Hurdling his way to the top

Evan Blake has quickly established himself as one of the best young hurdlers in the province.

The 14-year-old, Grade 9 student at Saint Paul Catholic High School picked up hurdles just two years ago and already has the fifth fastest time in the province in the junior boys 300-metre event.

“We’ve had him in our club for four years. He started when he was in Grade 5 and is someone who has continued to evolve,” Thorold Elite Track Club head coach Steve Fife said. “The 300 metres is definitely going to be his major event.”

Blake said learning the hurdles wasn’t much of a, well, hurdle at all.

“To be honest, I’m flexible so adding a hurdle in the way of running kind of suites me,” Blake said Wednesday at the Niagara Catholic Athletic Association Zone 2 track and field meet at Niagara Olympic Club. “I’m pretty good at it. I was a natural going over it and coming off the hurdle too so then I just started doing it.”

Blake indicted proper form is essential.

“It’s the steps in between and making sure you’re not stuttering before each hurdle. And the hurdle form, not trying to clip you knee on the hurdle,” he said. “I haven’t wiped out yet but have knocked it over and it hurt and gave me a big bruise.”

Blake has set his sights high in his first year at the high school level.

“I want to come top five at OFSAA (Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations),” he said. “Friday coming here (High Octane track and field meet) I ran a pretty good time and thought maybe I had a pretty good shot at placing.”

Blake also participates in the 100-metre hurdles and 400 metres.

“In the 400, I want to move on and hopefully come close to the top five and the 100 hurdles I’m just hoping to move on,” he said. 

Blake traced his progress to working with Thorold Elite.

“I love this club. It’s everything. I don’t think I’d ever switch. The support and the coaching. Everyone is such an amazing person,” he said.

Blake, who is also a promising soccer player who suits up for Niagara Falls OPDL (Ontario Player Development League), is well aware the time may be coming where he needs to prioritize one sport.

“I don’t know. I can’t really lean towards one because I’m pretty good at both but I feel track would take me farther. It’s really hard to move on to next step in soccer,” he said.

Fife said it’s not uncommon to see top athletes perform at high levels in more than one sport.

“He has a natural athleticism. You see that with a lot of great athletes. There’s a lot of things on their plate but they’re still able to excel and perform when they need to.”

The top four finishers advance to Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association (SOSSA) next week at Centennial.

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