The hurdles can be excessively unforgiving.

Amanda Syncox has known that since day one.

As recently as the Canadian Indoor Track & Field Championships hosted in Toronto at the end of February, the 17 year-old senior at Lo-Ellen Park Secondary and standout with Air Blastoff fell victim to the aluminum/steel/wood/plastic contraption.

Yet it is the most recent hurdle that Syncox has cleared, that of finding a post-secondary home at which to continue to pursue her hurdling dreams that has the multi-sport talent most proud.

“I was definitely terrified of them (the hurdles) at first, to be honest,” said Syncox, having made her commitment to the Oakland University Grizzlies NCAA program located in Rochester (Michigan).

The daughter of parents who still very much enjoy a distance run a couple of times a week, Syncox immersed herself in a mix of soccer and gymnastics and hockey and distance running and school sports in her youth.

“I just needed to stay active as a kid,” she said, stating the obvious.

For as much as her natural speed would present itself at the elementary catholic school meets, it wasn’t until she entered Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School, with both of her middle school seasons cancelled due to Covid, that Syncox even pondered a future in track.

“I wasn’t expecting to run track in high-school,” she suggested, her primary sport at the time still hockey with the Sudbury Lady Wolves. “Lo-Ellen is always seen as the athletic school and I thought I needed a background in the sport to be able to play.”

Lo-Ellen is indeed an “athletic school”.

In fact, the Knights are far and away the dominant track and field program in both the city and northern Ontario as well, with the hurdles one of the primary reasons for this dominance.

“Mr Ward (head coach Colin Ward) saw me, saw that I was tall and figured he would teach me to hurdle,” said Syncox. “I had good endurance (from hockey) and I was good at the 400m based on the first meet we had, so I ran the long hurdles (300m / 400m hurdles).”

As anyone who has ever watched the city high-school championships can well attest, there is a huge difference between those who are thrown to the wolves in this event in their freshman year of secondary schooling and the end product which exits four years later for those who commit themselves to this highly technical discipline.

The story of Amanda Syncox is no different.

“I wasn’t hurdling that well in grade nine; I was just fast between the hurdles - and I could get over them,” said the young woman who will be competing in the Horizon League Conference next year, all while studying mechanical engineering.

“I had hip flexibility so I could open up my legs enough - but I know for a fact that I was a metre over those hurdles.”

Along with the guidance that coaches like Colin Ward and Robert Esmie could offer, Syncox had one other ace up her sleeve. A graduate of Lo-Ellen Park Secondary as well, Serena San Cartier was inducted into the Hollie L Lepley Hall of Honor in 2025, a recognition of her impressive athletic contribution in both track and field and soccer a decade or so ago, while also attending Oakland University.

San Cartier now coaches hurdles back home in Sudbury.

“Over the past couple of years, I’ve been working with Serena a lot,” said Syncox. “We finally now have my form good enough that I can perform well in the sprint hurdles and long hurdles.”

Last summer at Legion Nationals, Syncox established a new personal best time of 1:03.41 in the 400m hurdles, finishing seventh. Where 300 metres is the distance of choice through much of the OFSAA trajectory, the extra length is where the one her teammates affectionately dubbed “Snow White” is currently at her best.

“The difference between the 300m and 400m hurdles for me is huge,” she said. “I am so much better at the 400m because of my stamina. I don’t die in the last 100 metres the way that some people do.”

As for the Oakland Grizzlies coaching staff, they are closing no doors as they launch the northern Ontario talent along her post-secondary track and field pathway. “I am there as a hurdler; they want hurdling abilities,” said Syncox.

“But my long hurdles, for sure, should score me in the conference meets.”