I’ve always loved sports. In high school, I was a long-distance runner and a speed skater. I took part in skating competitions in Quebec and across Canada. I even spent a year in Europe training.
I stopped skating once I got to McGill – and I soon started to get restless. It was the first time in many years that I wasn’t doing a sport full-time. Luckily, on my first day on campus, I noticed people wearing McGill crew jackets. It was one of the few sports at McGill that had a novice team for beginners. And those jackets were really cool. I set out to make the rowing team.
Rowing was an instant love. I made the varsity team in my second year and competed at the Commonwealth Games in 1999.
One day, biking home from a practice, I got hit by a car. I woke up in an ambulance. While the season was done for me, I still had dreams of going to the Olympics and making the national team. That experience would teach me a lot about perseverance.
I wouldn’t have been able to come out of the rehabilitation process without the support I received from the McGill Rowing Team. That was my family away from home. It is such a gift to be surrounded by people who believe in you and your dreams, and who support you and help you get there.
I made my debut at the World Championships as a member of Canada’s National Rowing Team in 2001. The following year, I won my first of three World Championship medals. In 2004, I attended the Olympic Games as a spare; then in 2008 and 2012, I attended as a full participant.
My transition out of sports was a challenge.
When you have been training six hours a day for 20 years, your body becomes habituated to the endorphins, and being an athlete becomes an essential part of your identity.
What matters is the people you surround yourself with during a period like this. It makes dealing with the emotions of the transition slightly more manageable. It still feels like the end of the world, but at least someone is by your side to offer support.
One way I dealt with this big change was by giving back to the community: I coached young rowers, organized the charity “Follow Your Dream Run” for my hometown of Ormstown, and mentored young athletes as the Chef de Mission for the Canadian team at the 2019 Pan-American Games in Lima.
Writing also helped. It has been a long-time passion and an escape. I was able to rest my body after the grind of intense training sessions while exercising other muscles—my mind and imagination. After I retired from sports, I began writing stories about other athletes for Rowing Canada Aviron, the governing body for rowing in Canada, and about my own experiences for RBC’s Olympians Program.
Today, I’m pursuing a new passion as a children’s book author. My first children’s book Salmon on Toast was recently published. Being able to read it to my own kids has been a thrill. I’m planning to publish more children’s books – I have several stories stored on my USB flash drive.