(Editor’s note: Continuation of The strength of character of Alexander Hayward – volume 1)
When we say that there is often something positive to be gained from a painful situation, as was the case for example with the desolate pandemic of 2020, Alexandre Hayward can easily attest to the theory. COVID-19 has transformed him from a member of the national wheelchair basketball team into one of the most promising paracyclists on the planet. Result? He could very well represent the country at the Paris Paralympic Games, like two other of our Acadian prides, para-swimmer Danielle Dorris and paratriathlete Kamille Frenette.
In spring 2020, the pandemic was in full swing. And since he no longer has access to a gym to train, Alexandre Hayward is looking for a new activity to feed his need to move.
The young basketball player from Quispamsis then thought about cycling, an activity he practiced almost daily before his accident in May 2012 (read volume 1 in Wednesday’s edition).
The problem is that the only time he did it since, it took him a few days to get over it because it had exhausted him so much.
“I had been doing it for about an hour and I was completely exhausted. I needed two to three days to recover,” he says.
But as the options are very limited, especially for someone in his condition, Alexandre decides to give himself a chance, especially since he has gained strength since the first attempt.
And the miracle happened.
From the first pedal strokes, his interest has never stopped growing since then.
“I realized that it was the first time since my accident that I could do an activity outside in the company of ordinary people without anyone’s help. I felt like I did before my accident. And I quickly became attached to this feeling,” he says.
However, initially, cycling was only intended to complement basketball. A way to stay in shape while waiting for him to return to the gym. But despite the return to normality, and although basketball remained his sport for two more years, cycling became part of his DNA.
“My interest became such that in the fall of 2020, I bought a stationary bike to use at home during the winter. And thanks to the Zwift game, I was able to virtually cycle as if I were in a competition, or even going on a hike with friends. In addition, Zwift allows me to collect information about my performances thanks to an intelligent sensor,” underlines the 26-year-old athlete.
It didn’t take long for Alexandre’s progress to attract the attention of Para Nouveau-Brunswick, which was quick to speak about it to the leaders of Cycling Canada, always on the lookout for young people who are gifted with cycling.
And thanks to Zwift, without ever having seen him in person, Cycling Canada immediately saw the young man’s great potential.
In short, from the fall of 2021, in addition to his engineering studies at the University of New Brunswick (UNB) and his basketball, he begins specific cycling training.
The situation will not change further until the end of his school year at the beginning of the following spring. And as he has done every year since 2017, he goes to Toronto for four months to train with the other members of the national team. Obviously, he had to pause the bike.
“I really missed my bike,” he says. And at the end of my stay there, I decided to go see the people from the national team to tell them that I was now going to devote myself to a new sport.
The results will not take long to come.
Very shortly after giving up basketball, he joined the national para-cycling road team. He began with a victory in a time trial which qualified him for the Nationals in Edmonton. He then surprised everyone by winning the time trial there too and at the same time obtained his pass for his first two international competitions in August, still in 2022.
Guess what? He won his first race on the world stage, still in the time trial, in the World Cup event presented in Quebec.
What a coincidence that he won his first international race in the city where, 10 years earlier, his life had changed when he broke his neck during a hockey game.
The following weekend, he took part in the Road Worlds in Baie-Comeau and collected two sixth places.
It didn’t take much to convince Cycling Canada to offer to take part in a one-week camp in Toronto in September, this time to practice para-cycling on the track. He is so impressive that he is now part of the national road and track teams.
In October, he also won a fifth place at the Track World Championships in Paris. Not bad for a sport he’d never played before that week-long camp the month before.
In the summer of 2023, however, bad luck struck him when he had to deal with mononucleosis which caused him to lose a lot of weight and which threatened his participation in the Track Worlds in Scotland for the month of October. And despite the fact that he was far from being at the top of his form, he who only learned of his participation two days before his departure on the other side of the Atlantic, finished fifth in the race on road.
Then, in November, it’s time for the Parapan American Games in Santiago, Chile.
It was at this meeting that Alexander Hayward chose to hatch for good.
As incredible as it was, he achieved the feat of winning four medals (two on the road and two on the track), including two gold. Not only has no New Brunswick athlete achieved such a feat in the past on the international stage, but he was also the one who won the most medals of all Canadian athletes.
“It’s like I’ve moved on to another stage. However, I had no expectations about the number of medals. Following my mononucleosis, I never thought I would find myself on the podium in each of my four races. Even for the 1km track event, which is not my strength, I saw myself finishing between eighth and tenth place,” he says.
Alexandre Hayward, who we see with his four medals obtained in Santiago, likes the fact that cycling allows him to capitalize on two qualities that made him successful in hockey, namely the will to succeed and endurance. – Courtesy
Alexandre Hayward now sees himself competing regularly with the world elite.
“I’m only 26 years old and I believe I won’t reach my full potential until my early 30s. In the meantime, I would like to take part in the Paralympic Games in Paris. I’d say my chances are good, although there’s nothing guaranteed. To ensure a place, I have to make sure I am in the top 4 in Canada,” he explains.
But at the rate he is progressing, we must seriously wonder if his place in Paris is not just a formality.
And bref…
For the past month, Alexandre Hayward has been working for the Arthur Sivret et fils company of Tilley Road, in the Acadian Peninsula. “It’s a dream situation for me. I work from home and have plenty of time for my training and cycling competitions. I have a lot of fun with this company, which actually helped me a lot last year. My grandfather Alfred Losier, who is originally from Saint-Isidore, is quite excited to see me working for a company in the region. For him, it’s like I’m going back to my roots,” he says…
Among his teammates on the national team is 40-year-old Riverview veteran Marc Kinnie…
Alexandre Hayward will fly to Australia on Saturday, where he will train for the next four weeks in preparation for the first event of the 2024 World Cup, which will be held from January 12 to 17 in Adelaide…
2023-12-13 22:41:44
#strength #character #Alexandre #Hayward
