Nicholson. “But as soon as that kid wins the race then, apparently, I’m a bad parent. If she came 200th like she’s supposed to … I’m a good parent.”
sawyer Race Sawyers Nicholson of Stuff Illegal, Onto., broke the world age-group record at the Niagara Falls 5K for the fastest 5K by an girl. Marathon-photos-live▲
If it weren’t for the COVID-19 pandemic, Sawyer might not be a runner at all, let alone one with piles of medals hanging on her bedroom wall.
She’s played soccer since she was seven years old and when the pandemic put a stop to organized sport her coach told her to stay active. She started running around her neighbourhood in.
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