With
family ties that run deep in the area of Rayside-Balfour,
cousins Kylee Fowler and Danika Potvin have enjoyed many
a reason to celebrate together over the years.
Birthdays, anniversaries and holidays
have most surely provided ample opportunities to share
laughs and a smile or two.
A little earlier this year, the athletic
tandem gave themselves even more reasons to smile, topping
a field of almost 3000 entrants to secure first place,
overall, in the 2026 Ottawa / HYROX Women's Doubles division
in the nation's capital.
Their combined time on the eight kilometre
course that features a strength related test of some sort
with the completion of each one kilometre run with was
1:02.36 - 15 seconds ahead of Cassie Duck and partner
Ashlyn Nicholson, both of whom were teammates with the
University of Regina women's rugby team.
That said, the Fowler / Potvin duo can
boast some very impressive athletic accomplishments of
their own.
Now 23 years of age, Kylee Fowler will
be completing her second year of Teachers College at Laurentian
University and is shaping up as one of the top runners
of the 2026 Voyageurs' Women's Cross-Country team, completing
her OUA eligibility after suiting up with the Ottawa Gee
Gees while maintaining her undergraduate studies from
2021 to 2025.
Back in the fall of 2019, Fowler connected
with Track North Athletic Club, though Covid would curtail
her efforts to showcase her improvement during her time
at Ecole secondaire Catholique Champlain, skewering both
of her senior years with the Requins.
Thankfully, her university of choice offers
one of the more accommodating programs to be found.
"They have a really welcoming teams,
with walk-ons invited to practice," said Fowler.
That turned out to be a wise decision by the coaches as
Fowler would race all four years at the U of O, with many
a memorable race along the way - including a personal
best on an indoor 3000m at the super track fast that is
the Boston University venue.
Now 24 years of age, Danika Potvin bypassed
middle distance and standard post-secondary cross-country
distances altogether in favour of the 26.2 mile jaunt,
even if her first attempt, run during Covid, was completely
forgettable.
"It wasn't a good marathon for me,"
said Potvin. "Personally, I had a really horrible
time. But once that first one was done and a few weeks
went by, I realized the event (the marathon) was fun."
"I figured I would give it another
shot and it did go better and I went from there,"
added the graduate of the Nursing program at Laurentian
University.
In fact, things have gone significantly
better in this regard, with Potvin qualifying for the
Boston Marathon and posting a personal best time of 3:11
there in 2025.
With five marathons now to her credit,
Potvin still glows about the specialness of Boston. "There's
a lot of people running but there are even more people
on the sidelines," she said. "There's not a
spot in the race where there are no fans."
For as much as their bond within the running
community is evident, HYROX is, at least to some extent,
a different animal entirely for this duo - but one which
is growing in popularity, both in Sudbury and elsewhere.
A local had approached Potvin about participating
in the Vancouver HYROX in December of 2025 - but the timing
just wasn't right. "I looked into it (HYROX) more
and though it was cool," said Potvin.
"That's when I saw Ottawa and heard
that (entry) tickets were super hard to get."
The story of securing said ticket is a
tale all on its own, but suffice to say that Team Fowler
/ Potvin were in. Time to start focusing on the eight
stations that are critical to a competition in which partners
must remain within an arm's length or so at all times
during the race.
With Apex Warrior in Sudbury offering
HYROX specific workouts, the door was opened. "I
did a seven day free trial - and those classes were tough,"
said Potvin with a smile. "I figured I had better
start training."
When it came to the weights and such,
Kylee Fowler had a bit of a head start.
"Leading up to HYROX, I was in my
indoor track season (at L.U.) and so I was already working
out six days a week: three speed workouts and then in
the gym with our strength coach two to three times a week,"
she said.
"I didn't really want to do too much
extra because I was already doing so much. And all of
the movements, I was pretty comfortable with. The wall
balls was the only one that really posed issues; we needed
to go much deeper."
Coming in with little in the way of expectations
beyond the fact that they were more than comfortable with
their ability to run, Fowler and Potvin ran their heat
on Friday - and did not find out about their first place
finish until Sunday. That can happen when heats that include
15 duos at a time have to work their way through almost
1500 teams, with heats starting at 15 minute intervals.
"We caught up with people in the
heat ahead of us, so that was good - but we really had
no idea in our race," said Potvin. Registered to
run the Chicago Marathon in October, the distance buff
who has also tackled the challenge that is the Sudbury
Backyard Ultra acknowledged that there is nothing imminent
in store for this talented twosome.
"We want to do another one, but after
I'm done school," said Fowler.
Almost certainly, there will be other
reasons for the two young women to celebrate before then.
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