Maritime para-triathlete packing her bags for world championships in Abu Dhabi

Being the best in a sport takes an enormous amount of hard work, sacrifice and often requires overcoming obstacles -- something one Maritime athlete knows well.

Kamylle Frenette has always paid attention to shoes, mostly because her left foot is a few sizes larger than her right one.

“I was born with a clubbed foot, so my right one was turned completely inwards at birth,” Frenette said.

Surgery at the IWK children’s hospital in Halifax as a child straightened her foot, but her leg below her knee has always been smaller. The procedure left a scar, but didn’t leave her out of sport.

“Growing up, I played all the sports. Soccer, ringette, volleyball,” she said.

Inspired by her father, who runs triathlons, she later turned to compete in that sport. Eventually, she was recruited to become a para-athlete.

“I never really had seen myself with a disability. It took me a while to kind of be okay with it,” she said.

Since 2018, she’s competed for Team Canada around the world in para-triathlons and on Wednesday, Frenette flies to the United Arab Emirates to compete in the World Triathlon Championship on Nov. 24.

“We’ve been training all season for this race and all the races kind of lead up to this one,” Frenette said.

Some training took place in a heat tent at the Canadian Sport Institute at the Canada Games Centre that’s designed to mimic the conditions of Abu Dhabi, where the race is.

“We have the treadmill in there on one side, we have a bike on another side. We try to crank the temperature up to around 35. We get the humidity up with a humidifier,” said Craig MacDonald, Frenette’s strength and conditioning coach.

While juggling sport, Frenette has also been studying. The student-athlete graduated from Dalhousie University’s pharmacy program in the spring.

“I guess I like to be busy,” she said, laughing.

Through her journey as a world-class athlete, Frenette says she has learned not just about herself, but about para athletes.

“Every athlete is awesome and obviously they’re already people that push limits,” she said.

When asked what her message would be for any child who may find themselves where she once was, she notes it's important to embrace what you have.

“I want them to love it and think that it’s really cool and realize that will most likely bring them opportunities, rather than take them away,” she said. "So just to really embrace it and do all the things that you can. And when an opportunity does come along, definitely take it because it's worth it."